Grr Identify Theft?

File a police report. This is a formality. Do not expect any help or the police to crack the case.

Report identity fraud to one of the three credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, TransUnion. They will give you a free credit freeze for 90 days, maybe even longer if you provide the police report incident number.

Dispute any fraudulent charges. Do not transfer any money from your bank to those accounts. It's easier to dispute charged credit than to receive your money back. Make sure all your bank statements match up along with personal account information. The hackers may attempt to change your address, e-mail, or password for your bank accounts.

 

You can request a security/fraud alert from one of the big 3 credit bureaus and the other 2 will follow suit if I remember correctly.

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-...ity-is-stolen-a-credit-freeze-or-fraud-alert/

 

How do we know this is really you?

 

Yeah, we need a photo with you holding your ID and SS card next to your face.

Spoiler

In all seriousness. Sorry it had to happen to you or anybody for that matter. Hope everything comes out alright.

 

Does your wife suddenly happen to have a new iMac from "work" ?

 

Oops. That was me. I'll pay you back bro.

 

That is awful!

 

If you have a debit card I'd call the bank or credit union and put a freeze on that quick. CC's are easy to work with but if they get into your bank account it could take months to resolve and get any lost money back.

 

As a matter of course, almost everyone should put a security freeze on their credit reports. It does NOT negatively affect your FICO scores. You have to do each one separately (Transunion, Experian, and Equifax). It makes it to where nobody can access your credit or open anything up without your express approval via a PIN that they provide you. You simply "unfreeze" your credit with your PIN when you apply for a mortgage, loan, or credit card.

You can also "opt out" of unsolicited credit checks for pre approved credit card mailers (which is one of the ways identity thieves get your info).

I think they also offer monitoring, but if you are "frozen" it doesn't much matter.

This will not protect against someone getting a hold of your credit card number or stealing your bank PIN from an ATM, but it will prevent someone opening up a bunch of credit cards or applying for loans in your name.

PS: If you are married, you have to do it for both people. You can also do it for your kids too. It sounds like a pain, but it actually takes about 15 minutes online if you have all your info handy.

 

This is one thing I'm afraid of. I get a lot of walk by traffic in my neighborhood. I've called the credit card companies several times to stop sending things through the mail. Usually last a few months and then they start up again.

How can a person find out just how many credit cards they have? I've down sized to 2 credit cards and 1 debt. I would just like to double check to make sure everything not being used is canceled.

 

Life Lock..... only $10-$30/month

They investigate and back you up to a million dollars. They deal with pre-existing cases too, IIRC.


Very sorry this happened to you.

 

You can opt out for unsolicited credit checks on the credit bureaus' websites. This will prevent credit cards from sending pre approved offers.

You are also entitled to a free credit report once a year. This should let you know what credit cards you have open. It'll show your whole history back 7 years.

https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/get-my-free-credit-report

 

I used csidentity my help protect me and walk me through process after had similar issue. Was well worth the $