Just how serious is Belgium about warning its citizens to protect themselves against identity theft? So serious that the country's financial sector purposely stole one man's identity to prove a point.

The Golden Lion award-winning ad agency Duval Guillaume Modem (of "Push to Add Drama" fame) recently teamed up with Febelfin — "the umbrella federation of the Belgian financial sector" — to scare every last ounce of crap out of a random bank customer by stealing his identity and then using it to take over his life.

Duval Guillaume swears the person being subjected to this "prank" is real, and, if so, this is some seriously next-level shit.

Using information gleaned through a phishing trap and the victim's online activities, the ad agency was able to not only empty his bank account and purchase items under his name, but impersonate him so convincingly that his friends believed the doppelgänger was the real deal.

Watch through to the end for the truly freaky Total Recall-style reveal, and then throw your computer away.

[H/T: AdWeek]