Identity Theft Hurts

I offer another identity theft victim story. In this example Florida Power and Light extends electrical service to an illegal immigrant or “undocumented foreign worker” who buys an identity and a Social Security Number of an American. Florida Power and Light and a bank in Fort Meyers extended services to the identity thief.

LEE COUNTY: A single mother is trying to rebuild her life after her identity was sold for $800 to an illegal immigrant. She can’t get a job or a loan and is struggling to raise her young children.

Rocxana Quintana has two kids, a husband, a job, bank account, and has lived in several apartments in Fort Myers.

 Another Rocxana Quintana also has two kids, but no husband, no job, no bank account and volunteers 10 hours a day for the Salvation Army.

“They’ve helped a lot. The only thing I can do for them is donate time,” said Quintana.

The Salvation Army is helping get the real Rocxana Quintana back on her feet.

The fake Rocxana Quintana is really Stella Santiago.

“She was taking part of my life, part of who I was and she was living it somewhere else,” said the real Quintana.

According to the arrest report, Santiago, an illegal immigrant, bought Quintana’s identity for $800.

Santiago told investigators she bought Quintana’s personal information from a woman whose first name is Juana.

According to the report, she knew what she was doing was wrong, but did it out of necessity.”

“I was furious,” said Quintana. “She’s working and she has a bank account and she’s living this great life with my information, which I can’t.”

Quintana discovered her identity had been stolen when she moved back to Miami from Pennsylvania and tried to set up an account with FPL. They told her she had an outstanding balance of $800.

“It hurts that the fact she didn’t consider someone else’s identity when she went and opened up a bank account and ran up an FPL account and stuff,” said Quintana.

The fake Quintana, Santiago, has a job, is married and has lived in Fort Myers.

“I’ve never even been to Fort Myers,” said Quintana.

The real Quintana can’t get a job or government benefits for her children because her file shows she has a job and money in the bank.

Quintana says she’s just trying to get to the bottom of how and where her identity was stolen.

(Quintana, you’re asking the wrong question. How your identity was stolen is irrelevant. The question is “why did Florida Power and Light and the bank in Fort Meyers extend service to an identity thief?” You have done nothing wrong. -John Barksdale)

“The only thing I can think of is a previous employer,” said Quintana. “Whoever sold it to them has my information. So as long as I’m alive, they’re still going to have my social security number, they’re going to have all my information and that’s disturbing.”

Quintana now has a fraud alert on her credit and a fresh start this year.

“It was a relief. It really was. It was a load off my back to finally know, ok, I can probably start getting my life back,” said Quintana.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office says to minimize the risk of identity theft, shred all applications with your personal information on them.

To prevent further harm, place a fraud alert on your credit reports, close compromised accounts immediately, report the identity theft and file a police report.

If the big three credit monitoring/reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian) had a free credit-monitoring service, this story might not have happened.

If TransUnion, Equifax and Experian are so interested in “fighting” financial identity theft; why don’t they offer a free credit monitoring service to their customer base?

Because scared customers pay money for a service that credit reporting agencies should be providing for free.