Meet Shiva Sharma. Husband, father, identity thief, inmate of the Mohawk Correctional Facility in Rome, New York. Shiva has no idea how much money he’s stolen from other people, but by the time of his third arrest for identity theft, he’d been nailed in connection with over $150,000 in credit card fraud transaction.

Although the New York Times takes great pains to cast Sharma as a plucky computer genius turned criminal mastermind, what’s really remarkable is what a sleazy idiot he is. For example, he was first arrested when he used a credit card number he’d stolen to get a new computer printer shipped to him at his home address. When he signed for the package, the cops swarmed in. Then he’d get out of jail and do it again. He became the go-to guy for Queens Postal Inspectors.

His wife is similarly insightful. “I hate computers,” she said. “I think they’re the devil.” No, lady… your dirtbag husband is.

Identity Thief Finds Easy Money Hard to Resist [New York Times]

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