"Identity Theft: How to Protect and Restore Your Good Name" (can't stress enough - MUST READ)

U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING on the JUDICIARY SUBCOMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY, TERRORISM AND GOVERNMEN ^ | July 12, 2000 | Michelle Brown

[tubebender]

Thank you for posting this. Everyone worth anything must be on guard for this nightmare. My cardiac therapist had this happen to her when her purse got stolen...

[mercy]

Bump

[GoLightly]

Contact info for all three were on another page of the link I posted. Could be worse. There could be even more. They are not government operations, though they are strongly regulated via consumer rights legislation. The credit agencies are private operations, much used information gathering services for subscribers.

[Ken H]

I've never looked at my credit report, but maybe I should.

Do I need to get reports from all three reporting companies to be sure there is no mischief going on?

[GoLightly]

Check all 3.

[OldCorps]

bump

[lewislynn]

She's made it her lifes work to steal someone elses life. I don't see any problem with someone taking hers.

[Old Professer]

Dude, that was extremely extreme!

[Titan Magroyne]

The person who obtained Miss Brown's personal info did so by unauthorized searching through a landlord's files. IMHO, the landlord bears some responsibility for being so lax in protecting other people's personal information. I don't know that there are any steps Miss Brown could have taken to prevent it.

To protect yourself, one thing I recommend is not disposing of receipts, statements and bills directly in the trash. Shred it or burn it.

Rural mailboxes are sitting targets for anyone who wants to snoop. Rent a PO box to inhibit a stranger or neighborhood jerk riffling through your mail. (Somebody did this on several occasions in my parents' neighborhood. They now remit bills via a mail drop box, but consider a PO box too inconvenient for receiving mail. Luckily, no-one seems to have done anything with the info found in the fraudulently opened mail that was dumped at the end of a dirt road.)

Credit card companies send out notices informing customers of their privacy rights. You have to follow their instructions to prohibit, usually in writing, sharing of your personal data and buying habits with other companies. Taking this step will cut down on a lot of those 'offers' (junk mail) that are opportunities for a thief to order products in your name.

Contact the credit collecting agencies to tell them not to share your info. There is an 800-number which alas I don't have on hand at the moment that allows you to alert all 4 credit reporting agencies at once by touch-tone phone. If memory serves, it bars them from releasing your info for a period of 3 years and stops all those pre-approved credit card offers that come in the mail. Less junk mail, yay! You will receive notification by mail that this step has been taken. (Incidently, if you plan to make a major purchase like a house for which a loan processor must check your credit, take this step immediately. Even though you have nothing to do with it and may not even know about it, when a potential creditor - such as a pre-approved credit card issuer - checks your credit, it shows up as a 'hit' on your credit report that can lessen your chances for approval. It's not your fault, you didn't give prior approval, yet it counts against you.)

If you ever buy from mail order companies or subscribe to a magazine, you WILL be part of what the industry calls a 'sucker list' that is sold to other companies. One purchase translates into a deluge of offers and catalogs from companies you may never have heard of. Normally this only results in the aggravation of junk mail - contact each one individually to stop the mail and notify the original company to ban sharing you on the mailing lists they sell.

If you move and fill out a forwarding address form for the post office, the PO shares this glorious news with various and sundry commercial interests. Currently there is no-where on the form to forbid this. To put a stop to the junk mail, contact each company individually, as well as contacting the Direct-Mail Assoc. to be removed from their list. Again, I don't have the address on hand - say sorry - but it exists.

Some of this has more to do with protecting consumers than preventing identity theft. While I'm at it anyway, here's one more. When purchasing expensive products in-store, online or via mail, use a credit card (not a visa-check or ATM card). Most CC companies offer their own warranty on electronics; in any case, you can initiate charge-back procedures for a new purchase that does not work as advertised. As soon as you initiate charge-back, you pay no interest on the disputed charge, nor can the CC company report the disputed charge against your credit record. The credit card company is your ace in the hole against a business that is recalcitrant about making things right with a disatisfied customer.

If you make online purchases, contact your bank to get a secured credit card so that if a hacker breaches the company's security, only the amount of 'security money' is at risk of theft.

I hope this helps. I'll check tomorrow for that contact information I couldn't provide tonight.

[Former Military Chick]

What an excellent post, thank you so much. I am sure that others are equally appreciative of your energy spent on offering solutions and avenues to not fall victim to such evil in our world.

[Titan Magroyne]

I worked nights for years and I hate telemarketers with a PASSION. If you have an unlisted phone, NEVER give out the number. As soon as it hits any computer database, you're screwed. Depending on the mood I'm in when some company or gov't hack disregards my answer of 'unlisted' the first time they ask for my phone, I'll tell them I already answered that question or lie about the number. That's what they get for ignoring my NO. Maybe it's fraudulent to lie on gov't forms, but I fail to see what my phone number has to do with my eligibility to vote or drive a car.

Also, even if you have Caller ID Block on your line to prevent companies from tying your phone number to your name, any time you call a toll free number they still get your number. It's their right, since they're paying for the call. So I place those calls from work or elsewhere to keep my home number off of lists.

This info courtesy of http://www.privacyrights.org/ the very organization the article in the first post came from. Everything you ever wanted to know about protecting your privacy here.

"One-stop" opt-out number for all three bureaus, (888) 5OPTOUT (888-567-8688) Listen to all options. IIRC, the last one is the most permanent.

To remove your name from mail and phone lists
www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html
www.dmaconsumers.org/privacy.html
Mail Preference Service, PO Box 643, Carmel NY 10512
Telephone Preference Service, PO Box 1559, Carmel NY 10512

[OldCorps]

bump again

[Titan Magroyne]

Great googly-moogly, from 2 years ago!

Dunno how valid the links, addresses & numbers are these days, but I'll vouch for my personal tips.