Real and imaginary crimes

I was reading my book tonight which is about identity theft and terrorism, and was wondering how it would be if someone stole my identity, committed crimes as "me", and basically ruined my life posing as my alter ego. The book seems to suggest that there is almost no defence against identity theft, but the book is only an imaginary story, right?
I heard my Blackberry beep and read an e-mail informing me that two of my colleagues who are on a business trip somewhere in the former Soviet Union have been attacked and are in hospital with serious injuries. Apparently, two guys tried to run them over with a car, and when they failed they got out of their car and started beating them up. My colleagues managed to escape, ran into a police station where they were questioned for two hours while the police refused to call a doctor! The wild East, indeed.