>My checkbook was stolen at the grocery store. This happened about 3 years ago. Bogus checks kept showing up. I filed a police report and closed the account. I was not liable for any of the checks, which amounted to about $5000 worth of stuff. I don't understand why the merchant didn't ask for ID, especially when buying cameras and bicycles worth several hundred dollars.

Was there any cutoff point? Like everything after the police report was exempted or did you just give them the last check number you could remember and they checked all of them after that?

I thought I had seen something on 20/20 where they discussed this issue while profiling identity theft. Some lady had $20k written on an account opened by someone else using her DL, SSN, and DOB. They really emphasized that the lady was stuck with the debt and a bad credit report. This was two years later and she was still clearing the trouble.

Any legal eagles know about this?