Friday’s Food for Thought: We Are Family…Aren’t We?

Yesterday our weekly “Worst Person of the Week” post showcased how a daughter had her credit decimated by her mom, who opened up five credit cards in her daughter’s name. A truly disturbing story that made us think: hmmm, why would people intentionally hurt their own flesh and blood in this way?

Often when we picture identity thieves we picture sneaky strangers going through our mail or trash. Sometimes we visualize lone hackers sitting a basement or even a savvy and professional identity theft ring. We may even remember the account numbers stolen by fast food associates.

But how many of us picture someone in our own family? How many of us would picture our own Dad or Grandfather? Family identity theft is more common than most people know. As in other crimes like murder or kidnapping, chances are that a family member may very well be a suspect. Read more from Knol here.

And, of course, understanding human nature is a very difficult thing. Poets, artists, philosophers and psychologists have all tried to shed a light on our human condition. But alas, some things are just out of our realm of comprehension. Perhaps family on family identity theft crimes falls into this category — because honestly, the editorial team at the ITAC blog is completely stumped. Welcome all thoughts, comments and feedback.