My car was broken into last night. I had nothing of value in it except a folder which I used to register my kids for school. It had Birth Certificates, Social Secirity Cards, a copy of my lease, and a copy of my pay stub (complete with routing and account #s). It was taken.
I figured out that I ought to call my bank. The police suggested calling Experian, which I did but utterly failed to figure out the magic # to talk to a live person, so that's still pending.
Does anyone know of anything else I can/should do to protect us? I'm rather naive about what can be done with that information, and, consequently, pretty unaware of what I need to protect against here.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Oh my. I have no advice, but my condolences. Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
You called the police and opened a report-- that's a good first step.
There are three credit reporting agencies that you can call for free:
quote: Equifax P.O. Box 740256 Atlanta, GA 30374 (800)-685-1111 Web site: www.equifax.com • Experian PO Box 2002 Allen, TX 75013 (888) 397-3742 Web site: www.experian.com • TransUnion LLC P.O. Box 2000 Chester, PA 19022 (800) 888-4213 Web site: www.transunion.com
Calling any one of them and letting them know that you have had ID issues will put the other two on alert.
Let your employer know; let your bank know.
Keep a log of all your activities.
You might want to call the Social Security Admin and let them know, too.
Keep a log of all your activities. Did I say that already? It's worth repeating.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
When you talk to the credit agencies, don't just talk about your info, talk about your kids as well. You should get statements put on all of their accounts that they are (X) years old and the victims of identity theft and that no credit should be extended under their information at all. Talk to all three agencies, not just one.
Document, document, document everything you do, everyone you talk to, names, dates, times, and any identifying information they will give you.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
by activities you mean financial transactions? or are we talking broader than that?
I've got the fraud alert in on mine, but I have to do them one at a time-- there's no provision for dealing with multiple SSNs on one call. As big a deal as everyone has been making of ID theft these days, I'm kind of surprised to find that there is apparently no non-automated system for reporting it out there.
Edit: this is really frustrating... I can;t explain the situation to anyone... and I apparently have to mail in abunch of notarized stuff, including power of attorney, to report the fraud alert for my kids. GRRR
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
By 'activities,' I mean everything you do to resolve the theft. Basically, ElJay's last sentence.
Jim-me, I know how you feel-- we had our checking account emptied by identity thieves. We got everything back, but it took a while.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
I just found out that I can, apparently, get my children's SSNs changed. That will help a lot, I think, as they don't have anything built up yet.
Thanks for clarifying "activities". I'm in touch with the bank, so I think I'll be ok, there. *fingers crossed*
Thanks for the advice and condolences both. It looks like it's not as bad as I feared it would be. I know Birth Certificates are used to get Driver's Licenses, social security cards, and all sorts of stuff, so I was really worried about how those might be used.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I'm so sorry, Jim-Me. I'm glad it looks better, though.
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
I had some information stolen a while ago and I signed up for Experian's Credit Monitoring service. It's a little pricey, but they send you notifications any time something slightly different from the norm shows up and allow you to look at an updated credit report whenever you want. For me, the peace of mind it offers is worth the price.
I'm sorry this happened. Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
That sucks Jim-me. I put 3 links in this old thread when andi330 had stolen ID. Some of the tips are for after you've already had full-blown identity theft. Clark Howard is a good resource. His show advises calling someone besides your banks, credit cards, credit agencies... the FTC?? Not sure. I hope the tips at the links help.
quote:Originally posted by Jim-Me: The police suggested calling Experian, which I did but utterly failed to figure out the magic # to talk to a live person, so that's still pending.[/QB]
It's very difficult to get through to a live operator at any of the credit agencies, even moreso than you'd expect with just normally bad customer service. No advice here, sorry. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Oh my. I have no advice, but my condolences.
Same here. How scary!
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I suggest getting a freeze put on all credit for a few months. Also, there are credit monitoring services that monitor all three agencies, and they will report to you any attempts to open new credit in your name.
At this point it might be worth the expense.
Best of luck....it sucks, but it doesn't have to be the end of the world.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
More good news... my pay stubs, it turns out, do not have my routing # on them, so my actual checking account is not compromised. The folder, it turns out, was discarded with the documents still in it, so I have recovered my kids' stuff as well.
My social security number is still compromised, and I have a freeze on my credit. I wasn't planning on getting any new credit for at least 6 months anyhow so it looks as if I'm going to get off pretty lightly on this. The fact that they discarded the kids' documents makes it look a lot less like a serious attempt and a lot more like a couple of punks checking random cars to see if there was a loose wallet or something. I'm still wondering why they didn't take the car... maybe the anti-theft system (it's got some sort of automated kill-switch that keeps it from starting without the key) actually works?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
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