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
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    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@lemmy.ca
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      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
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        1 year ago

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

        • tooclose104@lemmy.ca
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          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.