A thief’s greatest threat is the victim.

A thief’s greatest threat is the victim.

Burglars, we are told, fear disturbance by their victims. They aim to do their illegal work when they know where the victim is, often asleep in bed. An identity thief has the same problem with the exception that the identity still lies with the victim so long as the victim lives, breathes and does what their identity drives them to do. If the identity theft is carried out for money, the theft of credit cards and bank details is enough to get them the money before the thief disappears into the firmament to become anonymous once more. But there are other reasons to steal an identity. Someone who feels so dissatisfied with what they have that they wish to abandon it and take on a new persona. To steal one from another living person.

Imagine a woman whose own life is deeply depressing. She feels small, meaningless and ignored. Imagine one such woman who then takes up the identity of someone she fantasises has everything anyone could ever crave, and talent to go with it. The choice of persona to take on must be made on some basis, maybe an infatuation with a man in the office and whose wife she wishes to be. In the twisted mind of such a hopeless case the target of obsession grows to be a super person, life and soul of every party, wit of the century with perfect mind, body and hair. Of course no such person exists. In real life even Kate Moss has blemishes like the rest of us do. The sad woman takes on the name of a woman she wishes to emulate, maybe encouraged to do so by a group of people to whom the supposed super star is seen as a threat to their aspirations. She proclaims that is her name and pursues a happier life with that name, achieving the acquisition of fame and fortune using that name but one that the original owner of that identity never applied for, having her own reasons for reticence.

The only fly in the ointment, gristle in the pie, is the cold hard fact that the original owner of the identity still exists. The characteristics that made the true person a target remain, she lets it be known that she remains in existence, as she always has in spite of having been diagnosed a serious illness that is mistakenly thought to be fatal. In the twisted mind of the thief the real person is a threat to be erased, deleted, destroyed. The thief could kill of have killed the original and persistent owner of the identity. Like in a plot from an Agatha Christie story therein lies the twist.

Social networking gives raised profiles but also makes it easier to delete an identity. Libel laws do exist. Just as police detectives do catch burglars social network managers do keep records and can prosecute customers who do not give true answers on demand. Extradition to the USA, home of social networks, is a lot easier than it used to be.

Sue Doughty
18/5/2011


Adendum.

The person who has taken on a different name may have decided to do so because her own name is a connected to a criminal record. As she is hit by a refusal of the original owner of that name to give it up to her, and is repeatedly blocked by modern technology and the information super highway, she grows even more desperate. Police would warn the original owner of the name that the pretender would now target those people perceived to be close to her.

Deprived of career prospects and something else to do the woman who wants to get rid of her real name would switch to seeking revenge. She might revert to old acquaintances and summon their assistance. To disguise association she might even undergo voice coaching to make it appear her origins and former acquaintances were remote from her in early years in the belief that would block any linkage with those who do as she asks. The rewards, incentives for doing this, are relevant and clear.

The advantage to the old partner in crime, let’s call her Mrs B, of attracting the attention of the real woman’s closest friend could be the hope of financial reward, say and inheritance but in the short term it could be a new avenue for money laundering. The advantage to the now former acquaintance of the woman who owns the name could also be clear, sex and income, attention, maybe a belief in a long lasting relationship. But when he announces his new association he loses the relationship with the original owner of the name and the “old flame”, Mrs B, drops him – the task having been fulfilled. The favour requested of her has been given.

The original owner of the name does not fade away; she persists, and now finds herself with more time and better focus to do what she earned accolades for, the very persona that the name thief wanted to destroy has grown stronger and more diligent.

And she has an indisputable story to write.

Sue Doughty
15/02/2013