Identity Theft - A Case Study

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Axton's family called electric companies and credit card companies one by one, slowly clearing up each tangle as it came. There weren't even any federal laws designating individuals as victims of identity theft. Axton wasn't really paying attention until she had to. She realized this was just the tip of the iceberg.

When Axton Betz-Hamilton was 11 years old, her parents' identities were stolen. At that time, in the early 90s, consumer protection services for identity theft victims were basically non-existent. So the family dealt with the consequences as best they could. But when Axton Betz-Hamilton got to college, she realized that her identity had been stolen, too. In fact, her credit score was in the lowest 2%. As she was working to restore her credit, she inadvertently discovered who had stolen the family's identity: a woman named Pam Elliot. And knowing it was Pam Elliot would change everything for Axton Betz-Hamilton.

View the photograph Axton describes here.

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