This group targeted a number of professors at a major university in Washington state. This group opened up hundreds of thousands of dollars of credit card accounts in the names of the unknowing intelligentsia, and looted these accounts for all they could. The first time the hapless professors got wind of the problem was when bill collectors started knocking on their doors, or when they themselves applied for credit and were turned down. These cases are not the worst that can befall the victim of identity theft. Far worse jeopardy can await the victim.
Some identity thieves go out and commit other, more serious crimes in the victim s name.
One identity thief, a woman in this case, used the identities of others to pass tens of thousands of dollars of worthless checks to purchase jewelry and other expensive items. Eventually, the police issued an arrest warrant in the name of the victim. This person was then arrested, and convicted of a crime she did not do. She only narrowly avoided going to prison because the identity thief continued to do the same crime even after the victim was in jail, and it then became obvious to the police that the woman in jail was a victim, not a criminal. The single most popular crime of identity thieves is credit fraud.