Summer 09 Newsletter

Have you ever received someone else's mail in your mailbox? Could it be a signal for Identity Theft?

If you are receiving someone else's mail, look out! Stay vigilant because someone may be using your Personally Identifying Information like your social security number for fraudulent reasons. After speaking with my attorney about questionable mail I was receiving, I was advised to inspect my credit report immediately.

Please keep in mind that you are not supposed to open someone else’s mail, even if it comes to your address. It is against the law to open someone else’s mail. However, my position is simple; if you don’t want me opening your mail, then stop sending it to my address! Honestly, I don’t read the envelopes half the time – I just open them. Maybe you feel the same way.

Having said all that, please keep in mind that in this day and age, you better stay on top of your good name and credit record or you are certainly in for a rude awakening, maybe even handcuffs (see story of the Retired Bank VP). So if something suspicious comes to your address, then you may want to investigate it further because the latest member to the Identity Theft family is Synthetic Identity Theft. This occurs when someone creates a new identity by mixing information, perhaps using your social security number under another name. And you won’t find out about it until the collection notices start coming in the mail.

It is interesting to note that the acronym for Synthetic Identity Theft is SIT. This is what you may find yourself doing immediately when you find out that you’ve become a victim of fraud. And your government is part of the problem. According to Consumer Reports magazine, September 2008 issue, in an article title, ID LEAKS - A Surprising Source Is Your Government At Work, where virtually every major Department of the Government received failing grades (Ds & Fs) on CR's Security Breach Report Card, the article stated, "a valid Social Security number has market value because a growing number of cases fall into a category known as synthetic ID theft." This article addressed identity thieves and undocumented workers using SSNs with different names. The article also stated, "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE NOTIFIED if someone is using your SSN under another name. That would violate the privacy of the other account holder, the one who stole your identity. You would be clued in only after the fraudster failed to make payments and you began to get harassing calls from debt collectors." The unfortunate bottom line is that the government is doing an extremely poor job at protecting your information.

If you suspect some funny business going on with your credit, then you may want to order your free credit reports. Even if you don't, then the time was yesterday to get seriously proactive about protecting your identity. You can go on-line and order from all three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, & TransUnion) at annualcreditreport.com. It is easy but if you have any trouble ordering online with any one of the agencies, then you can call 877-322-8228 and accomplish this task over the telephone by requesting a mailed hardcopy instead.

In the process of trying to order your free credit reports online, you may encounter ways in which these agencies might try to obtain your credit card authorization to pay for trial services such as a credit score service or an identity theft service. Of course this will come with the promise that you can call and cancel later. Trial offers make about as much sense as trading in perfectly good cars only to be crushed under the Federal Government’s Cash-For-Clunkers Program. Don’t fall for it! The following is my credit report ordering experience (FYI).

On Wednesday, August 19, 2009, at fifty years of age, this was the first time I had ever attempted to pull my own credit reports. I never really felt that I needed to because my credit was always good. But with all of the collections notices I was receiving, my legal-service attorney advised me to get-on-it immediately because I might be a victim of identity theft fraud.

I was able to print out my TransUnion and my Equifax reports from the annualcreditreport.com website within about thirty minutes. As I began to read one 24-page report I saw enough inaccuracies to cause a slight panic attack. I’m not kidding. My fears were being confirmed in print. I didn't even know I had 24-pages worth of credit! I immediately wondered how much time this was going to take. I may have an uphill legal battle trying to repair my credit reports. It has been over three years since I made a large purchase like a car or house so I didn’t even know that I had problems with my credit. This feeling, I must admit, is overwhelming and I’m afraid this may end up being a tremendous legal project.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act established that consumers are entitled to a free credit report from each CRA every year. With outrageous data breaches continuing to be reported each week on www.privacyrights.org, I strongly urge everyone to go to this website and see the madness firsthand by left-clicking on “chronology.” If you then hit “end,” you will immediately find on the last line of the report that the total U.S. identities breached are already over 250 million. And that doesn’t count the “unknown numbers.” (WARNING: Don’t print this report unless you intend to print 200 pages.) That is how bad it is! You can scroll up from the bottom to the date of July 10, 2009 and read the “Northern California Bank Dumpsters” story. The reality of this report is unsettling. The identity thief even confessed to Federal Agents like he was bragging. He said, “It was easy.” That is why you should know what is going on with your credit. Credit is one of the key indicators of Identity Theft.

I expect I will have an uphill battle on my hands because I have heard that both Creditors and Credit Reporting Agencies can be very difficult. Creditors are supposed to send correct information about you to the CRAs. They are not supposed to send incorrect or fraudulent information. From my understanding, my first challenge will be to prove to several creditors that I am who I am. I will then be faced with the natural resistance of each Credit Reporting Agency to make changes to my credit records. In fact, the only way I can possibly be successful is to gather enough documentation on each inaccuracy to provide the ammunition necessary for my attorneys to write letters on my behalf. I expect that only then will my creditors coordinate with the CRAs and make the corrections to my credit records. I will do whatever I have to do to straighten out my credit mess but I am not happy about it. See why I felt overwhelmed when I first saw my credit reports.

As you might expect, I am going to need some professional help. I am going to need legal assistance because attorney letters will get more attention than anything I could possibly write. This will be a tremendous task and it may take months or even years according to statistics from the Federal Trade Commission. And I never thought this would happen to me. But don’t worry about me, I will be okay! Does anyone know a good psychologist who takes credit?!

Before I close this chapter, I would like to urge everyone to stay on top of your personal credit information. The facts are hard to deny and your information may already be in the hands of identity thieves. Look at what just happened in the Identity Theft arena. The following FOX NEWS story speaks for itself.

On Monday, August 17, 2009 FOX NEWS reported, "Three Indicted in Largest Corporate Identity Theft Case in History." Federal Authorities indicted three men in New Jersey in a massive identity theft case that the Justice Department is labeling as the largest in American history. Authorities say more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen in a corporate data breach involving three different corporations and two individuals.” But that’s not all folks! Later in the Fox News report it discusses that one of these hackers was indicted in August of 2008 for an estimated 40 million credit cards costing TJ Max Stores $200 million and his trial isn’t scheduled for those charges until 2010!!! (You can find the report on FOXNews.com.)

As my Dad used to say, “How do you like them apples?”