As you know by now, Mom and Garry had a break in, and Mom's day-planner was stolen. Inside the planner were each of the girls' SSN's, with their first name only. Garry's bank has already contacted him regarding attempted new lines of credit under his name...these crooks know what they're doing, and they work fast! ID theft is the #1 crime in the nation, and it is the most difficult to track the crooks because they have gotten the $ and moved on weeks or months before you know what even happened.
To be clear: anyone who has a SSN, and a connection with access a credit checking system (a friend at a bank, credit card collection company, insurance company, or a host of others), can enter the SSN and immediately access credit records with the person's full name, date of birth, address, etc., and then steal their identity. We just wanted to pass this information along so everyone can take the necessary precautions (or in this case, now that your information has been floating around for a couple of days), defensive actions to protect their identity, as well as their spouse's, since a credit check may also include the name and SSN of a listed spouse.
We went on line and signed up for LifeLock (www.lifelock.com). We are not saying that everyone should sign up, but it may be worth looking into. It costs $110/year, per adult in the same household, but includes a $1 Million guarantee that your identity will be kept safe. Here's how it works:
1) drug addict goes to Best Buy with your name and SSN to open a line of credit to purchase a computer to steal more identities.
2) your credit is flagged, and ANY company or bank, etc. desiring to open a new line of credit, or a purchase based on your credit, must contact you first.
3) no contact with you, or unsatisfactory answers to security questions = denial of credit.
4) there is a $1 Million guarantee that your identity will be protected.
Good luck, and may you all be safe (your credit included). Nick, thanks for doing what you do for our country!! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Dan and Dori
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
RE: Mom's Burglary
Posted by Dori and Dan at 8:47 PM
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2 comments:
Thanks, Dan and Dori, for the info. I spent a good part of the morning (cancelled several of my teaching groups) trying to put a fraud alert on my SS# and trying to get a copy of my credit report to see if anything had been tampered with. They (the system) make it very difficult to be pre-emptive with this kind of situation. You're basically at the mercy of thieves to try and do something FIRST before they qualify you as a fraud victim! Two websites that have valuable information (but, let me tell you, will make your head spin!) are:
www.ssa.gov/oig and for info. about obtaining your free credit report you can go to: www.ftc.gov and annualcreditreport.com. Good luck everyone. This is going to be a nightmare for all involved. Sorry, Garry, because I know it is the worse for you since they have your card.
Talk to you later,
Utahna
Thanks everyone! Nick and I have been looking at that website already ironically and were waiting to get paid before we could do it. But, guess there's no time like the present considering the recent events. Hope things go well for everyone. Miss you! Hey...pray for Mom. She needs our love and support. Things aren't going so well for her. We love you Mom!!! Stay positive!!!
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