So, the unthinkable happened—my husband had his identity stolen.
It caused us hours of lost time on the phone, on the computer, and with the mail, and I’m sure we’re not done yet.
Here’s how it happened: One evening I came home from work to a message on my answering machine from “John, at Chase Bank” about some unusual activity on my Chase credit card ending in 8787.
Sounded like a scam to me. I knew we didn’t have a card at Chase Bank, and, yes, I do know the last four digits of my cards and that wasn’t one of them. I actually thought this was a fishing scam – one in which I was supposed to call back and say, “That’s not my credit card number, my number is…” So, I erased the message and patted myself on the back for not being scammed.
By the next morning I wasn’t so sure anymore, don’t ask me why. Since the call was for my husband, I had him run his credit report. Guess what he found? 4 credit cards all together had been opened in his name at three different banks. All within the past two months.
How Does This Kind of Thing Happen? (And why us???)
From what we’ve learned, this was a concerted effort, by a group of people, who have opened many, many more credit cards in different people’s names than just these 4. They used them to get cash advances and pay off other credit cards, etc. How did they get his name, birthdate and Social Security Number – we don’t know, yet. But, trust me, my husband gives his soc. out to no one. We were notified of a breach at our credit card company over a year ago, though, and there are many places other that you legitimately give out your soc. that you hope are confidential (the doctor’s office, college paperwork, your taxes, etc.).
The Moral of the Story
The lesson we learned is that even if you do everything “right” it can still happen to you. Be hyper-vigilant. Do not give your personal information out to anyone – especially over the phone. Check your credit report regularly, looking for anything unfamiliar. There are three credit bureaus and you have the right to get a free credit report from each of them once per year. If you manage this right, you should be able to get one credit report every 4 months for free, here’s how: Go to www.AnnualCreditReport.com and choose one of the three bureaus to run your report. Check it out carefully – Part II of this article will tell you what to do if your credit is compromised. In 4 months, go back to AnnualCreditReport.com and run a report from a different company, and again in 4 months for the final bureau. This will allow you to keep a close eye on your credit. It should really only take a few minutes to run each report – and it could save you the hours and hours we have spent on the phone and computer trying to clear this up!
Need help? We can send you reminders to run your credit report or help you review yours. Send us an email through our Contact Us page. Put Identity Theft in the message box and we’ll contact you to get started.