Force 10

IDENTITY THEFT

Help! Someone is using my name and social security number to open credit card accounts and has charged nearly $20,000 on my cards. One of the card companies has turned the account over to a collection agency, and they are hounding me day and night. My life is miserable, my credit report is ruined, and I have no idea how this happened.

This story is being repeated over and over again. Everyone can take steps to prevent or minimize the impact of stolen credentials.

How identity thieves get your personal information:
· They steal wallets and purses containing your identification and credit/bank cards.
· They steal your mail (bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit offers,
telephone calling cards, tax information, etc.)
· They complete a “change of address form” to divert your mail to another location.
· They practice “dumpster diving” (rummaging through your trash for personal data).
· They fraudulently pose as a landlord, employer or someone else who may have a legitimate need for – and a legal right to – your credit report data.
· They find personal information in your home.
· They obtain your business or personal information at your work.
· They use personal information you share on the Internet.

How identity thieves use your personal information:
· They call your credit card issuer and, pretending to be you, ask to change the mailing address on your credit card account. The imposter then runs up charges on your account. Because your bills are being sent to the new address, it may take several months before you realize there is a problem.
· They open a new credit card account, using your name date of birth and SSN. When they use the credit card and don’t pay the bills, the delinquent account is reported on your credit report.
· They establish phone or wireless service in your name and run up huge bills.
· They open a bank account in your name and write bad checks on that account.
· They counterfeit checks or debit cards, and drain your bank account.
· They buy cars by taking out auto loans in your name.

Minimize Your Risk – Manage Your Personal Information Wisely
· Before you reveal any personally identifying information, find out how it will be used and whether it will be shared with others. Ask if you have a choice about the use of your information: can you choose to have it kept confidential?
· Pay attention to your billing cycles. Follow up with creditors if your bills don’t arrive on time. A missing credit card bill could mean an identity theft has taken over your credit card account and changed your billing address to cover his tracks.
· Guard your mail from theft. Deposit outgoing mail in post office collection boxes or at your local post office. Promptly remove mail from your mailbox after delivery.
· Put passwords on your credit card, bank and phone accounts.
· Minimize the identification information and the number of cards you carry to what you’ll actually need.
· Do not give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or over the Internet unless you have initiated the contact or know whom you’re dealing with.
· Keep items with personal information in a safe place. Shred all personal charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, bank checks and statements, expired charge cards, and credit offers you get in the mail, before you discard them.
· Be cautious about where you leave personal information in your home, especially if you employ outside help or are having service work done in your home.
· Find out who has access to your personal information at work and verify that the records are kept in a secure location.
· Give your SSN only when absolutely necessary. Ask to use other types of identifiers when possible.
· Don’t carry your SSN card; leave it in a secure place.
· Every year order a copy of your credit report (the first one each year is free) from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies listed below. Make sure it is accurate and includes only activities that you have authorized.
Equifax – www.equifax.com – or 1-800-685-1111
Experian – www.experian.com – or 1-888-397-3742
TransUnion – www.tuc.com – or 1-800-916-8800

A Special Word About Social Security Numbers
Your employer and financial institution will likely need your SSN for wage and tax reporting purposes. Other private businesses may ask you for your SSN to do a credit check, such as when you apply for a car loan. Sometimes, however, they simply want your SSN for general record keeping. You don’t have to give a business your SSN just because they ask for it. If someone asks for your SSN, ask the following questions:

· Why do you need my SSN?
· How will my SSN be used?
· What law requires me to give you my SSN?
· What will happen if I refuse to give you my SSN?

Sometimes a business may not provide you with the service or benefit you’re seeking if you don’t provide your SSN. Getting the answers to these questions will help you decide whether you want to share your SSN with the business. Remember though, that the decision is yours.

For More Information Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – www.ftc.gov
The FTC is the federal clearinghouse for complaints by victims of identity theft. The FTC helps victims by providing them with information to help resolve the financial and other problems that can result from identity theft. If you’ve been a victim of identity theft, file a complaint with the FTC by contacting the FTC’s Identity Theft Hotline by telephone (toll-free) at 1-877-438-4338; TDD 202-326-2502; by mail: Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580; or online: www.consumer.gov/idtheft

filtherton

Thanks for the tips hombre. Guess i need to really be more careful about such things.

Boo

True True and Thanks.

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Back button again, I must be getting old.

gonadman

As another victim of stolen identity, I can vouch for the importance of the above information.

I think the credit report is free only if you have been a victim of fraud, otherwise they can charge you a minimum fee for it(but I may be wrong)

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For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel, looking, looking, ...breathlessly.
-Carlos Castaneda

Cynthetiq

No one gets my SSI number without a thorough questioning from me. If they have no fiduciary interest in me (i.e. reporting back to the IRS) they do not get my number. PERIOD.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Elphaba

I'm bumping this post to thank Ruprex for this information I found in a search. My mother was mugged yesterday and her purse stolen. While she was being treated at the hospital, my sis cancelled all her cards and her husband changed the locks at mom's home. The thieves also have my mother's and father's social security numbers. The sheriff's department is handling the crime.

Calling the FTC's Identity Hotline advised us of additional steps we can take to protect mom's credit that we hadn't thought of.

Ruprex is my hero.

ketamine

I got a phone call from someone at a collection agency, who told me that I owe SprintPCS ~$250 for a cell phone account I never opened. The account was opened with my name, social security number, and DOB.

So far I've contacted the collection agency and gotten information (account number, date opened, etc) about the account at SprintPCS. tomorrow I'm going to call SprintPCS and try to get a phone number and billing address.
I've also put a fraud alert on my credit report, and filled out the ID Theft Affidavit from the FTC to send to sprint.

Any suggestions for what else I should do? This is really causing problems for me -- I'm about to sign a lease on a house, so any screwing with my credit is a big deal.

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/K

streak_56

At my current job we were trained on how to spot identity theives. There definately are certain tricks to catching them. But the bad thing is that company policy prohibits me from sharing how we catch them so sorry for not being any help. What I would recommend is that you keep every bill that you have for a finacial record, any bill that is more than 5-7 years old should be thrown out.

When something with your personal information on it is being thrown out, make sure that it is disposed of carefully, and either shreded or the information is "erased" somehow. My biggest tip as said above is be aware of when you should be recieving bills, and make sure you check every little thing on your bill and always ask questions.

The company I work at, we have a lot of personal information that can be used against people but we take precautions. We are more than welcome to answers any question involving the personal information on a account and what it is being used for.

cj2112

Excellent tips, I can only add one more. Mail theft is one of the more simple ways people are getting the information to commit identity theft, especially in rural areas. If your mailbox is at the curbside and not lockable, it is an easy target, either secure it, or get a p.o. box.

Mephisto2

I recently bought one of those home shredders.

It only does five sheets at a time, but at a cost of $99 it's well worth it. Whilst I've never been victim to identity theft, it's getting much more common these days.

Don't throw out mail. Destroy it by burning or shredding.


Mr Mephisto

Elphaba

Bump, for Stan

amazin_chino

thnx for good advice

AVoiceOfReason

I recently lost (and then recovered) my Yahoo ID. So that others may learn from my tale of woe, here is the saga:

One night as I was getting ready to go to bed, I got an IM from someone on my pager. Or at least I THOUGHT it was from someone that was there. The name was the same, but it turned out the ID had been hijacked. It seems the perp set up a webpage on Geocities and then tricked people into logging onto it. He got my friend, and then started chatting me up as if he knew me. I didn't quite understand why the guy I knew was collecting "rares" (Yahoo IDs with a capital letter in them) but I'd heard of others doing it, so I didn't think too much about going to the site to take a look. I didn't remember if I had logged off Yahoo at some point, and when it asked me to log on, I absentmindedly did it. Next thing I knew, I couldn't use that ID anymore. The criminal on the other end had changed my password immediately, and I was out of an account I'd had for almost 8 years.

So I immediately emailed Yahoo, and within an hour, that account had been suspended. Good on that part, but bad because I then had to prove it was me. They asked things I didn't know, like what was my alternate email address when I signed on (it could have been one of three or four) and what my zip code was on the account (I narrowed it to five--two for the offices I had and three for residences). I had to tell them something about the account--who was in the address book on the mailbox, what Yahoo groups I was a member of, etc. After a week, I got my old ID back, and as far as I can tell, the jerk got no imformation of value, due in no smalll part to Yahoo's quick actions.

Had I read the Yahoo security page BEFORE all this, I would have known about this scam and not fell victim to it. I know the twerp got my ID from my friend, who in turn became a target because of yet another victim. Still, in the future, I'll ask some security questions of my own when it is someone that doesn't know to call me by my first name when they see the ID.

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AVOR

A Voice Of Reason, not necessarily the ONLY one.