Franz Kafka wrote about this sort of thing.
It is very creepy to know that there's another person you've never met, who has all your identity documents, living a parallel life, doing all sorts of things you would never do.
Someone pretending to be me (complete with fraudulent passport and driving licence, so that he could open a bank account in my name) has just made £ 12,000 from a national government department. A bank where I've never had an account is where he keeps his money. When I rang that bank, they suggested I go immediately to the police, and report a crime.So I did.
Read about this sort of thing at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/28/ukcrime.scamsandfraud
and at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/oct/08/identityfraud.immigration
I mentioned to the constable at the local nick that I was worried about how to clear my name (I hadn't taken the money, but someone using my identity has), and he couldn't tell me how I might explain to the Tax office, prospective employers, or indeed the courts, that it wasn't me who stole the money.
The Times covers this briefly in an article at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article1270214.ece
This raises the question "How can I prove that this person standing before you is really me, and not an impostor ?"
Unless my fingerprints are on a file somewhere (unlikely) then anyone who says they are me, can indeed act as me, until the real me comes along and challenges him.
It's not over yet. I am awaiting a call from the CID, who may take an interest in my case . . .
Did anything exciting happen to you this week ??
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