Social Question

Yellowdog's avatar

Why are crimes of identity theft seldom, if ever, pursued by law enforcement?

Asked by Yellowdog (12216points) June 24th, 2019

The first time I became aware of identity theft was in the early ‘90s. My aunt was a victim.

We were able to trace down where the goods and services; the fantastic cable T.V. selection, the furniture, the goods, were going. I was able to drive my car right to the crappy apartment where the identity thieves lived.

But all anyone cared about was that my aunt was not responsible and did not owe the creditors. Still, she’d occasionally get a bill for goods or services, but nobody pursued the crooks or tried to retrieve the ill-gotten merchandise,

Law enforcement basically told me that THAT was between the theives and those who provided the merchandise and services. It was not my place, or my aunt;s place, to pursue justice as long as my aunt was cleared of responsibility for the act,

Later in life, many people close to me have had tremendous problems with identity theft, even getting locked out of bank accounts and thefts of all funds, There is about a 25 percent chance that the victim comes out free and clear, but may have suffered tremendous economic loss or still being harassed by creditors,

In any case, still, no one seems interested in pursuing those who have actually illegally obtained the goods and services. At best, all anyone will do is clear the victim of any wrongdoing, bad credit, or saying they owe this or that. But those who provided the goods do not it is worth pursuing to get money or merchandise from known persons who illegally obtained them.

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5 Answers

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Dutchess_lll's avatar

Rick was hit with identity theft. What a mess.

kritiper's avatar

The bad guys most often work out of foreign countries.

Dutchess_lll's avatar

It’s just not worth the time.

JLeslie's avatar

So annoying!

When my aunt’s aide was stealing my aunt’s credit card and charging on it, the NYC police followed up on all the information I rounded up for them (time and dates of transactions, called the stores and verified there was video) the cop on the case went to the stores, and eventually arrested the woman! NYC was very responsive, thanked me for all the efforts I made to help, and I was very satisfied.

When my credit card number was stolen and I narrowed it down to two different retailers, and I confirmed video at the places the stolen number was being used the police did NOTHING. This was in Florida. It happened three times, then we really knew where they were swiping the number. Police didn’t care. It was obviously a ring. Credit card company didn’t seem to care either. They tried to tell me that they are probably following up, and just not sharing information with me, but I call bullshit on that, because the information to find these people was so easy, and if my card was swiped three times at the same gas station over a year’s time, then obviously nothing had been done. Costs all of us money. We all pay for those bad charges.

They care about the bottom line, and mostly the cost is passed onto us consumers in the end one way or another.

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