Industry News
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| | Identity theft victim works to make banks accountable
By: Brian Holt, Photographer
By: Robin Murdoch, Reporter
Date created: 11/21/2007 5:33:35 PM
Last updated: 11/22/2007 9:09:31 AM
A Sevierville woman who became the victim of identity theft is working to turn her hardship into a means of protecting others. Advertisement
Susan Rose Hunkler believes if it can happen to her, it can happen to you. She's pushing for tougher laws to make identity theft more difficult.
Hunkler is a singer who now works as a lighting designer for some of the country's hottest shows. Recently, she found out her personal biography had become a tool for theft.
"Apparently, I have a second life out there that I didn't know about," she says. "I found out a man had been using my social security number with his name for 16 years."
She discovered the theft when she signed up for Equifax credit watch after her 78 year-old mother was a victim of identity theft.
"I felt totally violated. All these years, this guy has created a second identity using my number," says Hunkler.
The Florida businessman allegedly got approved for at least one dozen credit cards and a $325,000 loan using her identity, all before Hunkler had any clue.
She's now created a website, www.makebanksresponsible.com, to educate others about identity theft, and she's started a petition drive to hold banks accountable.
"It would be nice to go after the criminal but you're never going to catch most of them, so why not go to the people who are enabling this to happen and try and get some laws in place to enforce them to be more stringent with their practices?" says Hunkler of her push to get banks to stop ID theft. | |
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