Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Gorgeous brainiac college student's LIFE DESTROYED...BY HER OWN MOM LEADING DOUBLE LIFE

Episode Date: November 26, 2019

When Axton Betz-Hamilton started her freshman year in college, she found out her identity had been stolen years ago, when she was an 11-year-old living in a small Indiana town with her family. The thief turned out to be none other than her own mother!Joining Nancy today to discuss Axton's case of heartbreak and reclamation is: Axton Betz-Hamilton: Author of "The Less People Know About Us: A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity" Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober Natalie Elisha-Gold: Attorney and Author of "Millenial's Guide To The Universe" Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. A gorgeous young co-ed, she heads off to college, but she finds out that things had gone very, very wrong. Bit by bit, day by day, someone is chipping away at us criminally and we have no idea. Then you find out when you can't get a phone line, when you can't get cable, when you can't rent an apartment, you're trashed because someone has stolen your ID,

your credit ID. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I remember when I left home to go to college. I left what a lot of people call nowhere out in unincorporated Bibb County in the middle of Georgia where there was nothing to see except tall pine trees and soybean fields as far as the eye could see. But it was everything to me. I was driven down to then Valdosta State College on the Florida line and left unceremoniously. I didn't know my mom cried the whole way home, but there I was with my locker and a couple of bags and entered the oldest and ugliest dorm on campus and started college life with somebody I didn't even know as a roommate. But it turned out just fine. That is, for a lot of people, some of the happiest memories

of their life when they start all over in a brand new place at college. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. And that's what it should have been for a gorgeous young co-ed, Axton Betts Hamilton. She heads off to college, but she finds out in her trek to college that things had gone very, very wrong. Listen. Axton Betts Hamilton was 19 when she first requested a copy of her credit report. She expected a high score, but got exactly the opposite.

My credit report was 10 pages long, full of fraudulent credit card entries and associated collection agency entries. She learned her identity had been stolen years earlier when she was just 11. But the biggest shock was who stole it. Joining me right now, the author of The Less People Know About Us, The Better. It's Axton Betts Hamilton joining us and speaking out. Forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Bober. And renowned attorney and author of Millennials Guide to the Universe, Natalie Gold. Guys, thank you for being with us.

You know, to Axton, your book is tremendous. I've got it right here in front of me, and I learned so much. I remember in law school taking out massive loans to pay for tuition and books. Everything else I had to, you know, make on my own. My parents paid rent for a place near the law school and that was it. And if it had not been for those loans, I couldn't have gone to law school or bought my books or anything. So, Axton Betts Hamilton, explain to me when you first realized something was wrong. I moved off campus my sophomore year and I was so excited to get my own place and get out of

the dorms. And I found a place that would allow me to have my cats that I had had since I was 10 and 12 that were back at home. And I called the electric company to establish service. And over the phone, they told me the date and time they would be there to establish service. And I thought things were moving along and was really excited to have this little apartment of my own. And a few days later, the electric company sends me a letter that says, due to your credit score, we're requiring $100 deposit to establish service. And there was a number to call at the bottom of the letter to get a copy of my credit report. And I thought at the time it was because I didn't have credit. I knew enough about credit to know that having no credit could be just as detrimental as having bad credit. And I

thought that's all it was because I was 19. I really shouldn't have had any credit. And I called the number at the bottom of the letter just because I was curious about what was on a credit report. I'd never seen one. I'd never heard of such a thing. And I just wanted to see what this credit bureau had in a file on me. I was just curious.

I had no inclination that anything was wrong at this point. And I called and gave them my information. They said they'd give me, or they'd send me my credit report. And I forgot about it for six weeks. What about my life? Moved into the apartment, was going to classes, doing my thing. And I stepped off the city bus one day outside of my apartment complex, and our mailboxes were on the outer wall. And I saw this large manila envelope sticking out of my mailbox, folded over. And I thought to myself, that looks really official. And, boy, it's been a long day at school, and I really don't want to deal with that.

But I did. And I went to the mailbox, and I saw it was from the credit bureau. And it was a really thick envelope. And at the time, I thought to myself, wow, credit reports must come with a lot of instructions and a lot of disclosures, and they must be really difficult to read because I shouldn't really have much of a credit report. And I walked into my apartment, sat on the arm of my couch, opened the envelope, and learned very quickly that credit reports do not come with a lot of instructions and a lot of disclosures they're not difficult to read but rather my credit report was 10 pages long and it was full of fraudulent credit card entries and associated collection agency entries okay wait whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa wait stop right there you're just 18-ish years old. How can all of these fraudulent entries be on your credit report?

Natalie Gold with me, renowned attorney and author of Millennials Guide to the Universe. I think they need a guide, Natalie Gold. Thank you. Natalie, question. How can a bad credit report ruin your life, especially when you're just getting started? Let me count the ways. As a man much smarter than me said, look, credit, whether we like it or not, is a parameter of which society getting a rental property, owning property at all, That's what we're based on. So of course, a terrible credit score can negatively impact us in every way, whether it be that you can't get a car and a

lease or that the amount you're paying is two to three times what otherwise would be. And Nancy, hearing Axton's story is so heart-wrenching. And I am not so surprised because I see clients in my line of work every day that think that they can do, and they sometimes are just in denial of what they can do to their kids because they feel that they brought these kids into existence. They can do what they want

and they can open accounts in their name. They can transfer property to their name to protect themselves. mean and i a lot of these clients i have don't even think there's something wrong with this right so we're all going we're all we're all going about our business not realizing that bit by bit day by day someone is chipping away at us criminally and we have no idea then you find out when you can't get a phone line when you can't get cable when you can't rent an apartment you're trashed because someone has stolen your id your credit id not your driver's license in your wallet or your social security card that you got stashed away in your underwear drawer but your credit is destroyed and

it can ruin your life you know the other day i was taking the twins up to go hiking all right and john david started singing this in the back seat this is not an ad this is what john david started singing in the back seat listen well i was shopping for a new car which one's me a cool convertible or an suv too bad i didn't know my credit was whack because now i'm driving off the Listen. Credit.com, baby. Yeah. Okay, yeah, my son was singing that and he's 11. I said, John David, do you even know what a credit report is? He said no. And then he kept singing CreditReport.com, baby, something like that. By the time we were at the hiking spot, I knew the whole thing by heart.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. But it's not just about getting a car. It's not just about straightening up some white-collar crime. I remember distinctly Natalie Gold, attorney and author of Millennial's Guide to the Universe. I was looking at a condo to be close to the courthouse and stupid, stupid. And I was a prosecutor a brand new prosecutor but I left my pocketbook in the car I wasn't in the condo for 20 minutes I came out my car window was bashed in my pocketbook which had my social security card in it which was also stupid, was gone. And I couldn't believe it.

Along with, I think, my badge. I still had my badge on me. My gold badge as a prosecutor. But everything else was gone. Credit cards, driver's license, Social Security. The works. It was about six months later, I learned that somehow a Nigerian fraud ring had created a new Nancy Grace identity in Chicago.

And I gave a statement to a prosecutor over the phone and they were prosecuted. But people create, Natalie Gold, a whole new identity. It's you out there in cyberspace. Absolutely, Nancy. And the scariest thing today is, you know, that story that you told that happened to you is devastating. And it's something that at least you know has happened. You know that your car was broken into. You know that these things were stolen.

And today's modern day technology, I mean, they don't even have to go to those lengths. They can just be sitting on their computer, very nice, drinking their cup of coffee as they go in and get our, what we call in the business PII, personally identifiable information. And from that, we could not even know. They could take our social security number. They could take our names and addresses. They could take so many things and pretend to be us. And in today's social media society where your reputation can be busted in 10 seconds

or less. We really have to be so careful. And, Nancy, to your point, it wasn't stupid what you did. It was just careless. And a lot of our listeners, you know, we do careless things every single day. But I think that this story really is about how do we take the precautions to protect ourselves? Because I'll tell you, Nancy, in my line of work as an estate attorney and a wealth attorney, the biggest thing in my mind is when someone, heaven forbid, dies, 64% of people die without a will, okay? This money is just sitting in the bank waiting to be taken by a beneficiary. So all these states have

to do is figure out who is that beneficiary and go and pretend to be them at the bank and get hundreds of thousands of dollars. And if you think I'm kidding, there's billions of dollars with the B over the United States and unclaimed funds that people don't even know about. And to me, that is something, you know, going into X-Story and even what happened to you. But what about when you know the thief? She first requested a copy of her credit report. She expected a high score, but got exactly the opposite. My credit report was 10 pages long, full of fraudulent credit card entries and associated collection agency entries. She learned her identity had been stolen years earlier when she was just 11.

But the biggest shock was who stole it, her own mother. And not only did she steal my identity, she stole my father's identity as well as my grandfather's identity. She ruined her own credit and then moved on to ours. Axton discovered it after her mother had died. Joining me right now, the author of an incredible book, The Less People Know About Us. It's Axton Betts Hamilton, forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Bober, and attorney and author of Millennial's Guide to the Universe, Natalie Gold to Axton Betts Hamilton. So you're trying to start your life and you can't get anything done because you have a horrible, horrible credit rating. And you find that your identity has been totally hacked.

But you never suspected the woman you trusted the most in your life. Your mother is the one that stole your identity and wrecked your life. Axton, when did you realize who was behind your misfortune? I realized it was mom after she passed away in 2013. So from the time that I discovered I was a victim of identity theft until I found out that she was, the perpetrator was 12 years. Oh, my stars. I just, Axton, when you, how did you realize, first of all, that it was your mother? Well, it was 13 days after my mom had passed away. My dad was in an outbuilding on their property where mom had stored different things. And he was going through a file box.

And he found a credit card statement in my name that had been ran over limit back in 2001. And he called me and he was furious with me because I had ran a credit card over the limit in 2001. And he said, you know, what were you thinking? We raised you better than that. And I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, I didn't. What are you talking about? And he said, well, don't you lie to me. I have the credit card statement in my hand. And I said, well, what credit card is it? And he told me, and I said, well, dad, that was one of the credit cards that was taken out in my name as part of the identity theft. What's mom doing with that? And he said, well, I don't know, but it's in here in the file with your birth certificate and my blood ran cold because I had my birth certificate and also there was no logical reason

for a credit card statement and my birth certificate to be in the same file folder with me is Axton Betts Hamilton author of the less people know about us on Amazon. Describing the moment, she says her blood ran cold. Axton, why did you get that chill when you saw, quote, your birth certificate? When I saw my birth certificate that was in that file, it was a certified copy of my birth certificate from the health department that was issued on June 7th of 2000. I didn't live at home on June 7th of 2000. I was taking summer classes in college. I couldn't have gotten that birth certificate.

So what likely happened is that mom went to the county health department, requested a certified copy of my birth certificate, likely because when she applied for the credit card in 2000, when the credit card company checked my credit, they questioned the address. You know, they most likely thought this could be fraudulent because at that time my address would have been my college address, not the address back at home two hours away.

And they likely sent a letter saying, we need additional proof of your identity. And that birth certificate was probably part of that proof for mom to say, no, I'm really accident. And, you know, this is legitimately her credit card application and please send it. You know, this is shocking to me. This information, for those of you just joining us, is so disturbing and so shocking. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Welcome back, guys. I'm Nancy Grace. Thank you for being with us.

With us, Axton Betts-Hamilton, Dr. Daniel Bober, and Natalie Gold. Axton, it's hard for people to get their mind around the fact that your mom, unbeknownst to you, stole your ID, her dad's ID, her grandfather's ID, in order to rack up bills. Bills for what? I wish I knew. That's part of the mystery.

We know that over the 20 years that the identity theft was taking place, between all three of our identities, there's at least $600,000 approximately that has either been misappropriated or it's just plain missing. Most of the, I shouldn't say most, a large portion of that, roughly $150,000 is just missing from the last two and a half years of her life. Axson's parents' identity had been stolen when she was a little girl. And as a teen, she discovers her own identity was stolen when she was just 11, that somebody racked up $500,000 in credit card debt. But what she did not know was the thief was with her all along.

The thief was there when she graduated. The thief was there. It was her own mother. With me, professor of consumer studies at Eastern Illinois University, describing what happened. Now, you were renting an apartment trying to get electric service, but then the electric company sends you a letter saying you had to put down $100 deposit because of your horrible credit score, and then you get a 10-page credit report. Axton, when you realized that your mom was the one that had stolen your identity,

what went through your mind? Well, it was a set of conflicting emotions because as a student,, a student, you know, as an undergraduate and then as a graduate student, I focused on identity theft in my studies in part out of frustration because of my own experience in trying to recover and how difficult that was. But I also wanted to help other people because surely there are other victims out there who were just as frustrated as I was. And I really wanted to solve the case. You know, I talk about that in the book, you know, from, you know, from the time this all started with my parents, I wanted the case to be resolved. And there was... Well, wait a minute, Axton, you're absolutely correct. Take a listen to our friend, Dr. Phil.

You say that she stole your identity. Yes. And opened up, what, 10 credit cards? 10, maybe more. 10, maybe more credit cards in your name? Yes, along with a electricity bill as well. Utility bill and 10 credit cards. Yes.

You said that you wanted to focus to be on the relationship. Well, then let's talk about the relationship. relationship. Did you hijack your daughter's identity? No, I did not. The electric... Okay, so you didn't open 10 credit cards in her name? No, I did not. She was aware of the one to start her credit when she was at school. I did the electric bill so she could have a place of residency. You knew that. Well, look, there aren't versions of the truth. Did she or did she not open up credit cards in your name? Yes, she did.

And they weren't for you. She had the credit cards. Yes, she had the credit cards the whole time. Wow. You are hearing Dr. Phil take on a mom and daughter where the mom takes out credit cards in daughter Taylor's name. Mom keeps the credit cards for herself, and she's not the only one. Take a listen to our friend at ABC, Pierre Thomas.

Olivia McNamara was starting her freshman year at Vanderbilt University, and like so many 18-year-olds, applying for her first credit card. That's when the nightmare started. Olivia's credit applications were rejected twice. Someone had stolen her identity when she was nine years old. They had years to run up 1.5 million dollars in debt. I can't even describe it. It's just really shocking and we just had no idea. The thieves created more than 42 accounts, defaulting on all of them. They took loans out on boats and houses and everything. Olivia's still working to clear her credit.

It may take her months, if not years, to start fresh. A new report estimates that a staggering 1 in 10 American children are victims with no clue it's happening. Criminals hack home computers looking for tax forms with the Social Security numbers of children. They've also stolen identities from hospitals, child welfare agencies, even schools. Thieves stole 11 year old Brianna's Social Security number and ran up more than a hundred and thirty two thousand dollars in debt buying a car and a house. Using eight year old

Bradley's ID, crooks took out two student loans and got five credit cards. Total damage, $19,200. Thieves use false names and addresses repeatedly, simply opening new accounts after they default. Joining me, Axton Betts Hamilton, author of The Less People Know About Us. Speaking of The Less People Know About you, is it true your mom did not want a funeral, nor does she want an obituary? And what do you believe the reasoning is behind that? I think she wanted to take her secrets and her crimes with her to the grave. having an obituary and a funeral service that different people that she was telling different versions of the truth to would all converge in one place, meaning the funeral home, and start saying things to us and questioning things that would make her story and, you know, her

criminal activity unravel right there at the funeral home so she still wanted to isolate us from other people even in her death the mom did not want a funeral did not want an obituary it wasn't because she wanted to keep hiding what she had been doing afraid that if somebody saw her full name they would put two and two together and recognize her. Her real name, Pam, Pamela Betts, but she often went by Pamela Elliott, and that's the name she used frequently, even on Facebook. Question to you, Axton, how did you relate to your mom in life? What was your relationship? I thought it was a good relationship. I talked with her every day. And, you know, mom was this person who had, you know, this larger than life force. She, you know, in our family, she was the knowledgeable one. She was the strong one. You know, even when she had cancer, she faced it fearlessly. And dad and I saw that as a sign of strength. We always saw her as

the strong one, the more rational one, the one who would always know what to do and how to take care of things. But I'm trying to figure out where did all that money go? $500,000? I mean, what kind of lifestyle was your mom leading? What was your home like, your clothes, your cars? Well, we primarily shopped at Walmart because that's what there was in the rural community where I grew up. And that's where, you know, mom bought my clothes. And we inherited my grandfather's farm. So we lived in his limestone ranch style house it was pretty modest house you know we didn't have fancy cars crime stories with nancy grace when you go when you guys went back through all the years of credit card fraud, could you tell what she was doing with it?

No. So that one credit card statement in my name that Dad found, it was an overdue notice. So there were no charges on the statement. And what statements I could find, which, you know, my picture of documents. So there's no trail of what she was purchasing. Is it true that there were indications she may have had a second life in Ohio? Yes. On her computer.

So when I found this out, I became like a CSI technician almost. And I was going through her Facebook. I was going through all of the files on her computer. And I found pictures of a house on a lake. And I found pictures from the inside of a condominium. And the pictures are taken at night. They're not staged and they're not professional. It looks like someone took them on their cell phone and you can tell it's night. You can see that through the window that there's a pretty full moon. And then you can see from the way the condos are designed, what they look like from the outside. So just on a lark, I

Googled condominium complexes in the town where she graduated high school from, and that photo was taken from a condo inside that complex. I have gone to the online property record search in that county to try and find property records in her name or her maiden name or even my name or dad's name. I can't find any property records in her name. That doesn't mean she didn't set up a business to buy property because she knew how to set up businesses. In fact, she set up her own because there are these photos of other properties, not of other people, but other properties. But the money had to go somewhere five hundred thousand dollars that we know of but she managed to cover it up she would

of course Axton is the only child they lived on a farm a quarter of a mile to the nearest home she had said her identity and the dad's were stolen, but pointed the finger at other people. For all these years, her husband and child had no idea what was going on. How do you do that? Yeah, you know, Nancy, I've seen this in patients, actually, who I've interviewed in prisons who are leading whole other lives and have other families, or sometimes they have a substance abuse habit, and that's where all the

money's going. But, you know, in a situation like this, it definitely seems like the person has two identities. But how do you come home to your family every day and live a, quote, normal life when you have another life somewhere else? I guess you're able to compartmentalize it. I mean, I think that's the only way you're able to cope and rationalize it. And Axton Betts Hamilton, author of The Less People Know About Us, how did your dad handle this? Because it's not, he didn't even know who he's married to. Right. So after mom died, he had a really hard time coping with it. In fact, it was hard for him to even be in house. And, you know, one way he coped with that, he had a customer at the store where he works come in, and, you know, the customer and dad were pretty good friends. And he had a motorcycle that he offered to dad, you know, for sale for an extremely reasonable price.

And, you know, because he felt sorry for my dad. And he and my dad always talked about motorcycles. And dad always talked to him about, well, someday I'd like to have one. Well, this customer helped make that a reality. And, you know, my dad was hesitant about, about buying the bike because he's like, you know, this financially is a stupid decision. You know, I could use the money for other things, you know, that he needed at that time, but he ended up buying the bike with my blessing. And it was one of the best things to help him cope because he could get on the bike

when, you know, when he felt uncomfortable at home, didn't want to be there. He'd go out and ride. He found other friends who have the same interests in motorcycles. And what's great about that is that this new group of friends know just him. They don't know him and mom together. And I think that's been very healthy for him. Tell me, Axton, about your marriage. Where did you get married and why? Well, when mom was given a terminal diagnosis, I had just come back from seeing her in Indiana.

And in fact, I had been home long enough to start unpacking my suitcase when dad called and said, you have to come home. There's nothing more they can do for her. And, you know, it's almost like my life flashed in front of my eyes, but it was like my future life in that, you know, I thought I had all of this extra time with mom.

You know, mom, you know, was in her late fifties when she passed away. I thought I had a lot more years left of stuff for her to see me do. And one of those things was getting married. And I called my then fiance and said, you have to come down here, told him what was going on. And I said, I need you to bring a suit because you're going to get married in it because we'd been engaged for quite a while. So it wasn't, it wasn't a surprise. And we ended up getting married in her hospital room 36 hours before she passed away.

So that was the last big event that she saw me do, and I wanted Mom to see that before she passed away. And at that time, you had no idea, as she was laying in her hospital bed, that she had siphoned half a million dollars using yours and other family members' names. I had no idea as she was laying in her hospital bed that she had siphoned half a million dollars using yours and other family members names had no idea no idea to natalie gold renowned lawyer author of millennials guide to the universe you can find it on amazon natalie how could this have happened what are the mechanics of how her mother Pam Betts Axton's mother pulled this off it's really quite simple she had obviously her daughter's all her personal

identifiable information and the real root in my opinion of why this happened is the disease in America of overspending and not having any control on our money. And, you know, hearing Akshay's story, it's heartbreaking because you think, what could have mom bought for the $500,000? And I would reckon that it's probably a lot of tchotchkes here and nothing so valuable there because we as Americans especially have a disease when it comes to spending money. And likely what happened, as Axel said, her mother's credit was ruined. Then who did she go to? Her husband, grandfather, and child. Because she probably thought, well, maybe I can buy them some extra things. Maybe I can alleviate. And especially

because she was going to Ohio so often, I would not be surprised if she had some sort of lover there or boyfriend or what have you, because for her to do this and hide it from your family, who as a mother, I mean, your children are the ones who you love the most in this world. I'm Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.