In United States finance the names don’t come much bigger than that of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Ben Bernanke. The irony of this story is that he, or to be precise his wife, has become one of the latest victims of a financial fraud in the form of identity theft having recently had her purse stolen.

Identity fraud has developed into a worldwide or "under-worldwide" plague and has left few individuals not feeling the impact in one way or another. I had little exposure to this type of fraud until earlier this year, when a friend emailed me in a complete and blind panic having had their bank account systematically and completely looted by identity fraudsters.

What a terrible and unimaginable thought. I believe the reason I may not have had any direct contact, or maybe I am just being naïve, is that I simply don’t have anything worth stealing! It does seem that in a growing number of cases, although this does not appear to be the case for Ben Bernanke, the fraudsters do actually carry out a bit of homework and systematically target their victims, which is quite a terrifying thought!

In the hope that one day I will regain some prospects in terms of a more respectable credit rating, I will not entertain entering private information onto questionnaires, surveys and get rich quick type schemes unless I can be thoroughly convinced of their authenticity in advance, as these appear to be prime areas where the identity fraudsters can quickly, and relatively easily gain access to the required personal details.

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I avoid online banking, and despite this I still receive various scam emails requesting my online passwords, I have understood their intent yet do wonder where and how the emails are derived as they quite often do send them to me identifying me as an account holder within the correct bank…it really can be quite unnerving!

Ben Bernanke must be relieved to a certain extent that the fraud he became victim to, was in fact started by an unrelated theft. It does appear that the theft whilst initially an opportunistic event escalated when a ring of fraudsters got hold of the joint Bernanke cheque book and began successfully using their cheques.

One does wonder if that Mr Bernanke will now become a crusader against identity theft having felt the impact in his own back yard, in which case, whilst the event was no doubt unfortunate, one may be accused of the relief that somebody so high up in the federal reserve board may actually address the needs of millions in a passionate way, that certainly would make fo.r a good end to the story.

Bernanke, in a statement to Newsweek, said "identity theft is a serious crime that affects millions of Americans each year."   Let us hope it continues to be a subject in the forefront of his policy as well.  "Our family was but one of 500 separate instances traced to one crime ring. I am grateful for the law enforcement officers who patiently and diligently work to solve and prevent these financial crimes."

Now is your chance Ben and with the spotlight upon you to continue to work with them in order to prevent the tens of thousands of other occurrences that effect Americans and Europeans alike each year.

Anna Bernanke, Ben’s wife was reported to have been in a star bucks last year when her purse was stolen off the back of her chair. The purse contained Anna Bernanke’s license, social security card, credit cards and the Bernanke joint cheque book. It appears that just days later money started disappearing from their account.

It’s not good news, but it is a relief to know that it is not just ordinary folk who are the victims of these devastating crimes. So long as the odd high profile case is uncovered, eventually one hopes some good may come out of it in the form of a cure to counter the disease.