A Boy Named Sue May Hate His Name (but that doesn’t mean you can steal it!)

Posted on: May 27th, 2008 by Julie Bestry | No Comments


Identity theft is not merely inconvenient, and identity thieves do not just steal the time it takes for you to get your finances back in order. While the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse reports that the average victim of identity theft spends 175+ hours recovering losses and restoring his or her good name, lost time is actually the least of your worries.

Millions of Americans are victimized by identity theft each year. Although the actual number of victims has decreased slightly in recent years (from 10.1 million in 2003 and 9.3 million in 2005 to 8.4 million in 2007), the average fraud per person rose from $5,249 in 2003 to $6,383 in 2006. In other words, while the chance of it being you has decreased, the impact if you are the victim has increased!

In most situations, thieves make a few purchases using a purloined credit card number and then move on to the next victim. Keeping organized records and quickly alerting the credit card company means you will suffer minimal financial loss. However, in the most dangerous cases, identity thieves CREATE AN ALTERNATE VERSION OF “YOU”—causing untold damage. If someone steals your identity and then uses it to procure services at a hospital (about which we’ll chat next week), depending on the thief’s diagnoses, it could prevent you from getting health or life insurance later on in life. These bad guys don’t merely ruin your credit rating and keep you from getting insurance, passports and jobs. You could even get arrested if someone commits a felony using your forged identity.

Almost worse than thinking about the potential pitfalls of becoming a victim of identity theft, because of the instances of major corporations being hacked or scammed, breaching our personal data is happening more often (226 million cases at recent count) regardless of our own preventative measures.

Organization is still your best shot at guarding against identity theft, but because upwards of 2.4 million Americans have been left open to identity theft through computer hackers of major companies and universities, defensive moves aren’t enough. Organization is also your key move after the criminals strike, so use these tips as a checklist to towards recovery of your good name.

1) CONTACT THE AUTHORITIES

  • CALL one of the three CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES to issue a 90-DAY FRAUD ALERT and get a free copy of your credit report to see how pervasive the problem is. After you receive your report, call the agencies back to request an fraud alert extension to 7 years.

    Equifax 800-525-6285
    Experian 800-397-3742
    TransUnion 800-680-7289

  • CALL your CREDITORS. Close all tampered credit card accounts and have them marked as “closed at consumer’s request” and have your accounts replaced. Make sure you aren’t held responsible for fraudulent accounts opened in your name. If your checks are stolen, call your bank AND Telecheck:

  • Telecheck 800-366-2425

  • CALL the POLICE. Filling out a detailed crime report allows you to extend your fraud alert from 90 days to 7 years and helps you officially correct records. This is your main insurance against arrest and prosecution if someone steals your identity and commits crimes.

2) PUT EVERYTHING IN WRITING

  • Keep a LOG BOOK of every conversation. Every time you call a credit agency, creditor or the police, write down the date and time of the call, the name of the person you talked to, their badge or ID number and their contact information. Note what they promised to do.

  • Follow up every call with a CERTIFIED LETTER confirming the details of your conversation. Fill out your lenders’ FRAUD FORMS and send copies of the police report.

  • File a COMPLAINT with the Federal Trade Commission.

  • Fill out an ID THEFT AFFIDAVIT, available online (and you can find the FTC’s instructions for filling it out here:

    http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/

  • Write special needs letters (i.e., to report identity theft on behalf of a deceased relative), check the letter templates at the Identity Theft Resource Center.

3) MAINTAIN EXCELLENT RECORDS

Keep a special section in your filing system for logs of phone calls and copies of your letters, affidavits and fraud forms. Keep copies of anything the agencies, creditors or police send you.

OPEN YOUR MAIL as soon as it arrives and check every bill for accuracy; then organize files for each account, dating back at least a year, to track and verify transactions.

4) REMEMBER THAT THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE

NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION via phone or computer unless you initiate the contact and it is SECURE.

Use the free web site http://AnnualCreditReport.com to check all three of your credit reports every year. Investigate anything odd.

  • DON’T CARRY your Social Security Card in your wallet. Protect your Social Security Number as if it’s worth a million dollars.

  • SHRED convenience checks and anything containing personal account information before discarding.

  • Call 888-5-OPTOUT to get off mailing lists for pre-approved credit cards so no one can steal the offers from your mailbox and apply for credit in your name.

Keeping organized helps prevent ID theft, alerts you to a crisis sooner and helps you recover your finances, your legal standing and your good name after the fact. Fight back, and be careful out there!

For more information regarding financial identity theft recovery, check out these excellent resources:

Next week, we’ll be talking about the scariest (in Paper Doll‘s opinion) type of fraud, medical identity theft.  See you then!

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