STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

honey · Gucci

what's the penalty for identity theft?

sephorablue · Marc Jacobs

good question... I've never heard what happens because people generally never get caught. I'm curious if anyone knows tha answer...

laken1 · Hermes

My sister had this happen - her husband is a cop (detective) & they pushed the issue as much as they could. It ended at the credit card company - they said it wasn't worth prosecuting. It was about $5,000 - I think this is usually the case unfortunately.

ETA: I'm obviously no expert - I hope someone else has a different / better answer.

-- Edited by laken1 at 23:08, 2006-05-09

honey · Gucci

laken1 wrote:

My sister had this happen - her husband is a cop (detective) & they pushed the issue as much as they could. It ended at the credit card company - they said it wasn't worth prosecuting. It was about $5,000 - I think this is usually the case unfortunately. ETA: I'm obviously no expert - I hope someone else has a different / better answer. -- Edited by laken1 at 23:08, 2006-05-09

that's good to know, since the amount is less than $5k, but still a sizeable amount to be responsible for.

i really feel for my friend b/c on the one hand it's family, but at the same time her sister totally abused the relationship and stole money from them.

luckyclover · Dooney & Bourke

Most of the time Identity theft is done by a relative or close friend. What happens really depends on if the person whose ID was stolen presses charges/files a police report or not. I'm pretty sure the only way to get it off your credit is by filing a police report though. By filing the report you can have it taken off your credit and the person you file charges against is held responsible for the charges. Although I am not certain, I'm pretty sure nothing really happens to the culprit except for the fact they have to own up for whatever they did under your name....unless you sue them or something.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

It may be family, but that girl would think she could get away with anything if the family does nothing about it. If anybody I knew pulled that stunt on me I would make them pay. Spending some time in jail is nothing compared to damaged credit which effects the rest of your life.

nikkib222 · BCBG

What a horrible situation! I think that if they dispute the charges, they should be prepared for the sister to get in trouble. She might not go to jail, but it is a possiblity, and that is something they have to keep in mind. Like everyone else has said, it will depend on the police department if they press charges, but a lot of times, unless it is a large amount of money, they police have other more important things to deal with. Most importantly, if your friend and her mother file a police report, they always need to carry the police report with them just in case to prove that it was a case of stolen identity(especially if the sister wrote any bad checks!)

laken1 · Hermes

Yeah, let me add to my original statement that whoever used her card / identity was out of state & that made a difference because my bro-in-law or any of the guys he worked with couldn't continue the investigation within the state. If that had been the case it may have come out differently.

Starstuff · Kenneth Cole

Cortney1982 wrote:

Spending some time in jail is nothing compared to damaged credit which effects the rest of your life.

Just to hijack for a moment -- but I have to disagree. Credit scores can be repaired and the person who was wronged can make sure that their credit reports reflect the fact that they were a victim of theft.

Having a criminal record (if you're over 16 or 18 or whatever the juvenile cut-off point is) will absolutely effect you for the rest of your life. Every job application or school application that is filled out asks if you've been convicted of a crime, and it would show up on a background check.