Identity theft on its own can be a very tough problem to handle, but when the culprit is your spouse, it can pose an even more challenging feat to address. It is becoming more and more common for the victim of identity theft to find out that the culprit of this devastating crime is closer to them than they may want to believe. In 2018, 2.2 million Americans reported that they had experienced identity theft at the hands of someone they knew, more often than not that person was their spouse.
In a recent study published by experts on domestic violence, 35% of all domestic violence cases had experienced the partner putting debt in the victim’s name whether fraudulently or by coercion. One woman, whose identity we will keep anonymous, had experienced identity theft by her husband. The two were jointly filing their federal taxes, so her name was on the return along with her husband’s name. When she separated, she went to find affordable housing but she was denied access to that housing since he had reported a higher income than she was aware of, and he had not shared any of that money or knowledge of it with her.
After being rejected for the affordable housing, she started doing some investigating and found out that her husband had applied for loans using her name. Shortly after finding this out, she went to file a police report, but the police wouldn’t help her with this issue. They claimed that she needed to be divorced before they would help her. For someone with little understanding of their legal rights, this can be an intimidating situation.
The woman sought out a lawyer to help her understand what she could do. The lawyer and the head of the police department then explained to the woman that what she had been told by the other police officer was wrong. In fact, if the woman wanted to file a police report, she was not obligated to be divorced or even provide proof of identity when seeking help. The only job of the officer taking the report is to take the report from the alleged victim and then to investigate the situation.
Many people don’t learn that their identity has been stolen until they have been called by creditors, and then it’s too late; they’re likely facing lawsuits by the creditors on this debt that they did not incur themselves. Many people try to go it alone when attempting to address these crimes without much avail. Although experiencing theft of your identity by your partner or spouse can be particularly challenging, LibertyID can help.
The bottom line is that there’s really no better time than the present to become a LibertyID member for identity theft restoration protection. Our extended family plan covers the member, their spouse/partner, the member and spouse’s/partner’s parents and their children. We’re the experts at identity theft restoration, offering a 100% guaranteed identity theft restoration service. But, you have to get covered before there’s an incident. When you sign up for LibertyID, you’re covering yourself and your family from the fallout of identity theft and the potentially hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars lost due to identity theft.