The Frightening World of Identity Theft (Part 2)

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I went online to order my credit report from the 3 major credit-reporting agencies.

I was fortunate that there was no unusual activity in my credit reports. It turns out I might be able to prevent some future crimes. I did call all 3 agencies and put an alert on my account.

I learned later from the fraud investigators that the identity theft was an inside job at the lending institution. They had a lead that someone may have gotten access to the accounts via the bank computer systems and used that to make the address changes. I wasn’t the only one who had his/her identity stolen at this particular bank. I hoped that the thief didn’t really have all my personal information, such as my social security number, date of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc. But it is hard to know unless the investigators discover the truth.

Here are some tips of things you can do to prevent Identity Theft:

• Write “See ID” on the signature line of all of your credit cards (e.g., on new ones that you receive). That way, if your wallet is stolen, it’s harder for someone to use your credit card physically without having an ID that verifies the identity. Not foolproof but at least it helps.
• Don’t carry your social security card.
• If your bills do not arrive on time, follow up with your creditors. It’s possible that someone has changed your mailing address and is now receiving your statements. Don’t give out personal information to people who call you out of the blue. You should be the one initiating the call.
• Don’t use your social security card number, birth date, phone number or mother’s maiden name as a password if you can help it.
• Give a personal password to your lenders for them to verify your identity.

Many of my lenders allowed me to change my Mother’s Maiden Name to a new secret word that I only I knew. Most Visa companies verify you by your Mother’s Maiden Name, which is very easy for a thief to get. If you use a different word for your Mother’s Maiden name, the thief would never know it.

• Keep track of your financial information. If you have old accounts still open, close them if you aren’t using them.

American Express offers a service for cardholders where you can generate a 1-time use card number for online purchases. That way, if the website that you are purchasing from is questionable, you are very protected. Check out: https://www26.americanexpress.com/privatepayments/info_page.jsp for more info.

• Remove your name from mailing lists.
  The Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Mail, E-mail and Telephone Preference Services allow consumers to opt out of direct mail marketing, e-mail marketing and/or telemarketing solicitations from many national companies. Because your name will not be on their lists, it also means that these companies can’t rent or sell your name to other companies. To remove your name from many national direct mail lists, write:
  DMA Mail Preference Service
  P.O. Box 9008
  Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008
• Monitor your credit at least several times a year. You can order your credit report at https://www.womansforum.com/ads.cfm?adv_id=86
• Pay attention when your bank notifies you of strange activity on your account.

A friend recently relayed their story:

I was notified by a major department store that they had declined a purchase of a $3000 gift certificate on the 800# store. I didn’t call them back because I had no clue as to whether they were truthful or just “fishing for information.” Call me paranoid but that sort of thing happens, when someone is contacted via phone by a supposed credit issuer, a “bank,” a store, etc. All too often, these types of inquiries are fraudulent. The next thing that I did was contact the credit card company that had declined the purchase. After providing necessary personal information, they informed me that there had been some major activity on my card, charges that I had obviously not done. Also, I was informed that my social security card information did not match what was on file. Big problem!

What I had to do:
My credit card company needed me to verify my information. That meant that I had to get notarized photocopies of my drivers license, Social Security card, a utility bill with my name and address on it and something called a “Numident” from the Social Security office. The Numident basically confirms information about my social security number. To get things notarized, it costs $10 per page you want notarized…kind of a pain if you have frozen your accounts.

I also called my other credit card and had them put a freeze on my card in case someone had gotten access to it. And, because I didn’t know how far someone had gotten with my personal information, I had to get a cashiers check for my savings account, which in now in a safety deposit box. While the bank informed me that it is difficult to clear out ones savings account without proper identification, I didn’t want to leave that open as an option. This had happened to a friend of ours last year and they lost everything in their banking account within a matter of hours.

Once I got all of the required information, I had to fax that to the credit card company so that they could begin the investigation.

After reading up on Identity Theft, I found out that one should put a Fraud Security Alert into effect with all of the major credit bureaus (Experian, Trans Union and Equifax). What this does is put a 7-year notice on my account that prevents anyone from opening credit without my authorization. It also flags all of my accounts, as well as removes my name from the mailing lists that credit card companies use to solicit business. As I was talking with one of the Bureaus, I found out that my “current address and name” was someone else’s completely…not mine. This means that someone with identification (fake or whatever) could possibly open up new credit cards or loans in my name.

The Fraud Security Alert is done via an automated system. You are asked a variety of questions to confirm your identity. The systems then tell you that a credit report from their systems will be sent to you immediately. You are supposed to review those reports and make sure that no credit has been opened without you knowing it. If there are disputes, there is a process that you are supposed to undergo. I don’t know the details on that yet (hopefully, I won’t have to know).

Since I found out that the fake name that was in one of the systems was a relatively local town, I decided to call my local police to file a report. They took information and participated on a call to the original department store that had notified me. We found out that the gift certificate was going to be mailed to a local address as well, but they couldn’t give us information since my credit card company was investigating.

And now I’m waiting for information back from my credit card company. I’m assuming that I will have to review the charges and determine which are fraudulent and which aren’t.

As you can see, it’s a real pain!

Resources for you to use:

• US Gov’t site on ID theft:
  https://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/
• ID Theft: When Bad Things Happen to your Good Name:
  https://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/idtheft.htm

If you have an identity theft story you would like to share with us, please email 600 words or less to emailus@msmoney.com.

Tiffany Bass Bukow
Founder
MsMoney.com