Digital contracts.

Copies of her own driver’s license.

Balance transfers routed through accounts linked directly to her name.

“I never applied for these!” Theresa gasped.

And the agent, not unkindly, pointed to the verification records, which showed that the applications had been completed using Theresa’s own credentials and personal information.

I will not detail the mechanics of how it was done, because the how of stealing a person’s identity is not something that belongs on a page; it is enough to say that whoever had taken out these ruinous loans had done so by using the private, trusting access that Theresa had granted to someone very close to her.

And then Theresa’s eyes fell on a photograph attached to one of the verification pages, a clear image, captured on the security camera of a financial center, of a woman picking up certified loan documents.