These individuals were accused of pretending to be individuals they weren’t
Even though all criminal offenses is disturbing to someone on some level, circumstances of identity theft and impersonation hit their victims hard, sometimes financially, sometimes in terms of feeling vulnerable and sometimes their reputation suffers. If another person violates your name to partake in activities, it can be not only inconvenient, but hurtful, and especially if you were specifically targeted. Even though plenty of scammers will simply grab and use the details of anyone they can get their hands on, some have loftier aspirations and choose higher profile victims to take advantage of. In these cases counterfeiters can stand to make a lot more from their strategy due to the increasing stakes, but there are also harsh penalties if you are caught or accused of using someone else’s identity for illegitimate purposes. Here are a couple of people who were arrested for this class of crime in the past year.
In an age where everyone has a social media profile, one could very well anticipate that it should be extremely difficult to pose someone, considering the web has an extended record of what individuals look like, where they travel, what sort of lifestyle and clothing they like, and lots of other information that should make it possible for an average onlooker to distinguish a counterfeit from the real thing. Nevertheless if you devise a completely fictional member of a family, who would therefore have no such background, then it will become quite overwhelming for anybody not hugely familiarized with the real family to distinguish the deception. This was what happened when a Turkish man was arrested for becoming ‘Dalya Ofer’ online, and making use of the name of an up and running business family to influence deals to his very own advantage.
Sometimes impersonation brings access to not merely money, but to a tiny bit of power as well. James Ochiche was found guilty of impersonating the state Commandant of Nigeria Peace Corps, which the arrested legal team is appealing. Allegedly as well as other perks of the job, the imposter amassed joining fees for recruitment into service from unsuspecting members of the public.
If you are intending to deceive someone, it might possibly be a good idea not to target someone intensely involved in security, but this is precisely what Peter Locsin, a Philippines national, is accused of doing. The thirty five year old purportedly obtained personal details most notably dates of birth, Social Security numbers, address and work history of several victims. These supposedly consist of the director of a gigantic intelligence service, not forgetting a prominent socialite and entertainer and a CEO of a multinational corporation. He then allegedly made an attempt to gain access to these peoples’ bank accounts and credit cards, which presumably would have been quite the scheme if it were not brought to court.
