ILLINOIS – Nearly thirty years have passed for Harry Lime and Marv Murchins since they were apprehended in New York City following an attempted robbery of a toy store’s cash in addition to kidnapping a child who was visiting the city on his own. Little had been heard from the two since they were incarcerated and subsequently released 15 years later.
“We totally had the whole wet or sticky bandit thing wrong,” claims Marv Murchins. “Burglary in general just wasn’t right for us. And we kept getting caught by that kid! When Harry and I were in the slammer, we knew we had to up our game. So, we started learning about identity theft! Now we are the ID Bandits!”
“I never forgot about that kid. It was only a matter of time before we tried to get even with the little CREEP.” Harry Lime, now much older, reminisces about the day he got out of prison with a new criminal career. “Me and Marv stepped outside and took a deep breath. We were out and we now knew out to defraud people. We stayed away from the McCallister kid for a while, focusing on developing ourselves as identity thieves.”
Meanwhile, Kevin McCallister, who was unaware of all of this, went about living his life. He grew up, went to college, got a job, settled down, had some kids, and was oblivious to what his former kidnappers were up to. Despite this unawareness, the events from Chicago and New York had led Kevin into a career in security.
Home security was his thing, and he did it well. In the back of his mind, he felt that their rivalry had never really ended; that they were out there waiting to strike. And if so, he had a few tricks up his sleeve to deal with the aging robbers. He had more than just swinging buckets of paint and electric charcoal starters on doorknobs.
Unfortunately for Kevin, while he was an expert in physical home security, he did not place the same emphasis on his identity. He rarely checked his bank balances, credit bureau reports, and did not utilize any identity monitoring services. It was a lucky break for Marv and Harry, who had obtained Kevin’s personal information through the dark web.
They had waited years to get even with the kid who had got them arrested multiple times. They used the information they had to open bank accounts and credit cards in Kevin’s name. One day, when Kevin was teaching his son Jr. how to rig a motion sensor, he received a call from a bank asking if he had applied for a personal loan. He quickly realized that the problem was much bigger, which resulted in working through recovering his identity.
Marv, happy at the success, sent one of the maxed-out credit cards he had opened in Kevin’s name to Kevin’s house with “ID Bandit” written in sharpie. He and Harry had finally won. Or so they thought. Kevin now had a new perspective and a new fight.
“I knew it was them as soon as I saw the card. Then it clicked. This is my identity; I have to defend it. I realized that security was more than just for my house and the stuff inside. It was more than protecting the physical well-being of my family. So, once I got my identity theft issues resolved, I decided to expand.”
Kevin, true to form, created his own identity monitoring and security service, KEViD. He could now help others while continuing to protect himself against the ID Bandits. Meanwhile, Marv and Harry, who had used the money they stole from McCallister, decided to try it again. It was a mistake they would regret. KEViD was sophisticated technology. And Kevin’s knowledge of the bandits and passion for stopping crime led to a place where they had solid evidence against the two. Working with law enforcement, Kevin and his company built a case against the ID Bandits, eventually leading to the re-arrest of the two.
Marv and Harry were later busted on multiple counts of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. As the police officer put Harry in the squad car, he could see Kevin McCallister smiling and waving. The Wet/Sticky/ID Bandits had lost yet again. They were later tried, convicted, and sentenced to twenty years in prison.
“That little CREEP!” shouts Harry from his cell. He looks at Marv. “You said ‘all the great ones leave their mark.’ You tipped him off!”
KEViD continues to grow as an industry leading identity monitoring and security service. McCallister says that he had made it his goal in life to protect others from identity fraud. He also continues to emphasize the importance of a good home security system.
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