Identity Theft

Hey there.  Recently I found out that someone has stolen and been using my social security number.  I have filed all the appropriate forms with various government agencies and the police.  I also now have signed up for some very good identity protection in order to stop any further use of my identity.  My intentions in posting this was to touch base with any other family members that have gone through this.  For me it was just this week and it is pretty depressing, stressful, and frankly a bit alone.  I just thought maybe I could talk to a few people via private message to get a little bit of insight on how long the process took and other information.  My second reason would be for anyone that may go through this in the future.  Regretfully I have become an expert in immediate steps to do and am working on a timeline for others to follow if they need it.

Thanks, Kamia

I haven't had identity theft happen, but I have had my wallet stolen, and it sucks. Make sure you have filed fraud alerts with all 3 credit agencies. Make it so no one can open an account without you being alerted first. Also, make sure to tell your bank and all your insurance companies. Let the FBI know about the ID theft, too. They may be able to track down the thief better than local police. If people worked this hard at legitimate jobs as they did at theft, they'd be far richer than they are doing illegal things. >.< Sorry you have to deal with all this garbage. :(

» Edited on: 2013-03-23 15:16:27

My dad got his identity stolen and the guy had DUIs in my dads name all over the country. My dad got pulled over for speeding once in Utah and had a warrant for his arrest years after getting his identy recovered. Luckily my dad kept papers and info on the whole situation to show the officers and they quickly saw it was the Convict they wanted. So my advice is keep a record that you can take with you when you travel because you don't know what kind of residual things can happen. Sorry this happned to you. Hopefully others will see this and realize that ID protection is a legitimate insurance everyone one should get in this digital age. Really sucks for you and I saw the grief it caused my dad. These A holes that do this crap deserve to rot in prison for a very long time. Companies that ever require you Social# should be audited everytime an ID gets stolen where they are the security breech. I don't think previous employers etc...do near enough to protect their info, your ID. You might want to see if any previous employer has recently been hacked, then file a complaint if they have for restitution.

Thank you for the support and ideas. I had not thought to keep a record with me as I travel. I did find out that my employer had a breach about a year and a half ago where social security numbers were stolen. Right now, I can't prove my information was stolen from them so no restitution at this point unless I can find others in the company who have had problems.