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She compiled the entire paper trail — all the past due car rental bills, all of her court documents, her police report, and her photos of Hart — and turned it into a traveling art exhibit. The exhibit, currently running in a San Francisco art gallery, was converted into a book, “Dear Erin Hart,” which went on sale this month.
“It's almost as if she is part of my life and I know that sounds a little creepy and I'm sorry to her in a way for dragging it out, because my original intention was not to make a public spectacle of her. ” Lovell says. “ I wanted to sort of take back something that was taken from me… This woman wasn’t me. She was a separate person from me.”
“Expunging a criminal record is a nightmare."
Financially, Lovell was able to save her credit from much damage. She was quick to contact the car rental agency and dispute the charges. It took about nine months for them to finally back off.
“If she would have not paid the rental car charges, [the agencies] could have sent the receivables to collections and that certainly would have ended up on her credit reports,” says John Ulzheimer, credit expert at CreditSesame.com. If enough time passed, the agency could have sued her. And her credit score could have taken a big hit.
Ulzheimer recommends always erring on the safe side when you suspect a piece of your identity has been stolen, be it a driver’s license, Social Security number or a credit card.
Like Lovell, you can easily place a fraud alert on your credit reports from the main three bureaus, which will prevent any new accounts from being opened in your name. Alerts last for 90 days, but you can extend them if you submit proof that you’ve filed a police report.
Neal O’Farrell, founder of the Identity Theft Council, a nonprofit organization that helps victims of ID theft, says losing a license is a particularly annoying situation. Most DMVs don’t make it easy to simply walk in and cancel an old license without a police report. And police won’t necessarily allow you to file a report simply because your license has gone missing — you typically have to prove that your identity has been stolen and has been used by another person illegally first. In Lovell’s case, she was lucky that Hart got herself arrested while impersonating her and that police were savvy enough to figure out Hart was using another person’s ID. Some crooks use other people’s licenses like a “get out of jail free” card (for example, passing a stolen or fake ID to an officer when they’re stopped for a speeding ticket) and innocent people wind up answering for crimes they never committed.
“Expunging a criminal record is a nightmare,” O’Farrell says. “It’s an easy crime to fall into but it can take years to get out of.”
The Identity Theft Council and the Identity Theft Resource Center are both great (and free) tools for consumers who think they are victims of ID theft.
She compiled the entire paper trail — all the past due car rental bills, all of her court documents, her police report, and her photos of Hart — and turned it into a traveling art exhibit. The exhibit, currently running in a San Francisco art gallery, was converted into a book, “Dear Erin Hart,” which went on sale this month.
“It's almost as if she is part of my life and I know that sounds a little creepy and I'm sorry to her in a way for dragging it out, because my original intention was not to make a public spectacle of her. ” Lovell says. “ I wanted to sort of take back something that was taken from me… This woman wasn’t me. She was a separate person from me.”
“Expunging a criminal record is a nightmare."
Financially, Lovell was able to save her credit from much damage. She was quick to contact the car rental agency and dispute the charges. It took about nine months for them to finally back off.
“If she would have not paid the rental car charges, [the agencies] could have sent the receivables to collections and that certainly would have ended up on her credit reports,” says John Ulzheimer, credit expert at CreditSesame.com. If enough time passed, the agency could have sued her. And her credit score could have taken a big hit.
Ulzheimer recommends always erring on the safe side when you suspect a piece of your identity has been stolen, be it a driver’s license, Social Security number or a credit card.
Like Lovell, you can easily place a fraud alert on your credit reports from the main three bureaus, which will prevent any new accounts from being opened in your name. Alerts last for 90 days, but you can extend them if you submit proof that you’ve filed a police report.
Neal O’Farrell, founder of the Identity Theft Council, a nonprofit organization that helps victims of ID theft, says losing a license is a particularly annoying situation. Most DMVs don’t make it easy to simply walk in and cancel an old license without a police report. And police won’t necessarily allow you to file a report simply because your license has gone missing — you typically have to prove that your identity has been stolen and has been used by another person illegally first. In Lovell’s case, she was lucky that Hart got herself arrested while impersonating her and that police were savvy enough to figure out Hart was using another person’s ID. Some crooks use other people’s licenses like a “get out of jail free” card (for example, passing a stolen or fake ID to an officer when they’re stopped for a speeding ticket) and innocent people wind up answering for crimes they never committed.
“Expunging a criminal record is a nightmare,” O’Farrell says. “It’s an easy crime to fall into but it can take years to get out of.”
The Identity Theft Council and the Identity Theft Resource Center are both great (and free) tools for consumers who think they are victims of ID theft.
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