A MAN owed over 790 million yuan (US$118 million) and was involved in 32 lawsuits after his identity card was stolen, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

    Liu Hanting said that records showed that someone had been using the information on his ID card to borrow money as legal person at several companies in Shenzhen since 2012.

    “My family dare not possess any kinds of properties for now and both of my two daughters were threatened by the loaners,” said Liu.

    But what really irritates Liu was that after his efforts to prove his innocence from all the debts and lawsuits, the court still defined him as a defendant in the 32 lawsuits and listed him as having low credibility.

    The first time Liu found that something was wrong was in 2011 when he was stopped by police for routine ID card checks. He found out that his photo did not match the national database.

    It was another strange man’s portrait that appeared on the policeman’s electronic device and Liu was taken to a police station for further investigation. “They suspected that I forged a ID card,” said Liu.

    Liu had to renew his ID card at the police station in his birthplace the same year and thought he had fixed the problem until he received phone calls asking him to pay back the debts that were under his name.

    One of China Minsheng Bank’s Shenzhen offices called Liu in December 2012 and told him that he owed the bank 370,000 yuan. “The person on the phone said that I had overdrawn my credit card at the bank by 370,000 yuan, but I had never applied for a credit card at China Minsheng Bank,” said Liu.

    “When I went to the bank a staff member said I was not the one who applied for the credit card,” said Liu. When he went to the bank again to verify the information, he found that except for the photo, all personal information was the same as his ID card.

    It was then that Liu realized that the problem still existed even though he had renewed his ID card a year ago.

    With the help of Futian police, a man, named Liu Peiwei, was identified as the suspect and was put on police’s wanted list. Police also confirmed that the suspect used Liu’s ID information to register companies and receive loans.

    According to public information listed by several courts in Shenzhen, the 32 lawsuits Liu was involved in were filed by various individuals and banks, but Liu did not receive any notification for him to stand trial.

    A lawyer, who is representing Agricultural Bank of China, one of the banks that lodged lawsuits against Liu, said that the bank was aware of the special case, but would not rescind the lawsuit.

    Liu said he hoped relevant government departments would help him clear his identity and resolve the lawsuits as soon as possible so that he and his family could lead a normal life.

    (Zhang Qian)