Identity Theft

Everything that doesn't fit anywhere else!

Postby mnp13 » January 20th, 2006, 3:42 pm

wow...

I just got an email from a client's daughter. She needed me to call her mom because her mom didn't have my number handy and was driving.

It turns out that someone hacked her Charter account and changed all of her passwords, her SS# on the account, her birthday, everything. She can't access anything and of course, can't verify anything for them because they have changed all the info. She is now driving an hour to meet some guy from the company on the highway at a rest stop so she can prove her identity so they can fix the accounts.

All of her credit cards have been compromised, her bank accounts, everything...

Keep this in mind - if someone has your birthdate (easy to find) and SS# (hard to find) they can destroy your life very quickly. Forget checking your credit report for problems... by the time most things get to your credit report days or weeks could have passed.

If your Social Security card is in your wallet, go take it out and put it in a drawer somewhere. That card and your dirver's license have almost all the information needed for someone to turn your life inside out and backwards.
Michelle

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Postby cheekymunkee » January 20th, 2006, 3:46 pm

Wow. :jawdrop:
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Postby Romanwild » January 20th, 2006, 4:50 pm

She needs to call one of the credit burues and have them put a fraud alert on her account until she gets things cleared up. Then she needs a copy of all 3 credit reports to see if anything else has been stolen or changed.

She also needs to file a Police report and carry it with her in case she tries to use a credit card and they try to have her arrested.

Everyone should pay for a service that monitors all three reporting agencies. Check them frequently.
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Postby IMurSTAR » January 20th, 2006, 8:17 pm

mnp13 wrote:
She is now driving an hour to meet some guy from the company on the highway at a rest stop so she can prove her identity so they can fix the accounts.



That doesn't sound safe AT all.
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Postby Purple » January 20th, 2006, 8:54 pm

I was just thinking the same thing.....
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Postby panda » January 20th, 2006, 8:56 pm

Purple wrote:I was just thinking the same thing.....


ditto here
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Postby turtle » January 22nd, 2006, 1:42 pm

mnp13 wrote:
She is now driving an hour to meet some guy from the company on the highway at a rest stop so she can prove her identity so they can fix the accounts.



That seems kind of scary to be going to meet some fellow at a highway rest stop. Is that safe? Is she sure that's who she is meeting? Geez, that would worry me!

That's good advice Michelle. So many folks have that SSN card right in their wallet and don't even think about how it could be taken and used.

I don't keep my SSN card with me, but for years Virginia used to use your Social Security number as your driver's license number! That was real bright... Now you have to ask for it not to be your SSN and they give you another number.

Last year Fremiet found a wallet when on our walk, it had all that ID stuff in there. I was going to call the owner but they were not in the phone book and I had no clue where their address was (it was in the next town), so I just mailed it to them. In retrospect I guess I could have taken it to their bank since I knew where that was. LOL, I was amused that she had a "Panties & Bra" membership card in there....

Thieves are very slick these days. My credit card number was stolen and they opened an AOL account with it, which is scary since they needed to have my full name and phone number to do this. My phone number is unlisted but still they got it somewhere. But they could not activate the account because they had to call in from my home phone to do so, so they were stuck there. That "non activated" account was still happily billed to me by AOL even though they provided nothing and it was not used! I am working on getting the fees credited back to me but what a mess.
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Postby cheekymunkee » January 22nd, 2006, 1:45 pm

I guess there IS one good thing about sucky credit, they can't screw up what I have screwed up myself. All stealing MY identity would do is piss off the thief.
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