The upcoming comedy film “Identity Theft,” starring Jason Bateman, might remind you of how approximately 15 million United States residents have their identities used fraudulently each year, with financial losses totaling nearly $50 billion. It mi

ght make you face the realization of how nearly 100 million additional Americans have their personal-identifying information placed at risk of identity theft each year when records maintained in government and corporate databases are lost or stolen.

Perhaps you will be painstakingly forced to learn that on a case-by-case basis, approximately 7 percent of all adults have their identities misused, with each instance resulting in roughly $3,500 in losses, creating a surge in the identity theft protection industry as openings for LifeLock Jobs continue to grow.

Or maybe you’ll just start laughing.

A little comic relief can definitely be helpful when accepting an issue as serious as identity theft. What’s also helpful — and quite entertaining — is learning about some of the most impressive, bizarre and creative cases of identity theft ever pulled off. Below are three such examples described in an article by Cracked.com of the extraordinary feats people have gone to in order to steal a person’s identity.

The Cheerleading Mom

At age 33, one of Wendy Brown’s biggest regrets in life was that she never became a cheerleader. In order to correct this regret and “live her life to the fullest,” Wendy decided to pretend to be her own daughter and enrolled in high school so she could become a cheerleader.

Wendy played the part well, inhabiting every personality trait of her daughter she could think of. She wasn’t caught until the

check for her cheerleading uniform bounced. She was then faced with severe identity theft charges.

The Fake Philharmonic

As one of viagra price the most respected orchestras in the world, the Moscow Philharmonic was welcomed with open arms by the stage manager of a Hong Kong classical venue when he got a call from a member of the orchestra asking if he would be interested in booking the entire group for a couple of shows. The orchestra arrived, rehearsed, performed a show to the likes of 10,000 pleased patrons, collected their check, and left.

Unbeknownst to the stage manager, the venue and the entire 10,000-patron audience, the performance group was not actually the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. The real orchestra was currently touring Europe, and members were fairly surprised to read about their magnificent performance in Hong Kong. The real group was a collection of brilliant Russian con men that put on a remarkable spot-on performance that fooled thousands of people.

To this day, no one knows who these people were, where they came from or where they went.

The Ultimate Sporting Event Crasher

Barry Bremen was a con man determined to crash as many sporting events as humanly possible. He reportedly snuck onto the field of the 1979 MLB All-Star game dressed as a Yankee. In that same year, he showed up in a Kansas City Kings uniform to the NBA All-Star game, got on the floor, and pulled it off again in 1981. He showed up in a limo to the 1982 Super Bowl as the San Diego Chicken, and almost managed to get into the game. He played nine holes at the U.S. Open pretending to be a professional golfer; he impersonated a referee during an actual game, and even managed to impersonate a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.

And besides a few thousand-dollar fines and a booting off the field, Bremen actually was featured in People Magazine and made it onto the Johnny Carson show.

If you’re thinking about pulling a Bremen during these times, think again. You will not be treated like a celebrity.