You can get an arrest warrant if someone commits an offence and gives the police your name. It can take only a minute to get your identity stolen if a thief has access to your wallet. You should take steps to prevent this from happening but it's impossible to be 100% sure that someone isn't impersonating you.
Why did the police get Antony Wayman out of bed in the middle of the night?
Antony is a shy kind of guy who works in a bank. He isn't a high flyer but he knows his job very well and if he keeps his record clean he will surely progress through the ranks into a well paid position someday.
Antony is well aware of the dangers and problems that can be caused by identity theft so he routinely takes steps to avoid it happening. He shreds everything with his name or address on it. He shields his hands at the ATM machine and he never gives away any information when someone calls him on the phone. He's never been in trouble with the police so why did the cops wake Antony up in the middle of the night banging on his door?
Do you know how easy it is to get your identity stolen?
It happened more than 2 years before the police came for Antony. He would usually work through his lunch hour at his desk but it was such a beautiful day he decided that for once he would take a walk in the park instead. He was feeling very daring that day so he took one of the towels from the bank washroom to sit on the grass without getting his suit dirty.
Antony found a nice spot,
lay down his towel then sat on it. It was so hot that day that he couldn't help himself lying down for just a moment to relax. It wasn't long before Antony was asleep and he stayed that way for a good 15 minutes. He had been working so hard and he deserved a little de-stressing time. When his lunch hour was up he picked up the towel and returned to the office.
What Antony will never know is that someone picked his pocket while he was asleep that day. The thief was wearing a suit and had his own blanket to sit on. He had been waiting for someone like Antony to appear on such a nice day. When the thief saw Antony lying asleep he couldn't believe his luck. Picking his wallet out of his pocket and replacing it was no problem at all to him. He didn't steal anything so Antony will never know that it happened.
Antony had just had his identity stolen. The thief got away with his credit card numbers, his address and his bank employee number. More than enough to enable the thief to impersonate him.
How to get into trouble without doing anything wrong
If someone gets caught committing a crime then gets let out on bail and disappears, the court will issue a Bench Warrant. If the criminal gave the police your name instead of their own then the Bench Warrant will be made out for your arrest and not for the real criminal. Scary isn't it?
Now the thief that stole Antony's identity had never planned to get caught but he had planned escape routes to use if he ever did get caught. In this case his escape route was Antony's identity and it worked beautifully. He managed to get off free without the fear of the police chasing him. Antony will get that pleasure.
This story is all fiction, it never happened. At least it didn't happen to Antony because I made him up but it could happen to you.
If you have an arrest warrant you can get arrested at any time
It might be when you get pulled over for a random auto check or you were driving a little too fast. The police will often do a routine check on you and if they find any warrants they will arrest you right there.
If you don't get arrested like this then sooner or later the cops will come for you and drag you out of your home. They won't care whether you're guilty or not. There is a warrant for your arrest and it's their job to arrest you.
Discover your arrest warrants before the cops come for you and sleep easy at night
If you hand yourself in voluntarily when you have an arrest warrant then the court will most likely treat you better than if the police had to search you out and bring you in. Show that you've made an effort to put things right and you'll be rewarded for it. At the very least you can avoid the embarrassment of being arrested on your doorstep in your robe. But how do you find out if you have a warrant or not?
Regular background checks could save your embarrassment
It can take only 5 minutes to do a background check on yourself using an online public records database. It's quick, cheap and fully confidential. If you discover that you have a warrant you can see a lawyer and hand yourself in. Sort it out now before the situation turns into a major problem in your life.
