Identity Theft. Never thought would happen to me..

[Jon L]

In the process of buying a property, my credit report was pulled with much lower score than previous.  It was due to some %$#@ opening a credit card with my identity, defaulting on the bill, which went into collection.  I never knew any of it because the address they sent their letters was different than mine.  

 

I asked the credit card CS on the phone how could someone so easily open a credit card under someone else's identity, and he said "It is easy."  Damn, if it's so easy, why don't credit card companies do a better job of screening applicants for fraud 

 

Now all my real estate actions are on hold, and I am supposed to call their Identity Theft department when they open.  I sure hope this does not take forever, involving me jumping through numerous hoops to clear up this mess

[grawk]

Wow, that sucks.  Hopefully you can get that cleaned up.

[dsavitsk]

I asked the credit card CS on the phone how could someone so easily open a credit card under someone else's identity, and he said "It is easy." 

 

That sucks. Why has there not been a class action suit against the CC companies yet? Or has there?

[raffy]

That sucks, I hope you get it resolved quickly.

[Salt Peanuts]

Damn, that sucks.

[Aimless1]

Good luck Jon.  At the risk of being redundant, that sucks!

[agile_one]

Damn, Jon.  Major bummer, and I hope all gets sorted quickly.  Very bad timing for you, and sorry for your troubles.

[acidbasement]

Sucks, Jon. Good luck with resolution!

[Dreadhead]

Wow Jon that sucks. I hope that things are cleared up quickly.

[Dusty Chalk]

That sucks so hard.

Now all my real estate actions are on hold, and I am supposed to call their Identity Theft department when they open.  I sure hope this does not take forever, involving me jumping through numerous hoops to clear up this mess

Uh...yeah, don't get your hopes up.  Who is "their", by the way, the fraudulent CC company?  They'll probably recognize the signs, but they still have to cover their backs and go through the motions.  Please keep us updated, I know a guy whose whole job it is to clear up credit issues.  Don't have the information in front of me.

[shellylh]

That really sucks Jon.  

[skullguise]

Sorry to hear, Jon, and echo the good luck wishes.....

[Augsburger]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck.  I suspect you know what I am about to post already but just in case I recommend you consider the following:

 

- Contact the three major credit  reporting companies, TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian to request a fraud alert be placed on your account. The alert is good for 90 days and I recommend you keep renewing the alert every quarter for the next one to two years. The fraud alert will prevent anyone from opening a account with your SS#.

 

-By placing your fraud alert you are entitled to receive one free credit report, review it for any fishy credit inquiries. Where there is one breach there may be others.

 

-Consider subscribing to a credit monitoring service such as Lifelock or Identity Force.

 

- Check with the IRS to make sure there are no tax liens or other nasty tax stuff brewing.

 

-Consider purchasing a cross cut paper shredder.

 

 

Good luck Jon but as Dusty said this may take a lot longer to resolve than you could ever imagine.

Edited March 7, 2014 by Augsburger

[HeadphoneAddict]

That sucks man. Check if your homeowners insurance includes identity theft protection, where they'll work for you to restore your credit - my Metlife policy has that.

[Nebby]

Ouch, that sucks Jon! I read in an article a while back that tested how difficult it was to get a credit card company to accept an application. The worst instance was when they tore apart an application as if to throw it in the trash, then taped it all back together and sent it in...it was accepted.

[n_maher]

That really sucks Jon.

This. UGH!

[postjack]

This was from 2006, but I found it pretty amazing:

 

http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/creditcard/application.shtml

 

TLDR: Guy gets one of those credit card apps mailed to his house, he tears it up, tapes it back together, fills it out with a change of address (used his parents house), sends it in. Sure enough he gets a new credit card, mailed to his parents house.

 

huge bummer regarding the identity theft. the advice given above regarding fraud alerts is solid.

Edited March 7, 2014 by postjack

[Torpedo]

That's horrible. Can't you sue the CC company issuing the fraudulent card? They should make a way better job assessing applicants' identity. Best wishes for a prompt resolution of this.

[Jon L]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck.  I suspect you know what I am about to post already but just in case I recommend you consider the following:

 

- Contact the three major credit  reporting companies, TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian to request a fraud alert be placed on your account. The alert is good for 90 days and I recommend you keep renewing the alert every quarter for the next one to two years. The fraud alert will prevent anyone from opening a account with your SS#.

 

 

Good luck Jon but as Dusty said this may take a lot longer to resolve than you could ever imagine.

 

Just placed a fraud alert with Trans Union.  Apparently, this happens so frequently that there is a phone number with automatic responses to place the fraud alert.  Never heard a live voice on the other end.  Apparently, the TransUnion system then alerts the other two credit agencies.  

 

Just getting off the phone with the credit card company's identity theft department, I am afraid you are right that "this may take a lot longer" then I would imagine.  I heard absolutely no sense of responsibility, remorse, empathy, or eagerness to help on their end.  Basically the answer to everything was "no."  Are they willing to talk to my mortgage company or write a letter in regards to the fraud situation?  No.  Can they contact the credit reporting companies?  No.  Can you send me the "paperwork" I am supposed to sign to get the investigation rolling any sooner than "10-14 days"?  No.  Can you fax or email them to me?  No. Can you tell how long it might take to clear my credit?  No.  Can you tell me the actual credit card account number I supposedly used, for my reference?  "No, we don't give out account information."

 

Are they frigging kidding me?  They refuse to even give me the account number I supposedly opened, yet they so easily issued a credit card to this fraudulent applicant?  I even asked the Identity Theft "specialist" if this happens a lot, and they sayd "Yes a lot."  I guess I am SOL having to give up buying this property, with not even an estimate as to how long it will take to clear my credit.   

 

It's now clear to me that this whole credit system involving credit card companies and credit reporting companies exist only for their use and benefit, without any accountability or protection for the average consumer.  

 

Thanks for the moral support and I recommend everyone to get their annual free credit report and give it a scan..

Edited March 7, 2014 by Jon L

[shellylh]

Ugh, sorry Jon.  

 

By the way, at least in Texas (not sure about other states), if you have a AAA membership, you get free identity theft monitoring through Experian.  It won't help this time but might be something to think about for the future. 

Edited March 7, 2014 by shellylh

[Augsburger]

It's now clear to me that this whole credit system involving credit card companies and credit reporting companies exist only for their use and benefit, without any accountability or protection for the average consumer.  

 

Thanks for the moral support and I recommend everyone to get their annual free credit report and give it a scan..

This /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ for CC companies it is the law of numbers. Remember how they make their money, the 2-2.5% they rape the merchants for sending payments through their system. Fraud is just the cost of doing business, prevention of fraud costs too much and is therefore not justified.

[bozebuttons]

I have had this happen to me in sept 2010 origionated in chigago after CanJam which I attended.

  I had gotten a call from american express asking me if I had called requesting a $500 cash advance because visiting someone and the house burned down.

 They had all my info social # mothers maiden name even password. Amex cancelled my card and overnighted a new one to me,  who ever did this was into the new card before I even received it, & this happened 3 times in the next 2 weeks. The security so called experts couldn't figure out how it was being done.After the fifth expert they finally figured it that it was  from a online amex account I had bought advance sale tickets using my amex card

    They also moved $ 2500 from my business checking account to my personal card to access more cash.

They also tried to change my address  & contact info on my Visa card & applied for a gas credit card.

 I went through 2 weeks of hell dealing with the on going tries of the identity people.

 

 I had to close all my checking & savings accounts personal & business,Canceled all my credit cards & got new ones.  I froze my credit reports with the credit bureaus right a way to stop any more tries which was many, I must of spent 4-5hrs a day dealing with this over a 2 week time frame.

 

You must contact the 3 credit agencys, I filed reports with the FTC,FBI and local police .

I have a credit alert service protect my ID .com  that charges a monthly fee and notifies me by email,text if any inquires or cahnges have been tried to my accounts

 

 MY credit reports are still frozen & if I need to apply for credit I have to unfreeze  the reports so my credit can be checked,then refreeze them after.

  I caught  it early on thanks to the phone call from amex the first day & limited the damages & now have checks in place to help prevent it.

  Good luck, It was hell dealing with this.

[MoonShine]

Closest thing that I had to this was about 10 years ago someone got my Gmail password somehow and used it to ebay/paypal purchase a $600 World of Warcraft character in Germany. It was refunded with not much hassle.

More recently we had someone repeatedly trying to access our online bank account so we had to change our user name and reset passwords.

Pretty minor compared to what you are dealing with. I hope it works out OK in the end.

Edited March 8, 2014 by MoonShine

[HeadphoneAddict]

Closest thing that I had to this was about 10 years ago someone got my Gmail password somehow and used it to ebay/paypal purchase a $600 World of Warcraft character in Germany. It was refunded with not much hassle.

More recently we had someone repeatedly trying to access our Wells Fargo online bank account so we had to change our user name and reset passwords.

Pretty minor compared to what you are dealing with. I hope it works out OK in the end.

 

To any of you, if you posted the name of the bank you use I would edit and delete that info, as it can be used as more more piece of data for ID thieves.  If they can find photos you uploaded to twitter or Facebook with your address from GPS in it, that's another notch in the belt. Posting where you work, or your email address, bam, another hit.  Once they get enough data they can even figure out who you are and who your wife and kids are, and what you drive, and then impersonate you to socially engineer their way into your accounts.

 

I'm still trying to make sure I clean up my online info everywhere, and it's really hard, but the exposure is too costly.