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Executive’s Life Ruined by ID TheftSimon Bunce was purchasing groceries online in order to make it easier for him to get his groceries, and he felt it would be safer than going into the grocery store and using his credit card. The simple online credit card transaction for groceries has turned into a seven month fiasco, in which his life has slowly collapsed around him. Without any knowledge of what was going on Simon was the target of credit card identity theft in which his card details were stolen and used to access a child pornography site. He was arrested by police because he was suspected as a paedophile. His family disowned him, he was fired from his 120,000 pound a year job, and there was of course mental anguish. After seven months Bunce was able to prove he was not the actual culprit. He managed to trace the activity to Jakarta Indonesia at the time he was at a business meeting in London. This allowed the allegations to be dropped, but he still has had to live with the Identity theft and the repercussions. He’s had to live through a nightmare, where he lost everything. Even his grown up daughter was ashamed. He wasn’t able to eat or sleep. His own father didn’t believe that he was being falsely accused. After he lost his job he had to subsist on a 12,000 pound a year job. The fact is that it happened because he used his card on the internet. There are millions of individuals a year that have similar stories of identity theft because they pay for goods online where things are supposed to be secure. In 1999 Mr. Bunce opened a store account at a major supermarket, and used the card a great deal online. During one of these forays a person was able to log in and steal his account details. The details where then sold to the person in Jakarta, who appears to be a paedophile. In May of 1999 his credit card and name were used on a US child porn site called Landslide. However it wasn’t until five years later in 2004 that things started to turn horrible for Mr. Bunce. It was in 2004 when the police handed over a search warrant and accused this man of being a paedophile. During this time there were thousands of British residents being investigated. This operation was called Ore. It was launched when the UK police where handed thousands of names from the FBI when they shut down the Landslide website. Mr. Bunce was interrogated and thrown in a cell. His home was raided and his computer equipment was seized twice in six months. As an executive of a computer data company he was fired because the police went in to search his work. His wife Kim stood by him, but his father, brother and sister all wanted nothing to do with him. It wasn’t until Bunce was able to prove his innocence with a case of mistaken identity that they dropped the investigation. He was never charged with an offence, but it still ruined the life he had. It also helped him to see who his real friends were. The fact is his father will still not admit to any wrong doing in shunning his son. His sister is still suspicious of the activities he was accused of. The fact that his wife stood by him was the only thing that got him through. There were 39 suicides by those accused of the same thing because they were unable to cope. Whether those accused were guilty or innocent it is hard to tell, but it is a high price to pay if they were also in Mr. Bunce’s shoes. Mr. Bunce is going to sue the supermarket involved as it seems this is where the details were sold and because they failed to protect his details. The supermarket of course says they had no part in the selling of details or wrong doing. The truth is that even if you are innocent having your identity stolen can ruin your life as a result of the fraudster’s actions. This is the worst case of identity theft because it is a stigma Bunce will live with, despite innocence. Back To Financial News April 2008 |
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