How did people in the past prevent identity theft? I mean before the photos and new secure technology on identity documents were available?
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If you’re talking about way back in history, The Return of Martin Guerre (the book, not the movie) is an interesting case study of identity theft in 16th century France.
A guy named Martin Guerre went off to war, and when another guy came back with his identity several years later, his family claimed it was an imposter. They would have settled it by the family’s say-so, but Martin Guerre’s wife said the newcomer was the real guy. The author of the book said maybe she fell in love with the imposter, plus in those days it was a lot easier to survive if you had a good husband (apparentely the real Guerre was a jerk but the imposter wasn’t).
In those days, everyone had to rely on their personal memories to recognize someone (a portrait would only be available for the very rich). Historians think the wife maybe even coached the imposter on what to say about Guerre’s childhood, etc. But in the end, he was found guilty and hanged.
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