Karen Lodrick is one of the many victims of identity theft in America. For five months, a woman stalked all of her credit information, social security information, even her drivers license information. She completely took over Lodrick's financial life. She did not just stop at taking the money Karen currently had, but she opened numerous credit card accounts in Karen's name. She tried to track this woman from banks to stores but could never quite catch up. Every time Karen closed one of the credit or debit cards, the unknown woman would open another and continue to charge a mountain of debt in Karen's name.
One morning, while in a Starbucks, Karen noticed a woman standing near her. She had some expensive designer name glasses, and was carrying a coat. Karen thought about where she had seen the woman before, and finally realized that this was the woman she had seen in the surveillance tapes of when her identity was stolen. Karen didn't know what to do, so as the woman and the man she was with sat down outside, Karen called 911 and asked for a police officer to meet her. Soon, Karen got a phone call from a friend of hers, Ed. As she was talking to Ed, the woman got up and started to leave. She looked as if she recognized Karen and got nervous. Karen told Ed that she was going to follow the woman. Ed told her to be careful, because the woman could be dangerous.
Karen started to follow the woman all across town. While following her, Karen called 911 again, this time keeping them on the line so they could keep track of where she was. As Karen was chasing her, the woman threw something in a shopping cart she passed by. Karen picked it up, noticed it was a wallet, but did not take enough time to stop and see what was in it. The woman then tried to get into a taxi, and Karen confronted her. The woman asked Karen why she was chasing her, and told Karen that if she got caught by the police she would be arrested. She then continued to run. Karen chased her for another half an hour but lost her. When the police got there, she went through the woman's wallet and found her own bank statements, pay checks, and even cue cards with her social security number, address, and drivers license information. A few minutes later, police caught the woman.
The fact that this article could have simply been written in one or two paragraphs would have taken away why it's so amazing to readers. The spacing between the paragraphs makes the readers read the article even faster as they try to find out what will happen. The author uses flashbacks in the middle of the article to give the reader background information, and to prolong the final outcome. Readers seem to find it so inspiring because Karen was on a real chase scene, however, there were no weapons involved, nor did any harm come to either women.
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