Ever have your identity stolen?

If you've ever had your identity stolen, you know the kind of mess it creates for you.  I had my identity stolen about 16 years ago, no big deal, someone had gotten a couple of credit cards under my name without my consent and charged away.  I immediately called all the different card companies and credit reporting agencies and notified them of the situation.  Once I did that I thought I had it all behind me, little did I know what I had gotten myself into!  Once I got the fraudulent items discharged and removed from my credit my identity was flagged within all the credit bureau's as having been a victim of identity theft.  From this point forward there were no more instant credit approvals at department stores or car dealers, every request for credit I made from that point on had to be manually approved by whoever was considering my credit worthiness.  Now that was for small stuff, if I was applying for major credit (car, home, etc) it was even worse, you can't imagine what kind of hassle I had to go through in order to get ANY KIND OF CREDIT after my identity was stolen.  In fact it obtaining credit became such a hassle over the next few years, I actually abstained from getting any new credit at all.

What's my 16 year old identity theft have to do with our blog?  It's safe to conclude from my story that if you were a victim of identity theft any credit card, loan, etc that you try to obtain after you claimed your identity was stolen is going to be a major pain in the ass, whoever is considering lending you money is going to go through your request for credit with a fine tooth comb and turn your life upside down before giving you a cent.  In other words, the last thing in the world you'd want to do if you were running a mortgage fraud scam with a straw buyer would be to have them claim their identity was stolen right before you pull of your scam right?  Imagine if Mr. Barrera was really involved in the fraudulent purchase of the Oak Avenue home, based on what we've gleaned from my story, it would have been much more difficult (if not impossible) for Mr. Barrera or the people who were using his credit to obtain a loan from Citi Mortgage for the purchase of the home.  So how the hell did Mr. Barrera or the people who used his credit get the loan for the Oak Avenue home when we learned that in early February 2008 Mr. Barrera had claimed his identity was stolen on another fraudulent deal? Let's let the documents tell the story, here's a page from the 1003 loan application that Mr. Barrera filled out for the Oak Avenue home mortgage...

Barrera Loan Application for Oak Avenue Home

Notice the date?  January 16, 2008.  So far so good.  Just 9 days later GE Money, the bank that lent the money on the fraudulent boat purchase mails a statement for the loan to Mr. Barrera's address...


Bernardo Barrera Boat Loan Statement

It's safe to conclude that by the end of January or the first week of February 2008 that even if on the odd chance that Mr. Barrera really got his identity stolen for this boat deal, he was alerted to its existence well before he told the police he found out his identity was stolen for the boat deal.  Now, let's take a look at that Citi Mortgage commitment letter for the Oak Avenue home loan that Citi mailed to Mr. Barrera's primary residence...


Bernardo Barrera Commitment Letter 2 From Citi Mortgage for Oak Avenue Home

That letter from Citi Mortgage was mailed to Mr. Barrera's primary residence on January 31, 2008, we can only assume it reached Mr. Barrera within a week of leaving Citi Mortgage's Ann Arbor Michigan office.  Once Citi issued the commitment letter, the mortgage for the Oak Avenue fraud was a done deal, from this point on there was no more scrutiny of Mr. Barrera's credit history in other words, wouldn't this be a great time to report the other identity theft?  Take a look at the date on the police report for the boat identity theft deal...

Bernardo Barrera Boat Identity Theft Police Report

You see that?  The report was filed on February 8, 2008 after Citi Mortgage sent the commitment letter for the Oak Avenue mortgage, essentially at this point the Oak Avenue mortgage was a done deal.  Remember, once Mr. Barrera screams identity theft, he's busted out, his usefulness as a straw buyer is finished.  Coincidence or perfectly engineered scam?


That's enough for now.  Let's not forget that this steaming pile of $hit that the state calls a case is only 6 days away from trial...