Identity Theft - It's all in the Family
How hard must it be to turn your own daughter over to the police? Well I, for one, want to salute this mother. Pamela Blais turned in her own daughter for Identity Theft.
Her daughter, Ryanne Blais, took out not one, not two, but THREE credit cards in her mother's name, racking up a total bill of over $15,000 in credit card debt.
The daughter's response when she was caught, according to this article, was that she thought the whole situation would "just take care of itself".
Now the article does mention that 24 year old Ryanne Blais had recently lost her job, and that was part of the reason for the credit she amassed in her mother's name, but really - if you're that desparate for cash, there are better ways to get it, other than stealing your own mother's information to rack up $15,000 worth of bills. Start working with a network marketing company, sell lemonade on the corner, mow lawns, do something.
Now here's the challenge of this situation. There's no reason it should ever have gotten this bad. Immediately after the daughter made the wrong decision once, the Mother should have known after the first credit card was taken out in her name, and had a freeze placed on her credit immediately . She would have known about doing this, and how to do it, and she could actually have had someone to do it for her if necessary, if she had seen our page about the solution to Identity Theft.
So why did the mother turn her daughter in?
If she doesn't, then the mother, Pamela Blais, is responsible for the $15,000 worth of debt. Depending on when Pamela reported the Identity Theft, the law assumes that with no person to pin the debt on, that Pamela actually spent the money, and makes her responsible for it.
And the daughter can walk away from the situation, thinking that the whole thing "just took care of itself", and when she has money issues again, can feel free to get lines of credit in other people's names. In a way, the mother in this situation has potentially protected someone in the future from becoming a victim of Identity Theft.
This way, Ryanne (the daughter) will learn the hard way. But hopefully, her attitude about Identity Theft will change through the process of being caught and dealing with the legal headaches and debt repayment she's about to go through. It's the school of hard knocks, but it's really the best teacher.
It could not have been an easy decision to turn your own daughter in for Identity Theft, so to the Mother who did, Ms. Pamela Blais, we simply want to say thank-you.
Now the article does mention that 24 year old Ryanne Blais had recently lost her job, and that was part of the reason for the credit she amassed in her mother's name, but really - if you're that desparate for cash, there are better ways to get it, other than stealing your own mother's information to rack up $15,000 worth of bills. Start working with a network marketing company, sell lemonade on the corner, mow lawns, do something.
Now here's the challenge of this situation. There's no reason it should ever have gotten this bad. Immediately after the daughter made the wrong decision once, the Mother should have known after the first credit card was taken out in her name, and had a freeze placed on her credit immediately . She would have known about doing this, and how to do it, and she could actually have had someone to do it for her if necessary, if she had seen our page about the solution to Identity Theft.
So why did the mother turn her daughter in?
If she doesn't, then the mother, Pamela Blais, is responsible for the $15,000 worth of debt. Depending on when Pamela reported the Identity Theft, the law assumes that with no person to pin the debt on, that Pamela actually spent the money, and makes her responsible for it.
And the daughter can walk away from the situation, thinking that the whole thing "just took care of itself", and when she has money issues again, can feel free to get lines of credit in other people's names. In a way, the mother in this situation has potentially protected someone in the future from becoming a victim of Identity Theft.
This way, Ryanne (the daughter) will learn the hard way. But hopefully, her attitude about Identity Theft will change through the process of being caught and dealing with the legal headaches and debt repayment she's about to go through. It's the school of hard knocks, but it's really the best teacher.
It could not have been an easy decision to turn your own daughter in for Identity Theft, so to the Mother who did, Ms. Pamela Blais, we simply want to say thank-you.
