Identity theft is a major problem all over the world. This is especially true here in the United States of America. But what do identity thieves do with the identities they steal? If you are Mia Camille Garza you go on a shopping spree!

According to the Sacramento Bee, Garza favored Prada, Gucci and $3,000 jeans. She liked Victoria's Secret and Saks Fifth Avenue, and she put down $12,000 for a liposuction.

There is No Explanation

How did she manage to bankroll; her shopping? Identity theft – of course. But how?

Authorities would close out the bogus accounts, but somehow she'd reopen them. Even when authorities thought they had shut her down, she bailed out of jail and rang up tens of thousands of dollars in additional charges.

So far, the tab on Mia Camille Garza's identity theft shopping spree has come to more than $1 million. It may go higher, with the information she pilfered from 29,500 Kaiser Permanente employees still out in cyberspace.

For her efforts Garza was sentenced to 12 years and four months in state prison.

So far 305 Kaiser victims have reported fraudulent charges linked to Garza.

The 31-year-old Garza got the information in July 2007 from her job as a benefits clerk at the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers office in Oakland, California. Kaiser compliance officer Bruce Burroughs said the IDs gave Garza her own personal "treasure trove" of stolen data.

Armed with that information, she was able to run credit reports on our employees. She was able to identify their accounts. She changed their personal profiles, reopened closed accounts and opened new accounts and took advantage of instant credit offered by major credit card companies.

Authorities arrested Garza in Contra Costa County in January 2009, but she posted bail and went back into action – even with an electronic monitoring bracelet around her ankle.

When police caught up with her 11 months later she was dressed in a surgical gown and preparing for the fat-reduction.

She described herself as "a sick single mother," a manic-depressive who "self-medicated" on crystal meth. She said she was forced into stealing the names by a physically abusive boyfriend.

It’s always someone else’s fault.