When Axton Betz-Hamilton set up her first utility bill at college, she soon realized something was very, very wrong.

It turned out she’d been a victim of identity theft—and it had destroyed her credit rating.

In 2001, when she was a 19-year-old student, Betz-Hamilton’s new utility provider demanded a $100 security deposit to turn on her service, citing her credit score.

“I thought it was because I didn’t have enough credit,” she told Fortune. But when a copy of her credit report turned up in her mailbox six weeks later, she learned the opposite was true.

  • kaitco@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    60
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    This isn’t new. One of my cousins did this to three of her four kids. 😬 This has been a thing for ages.

    • tooclose104
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      30
      ·
      1 year ago

      My wife’s bio-birth pod did this to a few of her siblings. It’s kinda wild that it’s even possible.

      • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        What’s a bio birth pod? Another term for her biological family because they were no family to her?

        • tooclose104
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Her biological mother who’s a terrible waste of oxygen, ya. So far gone on drugs she doesn’t recognize her own kids when asking them for change down town.