[1]Identity theft is the number 1 complaint 14 years running according to FTC. To answer your first question: MOAR.
Stories like yours make recovery policies, like [2]this, seem prudent.
[3]My very first post on hacker news, 3.5 years ago, stirred ZERO discussion. "Identity theft is an enormous problem, so what are the solutions? Who's working on something that practically everybody who uses the internet should consider looking into?"
[1]http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/id-theft-tops-ftcs-...