Identity theft can have a fleeting impact on finances or become a nightmare that never really ends.

Bankrate asked for readers' experiences with fraud and identity theft and received many tales of incidents that represent the vast range of the crime -- including some missives from scammers themselves! The following letters have been edited for style and clarity, and in one case, to something that more closely resembles the English language.

Reader feedback

A friendly fraud

A while back I allowed a friend of mine to turn on a few of his utilities in my name. He had hit a rough spot, so I allowed him to put his cable and electric in my name. This, of course, came with the disclaimer that the balance would be paid in full. I was living with my parents at the time, so it wasn't a big deal for me.

What had been just two utilities ended up becoming gas and phone service as well as cable and electric and totaled over $2,500.

I brought it up with him numerous times to make good on the debt with no action taken on his part except for numerous empty promises to pay.

Ultimately, I filed a police report on him. I was going to press identity theft charges against him as two of the utilities were not authorized by me. He was looking at doing time, but ultimately I was able to get an agreement with him, his attorney and the utility companies for him to take over the bills in his name, admit that he stole my information, and from what I know he has been paying them little by little each month.

Now it could have been a lot worse. I really didn't want to see someone I know do six months in jail and me still have to pay the bills, so it worked out to both of our advantages.
-- Bob

Impact of ID theft

I am a victim of ID theft. It is your worst possible nightmare. Right now, I am under fraud alert.

There were five addresses on my credit reports that weren't mine. The steps you take are horrible and proving that you are a victim is another horror.

I even have an e-mail where the thief used my credit card fraudulently -- in fact, he even got it fraudulently.

I am just now going through the motions of getting it fixed.

I advise everyone to get their reports and check them. It is worth it.
-- Phyllis

Business owner suffers

I owned a small business in Georgia. Every Friday, I would take my payables to the post office to mail. On this particular Friday, I went through the drive-through lane to deposit the payables in the outside mailbox. It was jammed quite full, but I managed to get my 12 envelopes stuffed into the box -- a total of a little over $20,000 worth of payables.

About two to three weeks later, my suppliers started calling me about my past-due invoices. About the same time, my bank asked me to come in and review some suspicious checks drawn on my account. Much to my surprise, when I went in to the bank, they showed me 30 or so "payroll" checks with all of my company info on them and a fake signature. The checks were done quite well but in a different style than I would ordinarily present.

The way the bank explained it to me is that the crooks would put something in the mailbox to fill the opening. Then they would wait for an unsuspecting person like me to drop off a stack of mail and come right behind me in their car.

They would grab the mail and take it back to their hotel where they had an elaborate set-up to produce bogus payroll checks. Typically they would get bums off the street, provide them with fake ID and send them into a number of banks in a short period of time to cash the checks. They would be paid 10 percent of the face value of the check.

They knew I had $20,000 at least in my account based on the mail they stole.

The bank reimbursed me the money. They wrote off the loss. They said there was no way to apprehend the crooks since they only stay in a town just a few hours before moving on.

I now take the mail inside or hand it to the postman. It caused a lot of administrative problems after I had to close that account and open a new one. I had the bank create a form letter to explain the problem to all my suppliers and others as needed. It took six weeks to straighten everything out after I became aware of the problem.
-- Craig

Scam 'victim' looks for a loan

I was a victim of theft due to a scam that told me I had won the U.K. National Lottery in the amount of 399 pounds. I was required to pay a fee to a courier company which was delivering my prize.
Even today I have not received any check or receipt issued to me from the U.K. National Lottery.

It is a scam -- a real theft.

I feel victimized and I can't get my money back so I'm asking Bankrate to lend me 17,500 pounds.

I will send you all my references and proof of identity and where I work.

Please respond with your lending requirements.
-- Victor

Financial fraud

In April 2001, inspired by high-paying CDs, I went online and selected one to try in my very first online CD-purchasing venture. I wanted to buy one from Bank Atlantic in Florida. They were highest yielding company at the time.
Somewhat later I got a very official looking bank document requiring me to give personal information in order to open an account, such as photocopies of my driver's license or passport. Logical, I thought.

But I wouldn't do it today, period.

Then I later received a call from a Wells Fargo investigator advising me that I was likely a victim of ID theft. Gave me certain information and phone numbers of businesses that had granted me unusual credit for stuff I was unaware of.

Leaning on the advice of lots of others, including the Federal Trade Commission, my wife and I pursued the imposter by telephone, registered mail and banks and made reports to the FBI and the Florida police among tons of others. No money of ours was ever touched, but the imposter was purchasing car(s), vacation trips and opening lots of credit cards in my name.

After getting my three credit reports. I found that my new residence was changed to two locations in the Fort Lauderdale area. I advised the post office that my "new" address was where I now live -- since 1962 -- hoping to intercept all mail addressed to me in Florida. I got one item from "my" new Wal-Mart account and soon thereafter received a call from a postal inspector. He told me that they were "on this guy's case, and my change of address notification was likely going to hinder the investigation." Well, tough beans, I thought. Nothing was happening anyhow, so I was just trying to do everything to get back at this thief and if this was another idea of what to do, then I'm glad I did.

Nearly two years later I got word that the postal inspectors had apprehended the guy in Florida, of course, on another charge when a postal inspector recognized my name on his driver's license. He gave me a call and told me the details and that he would be coming up for trial eventually. Since his trial was for another offense, I was informed that I'd likely not be called to testify about anything. So that was it.

Since then, with my credit history reading very poorly, even though I never missed a payment in my life -- I am suspected as being a poor risk. But I'll tell you one thing. No more banking online for anything! As long as I can drive to a bank to do business with a live person, that's the only way I bank (except for EFTs, or electronic funds transfers, deposits only, so far). Mail service is so poor and will get worse, so everybody will soon be forced to do banking online whether we like it or not. Meanwhile, I'll try to avoid it as long as possible and it is economically beneficial.
-- K. Heinz

An ongoing nightmare

Sadly, I am one of tens of thousands who happen to be a victim of identity theft. I have been a victim since the year 1993 or so.

It started when I checked my credit report from one of the credit bureaus and I noticed a Visa account that I knew wasn't mine.

It was a long road to track down the original credit issuer because the card was sold to another company and so on. I tracked down the original issuer and it came to my attention that more was going on under my Social Security number.

I started to get collection notices from everyone -- a utility company out of state, credit card companies and even check fraud alerts.

After 15 years of crying, yelling and writing countless numbers of letters, I have come to learn that keeping a detailed filing system of all of my accounts -- no matter how old -- is crucial.

Keep a copy of everything -- even old driver's licenses. I have had to prove my existence many, many times and addresses of where I lived, no matter how many years ago.

To this day, one person has been prosecuted, but that will do nothing for me because there are approximately 30 others using my Social Security number.

The system in America is in for a big surprise. This ID theft issue is just the tip of the iceberg.

Sadly, my number was most likely sold by a Social Security employee. Since I stopped working, my Social Security number was not being used for any purpose, so I seemed to be fair game to others!
-- Felicia

A (fake) identity theft protection program

Dear MasterCard customer,
We regret to inform you that we have received numerous fraudulent e-mails which ask for personal account information. The e-mails contained links to fraudulent pages that looked legit.

Please remember that we will never ask for personal account information via e-mail or Web pages.

Because of this we are launching a new security system to make MasterCard accounts more secure and safe. To take advatage of our new consumer Identity Theft Protection Program we had to deactivate access to your card account.

To activate it please call us immediately at (615) 348-6681.

Activation is free of charge and will take place as soon as you finish the activation process.

© 1994-2008 MasterCard. All rights reserved.

MasterCard [mastercard@securitymaster.com]
-- Not MasterCard

An offer you should ignore

Greetings,
I am Mrs. Sandra Doma. I am a dying woman who has decided to donate what I have to you. I am 59 years old; two years ago I was diagnosed with cancer, immediately after the death of my husband Mr. Peter V. Doma, who has left me everything he worked for while in America.

I decided to will/donate an amount that will be disclosed to you later for the good work of the lord, and also to help the motherless and less privileged and also for the assistance of widows. At the moment I cannot answer any telephone calls due to the fact that my relatives are around me and my health status. I have adjusted my will and my representative is aware I have changed my will and he will arrange the transfer of the funds to you. I wish you all the best and may the good lord bless you abundantly, and please use the funds well and always extend the good work to others.

I have forwarded your details such as your full names and address to my representative who is in person of Advocate Remco M. Stomp. It is important that you re-confirm your details to him when you contact him on his e-mail address. You are to inform him that I have briefed you about the willed amount that I left for you and he will gladly let you know the amount that I willed to you. I know I don't know you but by the grace of god I have been directed to contact you. Thanks and god bless. NB: I will appreciate your utmost confidentiality in this matter until the task is accomplished. Also I will be communicating with you by e-mail as I don't want my relation or anybody to know because they are always around me.
-- Sandra

An IRS offer that's tough to ignore

Tax notification Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
United States Department of the Treasury
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $184.80.

Please submit the tax refund request and allow us six to nine days in order to process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example: submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, click here.

Regards,
Internal Revenue Service

Document Reference: (92054568).
-- Not the IRS

© Copyright 2008 Bankrate, Inc. All rights reserved

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