One Identity Theft Victim's ÔLiving Hell'
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2004-01-30 14:28:00-05:00
Kathleen Cox, an 82-year-old grandmother in Rockville, Md., quit driving during the Truman administration. But in 2001, Cox suddenly found herself in what she describes as "a living hell" after one of her neighbors, arrested on drunk-driving charges in Illinois following a four-car collision, pretended to be her.
Cox first suspected something was amiss when she received bills totaling $9,000 from a hospital in Illinois that had treated the impostor's injuries. Then she received a summons notifying her that a woman hurt in the accident had filed a $50,000 lawsuit against her. "I was told there were warrants out for my arrest," says Cox, who writes children's books.
"I was afraid to answer the phone."
Cox says police refused to investigate—a complaint echoed by many identity theft victims. So she did the investigating herself. Soon she learned that the identity thief shared her name—a twist that made much of the fraud more difficult to resolve.
Police finally caught up with the impostor, and most of Cox's troubles are behind her. But there's still one more wrinkle in her ordeal.
"She's due in court next week," Cox said in January of the other Cox, "but she never gets the notices, the summons, the threats. I do. They keep sending them to my address."
Cox adds, "It's an awful way to live. I've had enough heartache over it."
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