It was supposed to be a dream vacation. And it really was, until he came back home. When Adam left Poland and returned to New York, his life had become a nightmare.
While exploring the streets of Warsaw, he wasn’t only focused on the sights. His eyes were open and his senses sharp. Having grown up in Brooklyn, he was street smart and knew to watch out for pickpockets. But there was one threat he didn’t see coming.
Adam knew something was wrong as soon as he saw the credit card bills. After all, he’d been traveling, so he knew that the charges made while he was away couldn’t be his. He picked up the phone and called the credit card company. They confirmed what he now already feared – Adam’s identity had been stolen.
As the reality set in that both of his credit cards had been maxed out, Adam was hit with another bombshell: someone had also opened another card in his name. And that meant whoever was behind this crime also had access to his social security number and probably other personal information.
The anger and sadness Adam felt were bad enough, but the helplessness was even worse. There was nothing he could do to stop whoever was doing this to him. That’s the thing about identity theft – it’s a faceless crime and unfortunately most perpetrators get away with it.
Although Adam felt alone, the truth is he’s not. One in ten people will become the victim of an online crime. And many of them happen on public Wi-Fi. Some victims “just” lose money. However, if a hacker gets their hands on key personal information, you can lose way more than that.
We recently asked Adam and other real victims of identity theft to share their stories and tell us how it really feels to have your identity stolen. After the interview, Adam said he hoped his story would make people realize that identity theft is real. It happens every day to people all over. But it doesn’t have to happen to you.
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