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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I feel like it’s a more modern problem. Everyone in my village would know me and my family, and the economic movement of money was more contained in said village. So I’m a blacksmith and I sell horse shoes to a few other hamlets and towns right? Some highwayman bonks me over the head, steals my wares, and goes on to try and turn a quick profit with my horse shoes. First guy he goes to will realize “Hey now, this isn’t the same guy, I saw him a month ago!”
The way it was described to me by a history teacher was kind of the same concept. Don’t think the world has always operated at the same scale. If someone was to pretend to be someone else at the school (our school was 400 kids) wouldn’t you notice? Now imagine if instead of 4 years, you spent your whole life around these folks.
I’m sure it was prevalent in some ways, but as others have said seals/makers marks/brands/etc. were hard to replicate and people tended to notice when something was wrong.
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