Identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the United States. In 2013, someone became a victim of identity fraud every two minutes, totaling 13.1 million people. The cost of cleanup is, on average, $500 per person.
Amy Krebs describes what it feels like to become a victim.
Is it okay to publish your name?
Yes. You might think, ‘She’s a victim of identity theft. Why would she be okay with it?’ Here’s why. I thought I had all my ducks in a row. I’m a very careful person. But someone easily infiltrated my credit report and credit history. I feel the need to talk about it because I believe things need to be changed. Me just going back to my day-to-day life doesn’t do that, so I’m putting a name to a victim of identity theft.
I’m fortunate in that the criminal in my case was arrested, pled guilty and was sentenced to a felony. But because this occurred in the state of Ohio, where the criminal and I live, and because it wasn’t a violent felony, she was not sentenced to jail time.
How did you first realize you were a victim of identity theft?
In February 2013, I came home after work on a Friday and received a phone call. I had gotten a call the day before as well from a major credit card company asking me to call them, and I initially thought that that was fraudulent. I thought, ‘Oh sure, I’m going to call this credit card company and talk to them about my account.’ [Sarcastically] I thought it didn’t seem legit.
I cross-checked the phone number, and sure enough, it was to a major credit card company’s fraud department. They said someone had tried to obtain a credit card using my name, address and Social Security number and asked if had I signed up for a card. I told them I had not. It was more serious than I thought. I just thought someone had stolen my credit card and had gone out to eat and purchased some items.
They said, ‘We flagged this. We’ll deactivate the card.’ Even though there were all these flags, they still sent the credit card out to this address that was not mine.
I hung up, and I thought, Some lunatic has all my info. Do I call the police? Do I check my credit report? I decided, I’ll check all three of my credit reports and see what the damage is, and then I’ll follow up with the police.
There was no relaxing from that point on. It’s been almost two years, and it’s still like it just happened.
(JJ & Special K/Flickr)
I went to Equifax, Experian and Transunion, and you’re supposed to answer four security questions, which should be easy if it’s you: Which of these four addresses have you lived at? Which of these employers have you worked for?
I couldn’t get to two of my reports because she had infiltrated my credit history to the point that her information overrode mine.
I can’t even tell you what that felt like — like someone had taken over my life. I was finally got into the third credit report by guessing questions.
So, I scroll down, and I’m scrolling down, and there was account after account that wasn’t mine, inquiry after inquiry after inquiry.
Overwhelming doesn’t come close to how I felt. It wasn’t like, Oh well, I’ll deal with this tomorrow. And that was only that one report. The reports don’t contain the same activity, so I could only imagine what the other two reports showed. I had to call each credit bureau and company trying to ascertain when an account was opened or when an inquiry was made, and tell them this is identity theft. Since it was Friday night and these offices are typically open Monday to Friday from 9 to 5, when I’m at work, I resolved what I could at that moment.
Because I wasn’t able to get my other credit reports online, I had to order them by mail and include my birth certificate, Social Security card, utility bills.
I found out I was a victim pretty early on — after she’d been using my information for six months. But still, she attempted to open up in the neighborhood of 50+ accounts. So I can only imagine how many accounts would have been opened if I hadn’t found out as early as I did.
There’s no threshold for what a criminal will do with your Social Security Number. They don’t go, I’ll just use this a few times and then I’ll have a moral compass about it. They will see wherever in the world they can access goods and services. And that mess is left to nobody but the victim.
I have a police report and FTC affidavit, which any victim will find out they need. I had the police department here in my house the night I was a victim. I was fortunate to have that type of attention. But the police report and affidavit aren’t even good enough.
So then what did you do?
That weekend, I placed a fraud alert on my credit reports, and I eventually froze them. With an alert, you get calls, and the next day I got multiple calls. I would get a call from Discover: Someone just called, it sounds fraudulent, you have a flag, did you just call? No.
I couldn’t keep up with her. She’s out there calling, trying to get credit and then I’m finding out about it. She looks more credible because she has a Social Security number — why not give her credit?
It took me a week or two to get the reports. When you’re going through this as a victim, it’s not like they say, Amy, now that you’re a victim, here are the 50 times that a fraudulent account was attempted to be created. You find out along the way. Some things, like accounts that went to collections, didn’t show up on my credit report right away.
Like, five months ago, I ordered my credit reports, and lo and behold, there’s a medical collection agency. That one scares me more than any of them — to think she utilized my Social Security number to get medical attention. That’s a whole other realm. It’s a different animal.
Who is she? How did she get your information?
I don’t know who she is. I had never heard of her in my life. She lives a town over from me. She was using my maiden name and a 10-year-old address — so perhaps at some place in my community I trusted, like a school or a doctor’s office or employer, she came across that information. I can only make assumptions and jump to conclusions at this point.
A 10-year-old name and address were good enough for companies to take at face value. It just goes to show when you hear about children becoming victims of identity theft, these companies don’t say, This child is 7 years old, they probably don’t want a mortgage. There’s no further background check being done.
I tried as part of the police to find out where she got the information. She never had to say where she got it as part of the plea, which is infuriating because I’m sure I’m not the only victim from the place where she accessed my info. But if this continues to pop up in the future, I can say, This person was convicted in this case against me. But the companies aren’t interested in pursuing her. She has nothing. So the companies continue to come to me.
She hardly knew anything about me but was able to get credit from utility companies and stores. The credit card companies, for the most part, were more likely to catch this and flag it as fraud. Utilities were huge, phones were huge. Electric, heat, cable. The criminal even took a subscription to the local newspaper. Nothing was off-limits.
How was the thief caught?
She was not a Mensa card-carrying person. She was very easy to track down. She had cable turned on at her apartment. Goods and services were mailed to her address. And when she signed up for a utility or phone, she used her name. Since it was linked to my Social Security Number, it updated it with fraudulent information. That’s why I couldn’t access my credit reports initially. They had all of her information. It even had a past employer where I never worked.
The police department built a case against her, a warrant went out for her arrest, and a neighboring community arrested her.
She initially did not plead guilty. So we had to go through the municipal court, grand jury, and the grand jury indicted her, and then pretrial and trial. She eventually did plead guilty, but since it’s a non-violent felony, she did not serve jail time. She did community service, which is all the more infuriating, because identity theft is a revenue stream for criminals, and this outcome means it’s much easier to be a criminal of identity theft than a criminal manufacturing drugs.
We saw each other in court, but never said anything to each other. I have no use for her.
How have you been cleaning this up?
All companies have different ways in which they have you prove that you are who you say you are. When you are a victim of identity theft, you are put in the position of having to prove who you are to a greater extent than the criminal had to to get goods and services. You’re treated like you’re trying to get out of paying for something.
One company wanted me to release the company and its affiliates, representatives agents and employees to contact and obtain information from all references — personal, professional, employers, public agencies, licensing authorities and educational institutions, and it goes on. Here I am, a victim of identity theft, and I have to contact my employer and where I went to school?
One account I found out about from a collection agency, so I then needed to work it out with both the collection agency and the original company. I sent all my information to both entities. They said it would be taken off. Six months later, I get a call from a different collection agency for that same balance with interest. I had to go back through the whole thing. We’ve had an attorney pro bono work on this case and the medical case, and finally the attorney sent this company a cease and desist letter, and then original company sent a letter saying it had been removed. I’m going to frame that and put it above my fireplace for fear they’re going to pop back up again.
In the end, a number of companies flagged inquiries as identity theft on my credit report. Nonetheless, that inquiry shouldn’t be there since I didn’t make it.
I hold the companies just as responsible as the criminal. I think there’s a lot more due diligence they can extend at the onset. A number of companies were able to flag and say, this is identity theft, but a number of companies allowed it to happen. We hear about a hacking here a hacking there and are becoming accustomed to them. These companies can’t just throw out the latest and greatest technology and say, this is going to make things easier for you. How might this affect us negatively? Who can get access to this? The companies make transactions easier for themselves, yet I and millions of others are stuck cleaning up this mess.
The government isn’t much help either. You’re bounced around from agency to agency: If you’re an identity theft victim, here are the 400 steps you have to do.
As for my medical record, I have to collect all my medical information and make sure it is mine. And then there are HIPAA laws — if her info is in there, then she’s protected. It’s overwhelming. You don’t feel like you have anyone helping you. You’re just on your own.
I think people don’t really understand what identity theft is. I could have put myself in that category before. People think it’s credit card identity theft — someone went to Target and bought something, so why are you all upset about this? In that case, you call your credit card company and say, this is a fraudulent charge, fill out some papers and get on with your life.
That wasn’t the case for me. I had to prove who I am, I had to go through court, I had to go through grand jury, I had to give testimony. I am very fortunate in my case that I had someone to point to. Sometimes, people aren’t as fortunate.
How did this experience make you feel?
It’s the most time-consuming, upsetting, emotional event you have to go through. Somebody went in and so easily removed my information and had their information override mine on this all important, encompassing document — my credit report. You’re told from a young age to establish credit responsibility so down the road, you can make a big purchase like a vehicle or home. Meanwhile, some lunatic has barely any information about me and gets access to all these goods and services — yet I have to to go fill out all these affidavits and turn in my utility bills and all my personal data to remove this fraudulent charge. The companies didn’t ask anywhere near that when they extended the credit. But now that it affects their bottom line, they turn around and make me do all this.
What advice would you have for others to prevent identity theft?
Question when someone asks you for your SSN. I’m shocked by how often, when I ask, ‘Do you really need that?’ they say no. Well, don’t ask if you don’t need it.
If you’re a victim of identity theft, take meticulous notes: the date, who you talked to, what they said. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to refer back to my notes. I have a spreadsheet of no less than 200 entries. You also have to mail everything certified. It’s the cost of making things okay. You have to be on top of this. Get ahead of it. Otherwise, it will just snowball.
That’s why I created that blog, aka Jane Doe, that talks about my experience. It’s been therapeutic for me to write about my experience. When I found out I was a victim, I wanted someone who had actually been through it: What did you do? Did you do a fraud alert or a freeze? I found one woman who had been through a similar circumstance, which was the most helpful thing because it was a person. It wasn’t a bureaucratic agency telling me the 90 steps to do.
Be cautious with your information going forward. I always have been cautious, so I can’t do anything differently. Even if you do all the right things and shred things, and ask all the right questions, that won’t prevent you from being a victim. Wherever your information is held — where you file taxes, where you buy a car, go to school, get a job — they have your Social Security number.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2014/11/18/someone-had-taken-over-my-life-an-identity-theft-victims-story/#2b8cb18425be
