A Case Of Mistaken Identity In June 1993, Adelaide Andrews visited a radiologists office and filled out a standard form for patients. She supplied basic information–name, Social Security number and date of birth. Andrea Andrews, the office receptionist, copied the information, moved to Las Vegas and had a little fun at Adelaides expense.
Andrea applied for a department store credit card, using her own name and address plus Adelaides Social Security number. Because the information Andrea submitted produced a match of the first initial, last name and Social Security number of Adelaides information, Trans Union released her credit report to the department store. Andrea was in business. Her department store account eventually became delinquent.
TRW, another credit bureau, got in the act by providing Adelaides credit report to four creditors that used the same matching criteria of first initial, last name and Social Security number that garnered Andrea the department store credit card. Only one creditor, a Las Vegas cable company, provided Andrea with a line of credit, which of course also became delinquent.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
