Cyber Identity Theft 

 

When an imposter provides law enforcement, in the course of a routine stop, an arrest, or investigation, another person's name and/or personal information in the form of a drivers' license, a counterfeit drivers' license, date of birth, or Social Security Number (SSN), that act constitutes criminal identity theft. 

 

For example, if the offense is a simple traffic violation or a misdemeanor violation and the imposter has provided documentation to the law officer contrary to his or her real identity and then is released form the arrest after signing the citation to appear in court and fails to appear, it will be the victim that is held responsible. If the imposter does not appear for court, the warrant for arrest will be issued in the victim's name. 

 

The identity theft victim has no idea that a warrant for his/her arrest has been issued until at such time they may be stopped for a minor infraction. There is a good chance they will be detained, possibly arrested, taken to jail and booked because of the outstanding bench warrant. 

 

The other side of the coin is that the imposter does appear and pleads guilty and now the victim has a record, be it for a minor infraction or a felony. Those records are then recorded in the countywide data base, then onto the State's criminal records data base and possibly into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). The undoing of all this is laborious and painstakingly frustrating. 

 

The repercussions for the victim may only show up when he/she are denied employment and/or terminated from employment due to an unsatisfactory background check. It will most likely become evident to the victim at this time that there is a problem because legally the employer is obligated to inform the victim of the reasons for the rejection of the employment.