My point is that identity theft can follow a victim for years and, as we can see, with horrific consequences. Lucky for this guy that he was able to get out of it. But what about those who don't? None of us wants to get tossed into a foreign prison on false charges. The lesson here is about prevention. Guard your personal and financial documents as if your life depended on it because someday it may.

- two thirds are male
- most are between the ages of 26-40, with only 7% over the age of 50
- 64% of men and 77% of women who commit fraud do so to conceal their poor credit history
- 17% use false documents to commit the fraud (probably the ones they steal from you and me!)

So it appears they want more than to just clean out your bank account, they also want you to finance their new car!

This is good and bad. Good because there will more ways to verify that you are really you. Bad because if your identity has been compromised somewhere along the line, this could hurt your ID Score and lessen your chances at getting that low interest credit or loan rate. Just another good reason to protect your identity. And in case you need a refresher on ways to do that, visit the ITPME Resources page.