An estimated 700-thousand people are victims of identity theft each year. It's a staggering statistic, and now, it's happened to a soldier currently serving in "Operation Iraqi Freedom."

Military mom Melissa Marrero is waiting for husband Emanual to return home from Iraq in December. Waiting has been stressful enough for Melissa and 4-year-old Hailey, but recently, their new life living here at Fort Campbell has become even more complicated.

"We received notification from the IRS, stating that there was unreported income coming from California, and we had twenty days to pay up two thousand dollars," says Melissa.

Melissa says an illegal alien in California has started using her husband's social security number to get employed in addition to opening various other accounts.

"He's opened all sorts of utilities," explains Melissa. "Gas, cell phone, house phone, and rented an apartment under my husband's name and social security number. Obviously, it stresses him out because he's over there trying to stay alive fighting for us and then this has to happen."

Melissa says she's contacted the workplace of the illegal alien, though she says the employer has refused to return her calls. And while she works with police on her case, she just wants to warn others of the dangers of identity theft.

"We'll definitely be checking his credit report at least every three months now. We'll also sign up for the credit alerts, so anything changes, they'll notify you immediately," Melissa says. "You think, oh, it's not going to happen to us, but it does happen and people need to know that."

Marrero says she has also frozen the family's credit reports so she'll be contacted personally if there are any changes in their banking.