If you've been a victim of identity theft, please help!

[jentancalann]

Our trash can was stolen this morning. Our FULL trashcan. I can't imagine it would just be for fun, or just a prank. Who wants to deal w/ someone else's garbage? We keep our bills to shred at the end of the year, and I'm pretty conscious of what I put in there, but I can't guarantee there wasn't a cc offer or two that slipped through. I've called my bank, but aside from that, what can I do to prevent identity theft? Who do I call? credit report dot cooooommmm keeps running through my head, but that's not for this purpose, though I may need to use it later! yikes!

[OHGrandma]

Yes, it could have been just a prank or done on a dare. We've helped return several cans to their rightful owner. I don't think I'd worry about doing anything more than you've done at this point.

Oh, wait, did you make a report to the police? Be sure to do that! Watch your mail closely for the next few months and if any bills come to your residence that are not really yours, then you can follow up with the police report about your stolen trash and consequently your identity.

[Prudent]

My dad's trash was stolen over 2 years ago.

 

He called the police and they gave him the number of a credit 'monitoring service'...a legitimate one that isn't going to try to charge you big bucks. My father didn't pay anything, but a 'watch' was put on his account. For the first couple months, every time he used his credit cards at a store, the store had to call the number that came up on their screen and my father had to talk to the monitoring people and tell them he really was using his card legitimately. I also think if he wanted to open a new card/account anywhere, it would have been pretty difficult.

 

I don't remember the name of the company or exact details, but my parents haven't had any fraudulent banking/credit activity during this time period.

 

I hope you have the same experience.

[Cheryl in NM]

Our trash can was stolen this morning. Our FULL trashcan. I can't imagine it would just be for fun, or just a prank. Who wants to deal w/ someone else's garbage? We keep our bills to shred at the end of the year, and I'm pretty conscious of what I put in there, but I can't guarantee there wasn't a cc offer or two that slipped through. I've called my bank, but aside from that, what can I do to prevent identity theft? Who do I call? credit report dot cooooommmm keeps running through my head, but that's not for this purpose, though I may need to use it later! yikes!

 

Go to http://www.freecreditreport.com and put a note in your credit file. You can also put an alert on credit file, but that makes it difficult for you to get approved for credit you are actually trying to get.

[Ruthie]

you can contact each of the 3 credit bureaus and put a freeze on your reports. That way, no one can open any accounts, including you.

[jentancalann]

you can contact each of the 3 credit bureaus and put a freeze on your reports. That way, no one can open any accounts, including you.

 

how long would this last? can you unfreeze it whenever you want?

[jentancalann]

thank you all for your advice. hoping it was mindless but i'll be sure to take these steps.:)

[Hapax Legomena]

We had a stolen identity problem a few years ago. Just as we were leaving for vacation a credit card company called asking whether we had just tried to shoes in the amount of &400 from a store 600 miles away. The credit card company called because the transaction did not fit the normal type of transactions on the card.

 

Someone had opened a credit card in our name.

 

We filed a police report and received some helpful tips from the officer. We also contacted our credit card companies, banks and credit unions.

 

These types of crimes are increasing because of the ease, success rate, lack of danger and lower rate of getting caught.

 

Here is a tip: We had our financial institutions put a note in our file requiring positive ID in order to withdraw funds. However, I noticed that in many cases, the tellers were either unaware of the requirement or lax in following that procedure.

 

The criminal was never apprehended, and we have not have any further incidents of which we are aware. That last phrase is the unsettling aspect. However, several years have passed, so we are most probably rather safe. Even so, diligence is a good thing.

 

All the best.

[lynn]

If you don't plan on making any major purchases soon you can freeze your credit with the credit people so no one can get credit in your name. Now it takes a few days to unfreeze if you need a loan but it is suppose to stop anyone from using your name to open credit cards or anything in your name.

[Crafty Mathy Mom]

Here is a step by step guide for identity theft from Clark Howard.

http://clarkhoward.com/topics/identity_theft_guide.html

 

I hope it was just a prank.

[Cheryl in NM]

how long would this last? can you unfreeze it whenever you want?

 

I think you can take it off when you want, but otherwise it's 3 months? Freecredit report.com is Experian and they explain the process wonderfully.

[jentancalann]

Oh my! My husband just found the trash can two doors down. Apparently it was hit early this morning, and it landed at the right neighbor's house! The old guy cleaned everything up quite well and pulled it up to his house. Whew, I feel better! Thank you for your replies, I'm glad that I DO NOT have to follow your advice afterall!