ME&ME recently talked with Jarrett Ferrier of Washington, D.C., about his experience as an ID theft victim. We appreciate Jarrett’s willingness to share his story with us, and hope that our readers may be able to learn from the lessons he learned the hard way.
ME&ME: How did you first realize that you had become a victim of identity theft?
Jerrett Ferrier: About a month after I had visited the Washington, D.C., Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to renew my driver’s license, I received a piece of junk mail that somehow seemed to warrant my opening. It was from a bank in Washington that I had never heard of before. The bank was informing me that my credit card application had been denied due to lack of response from my references. As I had never completed such an application, I decided to call the bank.
The bank informed me that I completed the application after I came in to open my checking account. Since I had never been to that bank before, much less opened a checking account with them, I decided that I needed to visit the bank immediately.
I learned during my visit with the bank that someone had obtained a driver’s license from the DMV under my name and used that license to open a checking account with the bank, also in my name. The bank was very cooperative and issued me a legal affidavit of forgery.
ME&ME: What happened after that?
JF: Not long after that, I began receiving collection letters. The person who stole my identity and successfully obtained a driver’s license and checking account as me was on a spending spree. With two or three such letters arriving daily, dealing with them became a part of my daily routine. Most of the commercial victims, when they heard my story, asked me to fax them a copy of my affidavit of forgery. This seemed to be all they needed from me to clear my name.
ME&ME: How long did this go on?
JF: For a couple of years. Each individual occurrence was simple enough to rectify with the affidavit of forgery, but having to deal with it a dozen or so times a week for years became extremely time-consuming. Those were hours I could have been working. And it felt very invasive to know someone pretending to be me was out there defrauding individual businesses of hundreds of dollars at a time.
ME&ME: What about the financial impact on you?
JF: Fortunately, I became aware of the ID theft early, and as a result suffered minimal financial loss or harm to my credit rating. For me, the biggest loss was the time I spent clearing my name with individual businesses.
ME&ME: Do you have any advice for other people?
JF: Just that it’s important to pay attention. What seems like just another piece of junk mail or junk e-mail might be an indication that someone has stolen, or tried to steal, your identity. The earlier you uncover the fraud, the easier the problems will be to correct, so pay attention to things that seem out of place. Having people who know the territory working with you is very helpful also.
ME&ME: Jarrett, thanks for sharing your story with us.
JF: Thanks for letting me tell it. I hope it helps your readers.
Tags: Identity Theft, ID Theft, DMV, Department of Motor Vehicles
