OT: Identity theft

[lighty]

A year or two ago, I received on of those letters from the IRS saying that my social security number was among the many compromised by a hacker. I didn't notice anything strange until this week when a bank sent me a welcome letter and my wife got a strange check that appeared to be sent from her to someone via online bill pay (I'm guessing the person was just testing the system). Then I got a letter from the bank I never had an account with saying a payment bounced.

After calling the bank, it appears someone did start money market accounts under my name and my wife's name. Whoever did it tricked off the bank's fraud alert because they attempted to withdraw several thousand before the new account had any money in it. So my call just verified the fraud to them.

Has anyone here been a victim of identity fraud? If so, what steps did you do next? Other than checking your credit report and calling the three credit bureaus, is there anything that should be done?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sweet Pea's Corner]

I wish someone steals my identity and bad credit. they can have it. Good luck with your situation.

 

[RickB113]

A year or two ago, I received on of those letters from the IRS saying that my social security number was among the many compromised by a hacker. I didn't notice anything strange until this week when a bank sent me a welcome letter and my wife got a strange check that appeared to be sent from her to someone via online bill pay (I'm guessing the person was just testing the system). Then I got a letter from the bank I never had an account with saying a payment bounced.

After calling the bank, it appears someone did start money market accounts under my name and my wife's name. Whoever did it tricked off the bank's fraud alert because they attempted to withdraw several thousand before the new account had any money in it. So my call just verified the fraud to them.

Has anyone here been a victim of identity fraud? If so, what steps did you do next? Other than checking your credit report and calling the three credit bureaus, is there anything that should be done?

Thanks in advance.

Yes. Happened to us. Get Lifelock. You may also want to alert the IRS because they may try and file a false tax return. Make sure you tell your bank(s) as well.

 

[RUtix4me]

Happened about ten years ago to me someone got the account number deposited $100 cash into our account. The teller said as always, would you like your balance confirmed? They found out how much we had in the account, then went to 3 other branches within an hour and cashed fraudulent checks taking the cash, and using my compensating balance to take the cash.

Three days later the checks all bounced and our account was empty...

 

[Scarlet4Shore]

I did about 5-6 years ago. After notifying the credit bureaus, I was also advised to notify everyone you wouldn't even think of -- utilities, medical insurance, life insurance, social security. I also put PINs or passwords on all my accounts. Not only financial accounts, but again, cell phone, cable, etc. It was a pain and very time consuming, but I haven't had issues since.

 

[rutexan84]

Happened to me a couple of years ago. I had to file with one of the credit agencies to have my credit frozen, so I am now notified whenever someone attempts to establish an account using my identity. I did not sign up for Life lock or anything like it, although they tried very hard to sell it to me. With the freeze in place, it doesn't seem necessary. The freeze has to be renewed after seven years. I had to include a police report verifying the theft of my identity when applying for the freeze.

 

[oldman87]

I paid someone to get my name on the national sex offender registry few years ago, haven't had problems with identity theft since.

 

[lighty]

Yes. Happened to us. Get Lifelock. You may also want to alert the IRS because they may try and file a false tax return. Make sure you tell your bank(s) as well.

They actually did file a false return. Blocked us from e-filing. We have to go through a mess of stuff because of it. It's unreal

 

[lighty]

What really sucks is it's extremely likely this happened because of the IRS hack.

 

[DontTedonMe]

Is identity theft protection worth purchasing or is it an over advertised supply side scam like the guy saturating the airwaves with his $80 pillows?

 

[ShiningKnight]

I suffered identity theft several years ago. Really scary but unless they wipe out your bank account, it can be contained fairly easily. First notify any one of the 3 credit reporting companies (Trans union, etc.). They will immediately put a 90 day lock on your credit information and they will notify the other 2 agencies for you to do the same. Close any compromised account immediately (banks, credit cards, investment accounts,etc.). I would not notify the IRS unless they are already involved. If the identity theft is severe, for example new accounts opened in your name, I would extend the credit lock for at least a year. As a previous message indicated you may need a police report to do this. Go to your local police department, it is easy to file but don't expect any action by the police. It is a good practice to file the report as it supports the fact that you took action to protect your credit. Notify all your credit sources that your identity was compromised. They will flag your account for extra scrutiny. Contact the other credit reporting agencies to confirm that they were notified. They should email you confirmations of the hold. You can still get new credit with your accounts on hold but you will have to personally authorize each credit check. I did get Lifelock by I question its value. This is not a pleasant experience but the damage can be limited. You will be able to retrieve any fraudulent activity except maybe for the money taken from your bank.

 

[rutgersguy1_rivals]

What really sucks is it's extremely likely this happened because of the IRS hack.

From what I see that's usually the case. More times than not it's from the institution side rather than the consumer side whether it be your financial institution, retailer, IRS or what have you. I think even one of the 3 credit bureaus had a breach about year ago. There's a larger trove of data you can get by breaching them versus individuals.

Not exactly this but in that whole fraud/theft vein, my personal opinion is never to use debit cards only use credit. Just anecdotally, I notice most people using pins when they purchase things. We don't have a chip/pin system here yet so I assume it's a debit transaction. I'm not comfortable with anything that has direct link into my bank account. The liability can be murky at times and resolving the issue can be a little more tedious as opposed to credit where the liability is on the credit issuer side and resolution is pretty straight forward most of the time.

 

[Block R]

Not exactly this but in that whole fraud/theft vein, my personal opinion is never to use debit cards only use credit. Just anecdotally, I notice most people using pins when they purchase things. We don't have a chip/pin system here yet so I assume it's a debit transaction. I'm not comfortable with anything that has direct link into my bank account. The liability can be murky at times and resolving the issue can be a little more tedious as opposed to credit where the liability is on the credit issuer side and resolution is pretty straight forward most of the time.

Completely agree; I use credit to buy nearly everything due to the liability and ease of resolution if there is a problem. Between my wife and I, our credit card numbers have now been stolen 4 times. The banks have gotten pretty good at catching it quickly on their own (which makes sense because they have the liability) and it was easy to report and resolve the fraud each time it happened. Proactively I've added alerting to all of my credit card accounts so I am alerted to most transactions (also added alerting to my bank account just in case).

What happened to lighty is what I'm most worried about as that seems harder to catch quickly than someone cloning credit cards. Anybody have thoughts on proactively protecting yourself effectively from that kind of identity theft?

 

[rutgersguy1_rivals]

What happened to lighty is what I'm most worried about as that seems harder to catch quickly than someone cloning credit cards. Anybody have thoughts on proactively protecting yourself effectively from that kind of identity theft?

In that credit bureau breach I mentioned, my friend got caught in that and has gotten credit monitoring from one of the other agencies, I think Trans Union. I believe they notify him about any new credit inquiries. I think it cost 17-20 bucks a month and so far I think he's been satisfied with it. I think liability insurance up 1M. So far nothing has happened but his own genuine credit inquiries have come to him as alerts immediately so if anything strange is going on he should know pretty quickly.

 

[rutexan84]

In that credit bureau breach I mentioned, my friend got caught in that and has gotten credit monitoring from one of the other agencies, I think Trans Union. I believe they notify him about any new credit inquiries. I think it cost 17-20 bucks a month and so far I think he's been satisfied with it. I think liability insurance up 1M. So far nothing has happened but his own genuine credit inquiries have come to him as alerts immediately so if anything strange is going on he should know pretty quickly.

The credit agencies notify me immediately when someone attempts to establish credit in my name and I don't pay a dime for the service.

 

[Rutgers1976]

Happened to me a few months ago. On two days, there were 5 dept. store credit cards openened in my name, plus they bought 3 cell phones/numbers from AT&T. In central Illinois. With a bad credit rating due to other circumstances to begin with. Close to 3K in charges posted altogether. Aside from contacting the stores/banks, I reported to the credit bureaus who put an automatic and free 90 day lock on credit inquiries. Because I also went to my local police station and filed a police report, I could extend the free lock for at least 5 years. There is also a registry identitytheft.gov to report it to the FTC.

It may or may not make much of a difference in tracking down the thieves, but I know when and where they opened the accounts, so there could be a small chance of catching them or figuring out how/where they got my info.

 

[rutgersguy1_rivals]

The credit agencies notify me immediately when someone attempts to establish credit in my name and I don't pay a dime for the service.

What did you do for that?

 

[Rokodesh]

I went to e-file my taxes last year, and when I submitted, the system said there was already a return made under my social. Freaked me out, called the IRS the following morning, and explained what had happened. They had me file a fraud claim that I had not submitted anything prior, and had to mail in the form manually. They offered me one year credit monitoring and put a hold on any new accounts that could potentially be opened. Sent the taxes in and never heard back from them, but did not see anything suspicious in my credit, no fraud or phony charges, so don't know if it was just an accident.

 

[jvgrad02]

I had my Identity stolen many years ago. I reported to every credit card and Wells Fargo suggested I let them know when I am traveling out of my home area. Now whenever my card numbers get stolen and I have not reported being out of the state or more than 15 miles from home, I get a call from the credit card being used to verify if its me using it or not. This has happened to me 4 times in the last 8 months. I got several calls asking me of where I am and told where the card is being used and it does not match. The charge gets denied and they send out a new card to me. When I forget to call them then its a problem because they block the card until I get in touche with them and let them know that its me using the card. Its better then worrying about who stole the cc number.

 

[wheezer]

I told my accountant that I prefer to owe money when filing my April return.... I don't know if it makes a difference, but I would then send in a hard copy return with my check.... If someone placed a false submission for a refund, at least I got what i owed to them,and I would not have the hassle of fighting for my refund..... If that makes any sense.... I know it still is a mess that would have to be addressed

What would the IRS do in that instance?

 

[ruhudsonfan]

This isn't possible.

Our resident data security expert said that identity theft is "not a big deal."

 

[lighty]

went to e-file my taxes last year, and when I submitted, the system said there was already a return made under my social. Freaked me out, called the IRS the following morning, and explained what had happened

Yup. That's how I found out. The system wouldn't let me e-file because a return had already been filed.

That was step 1. Receiving a welcome letter for a new bank account I didn't start was step 2.

 

[rutexan84]

I told my accountant that I prefer to owe money when filing my April return.... I don't know if it makes a difference, but I would then send in a hard copy return with my check.... If someone placed a false submission for a refund, at least I got what i owed to them,and I would not have the hassle of fighting for my refund..... If that makes any sense.... I know it still is a mess that would have to be addressed

What would the IRS do in that instance?

I own a business and always pay at tax time. After someone attempted to get a refund using my identity, the IRS told me I had to submit verification of my identity when filing my future returns. I have yet to comply. If a check payable to the IRS is not enough proof of my identity, I don't know what is.

 

[rutexan84]

What did you do for that?

I mistyped. The credit agencies don't notify me. The crediting institution notifies me.