I am concerned about about my privacy to prevent:

1. My bank account being drained by hackers.

2. Medical information stolen.

3. Getting cat-fished.

4. My identity being stolen again.

Identify Theft, 2003

"Did you spent $827 in Fragrances at Macy's last night at 8:30 p.m.?" my credit card company called to ask at 9:00 a.m. A thief had charged a number of items using my credit card at the Fragrances counter.

"NO," I replied. The credit card manager canceled the charge, and I canceled my credit cards.

Stolen Mail

Recently my mail had been stolen from the mailbox on my porch. I found discarded mail scattered on my lawn. Obviously, the thief was using convenience checks for my account sent by the credit card company. So, I got a Post Office box.

Police Cases Numbers

Since mail fraud is a federal crime, I got a case number and detective assigned to my case from the Wenatchee police. Wound up doing this with police in 10 other cities.

Bills arrived from stores throughout Eastern Washington. I did not even open the bills. Just wrote on the back of the envelopes:

"My mail was stolen on (date). A thief is using my checks. Contact: detective name, case number, police station, city, state. The thief is using the name, Kevin L. Miller, and my address."

Thief Arrested

I am nothing if not determined. Kept careful documentation.

Walmart in Moses Lake got fed up. They hired a police officer for the check stands.

Dressed in a business suit, the thief was 30 years old. His apartment was crammed with a check-making machine, credit card making machine, a driver's license making machine, and piles of checks with the names, addresses and bank accounts of thousands of people in Eastern Washington.

Life Sentence

With two previous identify theft convictions, he got a life sentence under Washington's "Three Strikes and You're Out" law.

The police used my documentation as evidence.

To prevent identity theft

You're right to a certain extent. Skip tracers and professionals can easily find you if you've not been trying to hide - I mean, there are things you can do to hide from them, I'll not go into it. But average people can't hide from professionals for very long.