The Frustration of Identity Theft
The following true story about identity theft demonstrates the reason why it is so important to get a copy of your credit report at least once a year. I know it's all real, because it's somebody else's credit that is being wiped out, right in front of my very eyes. I've done everything possible to help, all to no avail.
Here's how it began. About 3 months ago, I started getting credit card offers for a person who lived at my address 8 years ago. I believed it strange and had some concerns in regards to how this had just now started up, but I just threw the credit card offers in the trash.
Then 2 months ago, I started to receive paperwork from a welfare type of health department. Wondering what it was all in regards to, I opened the letters to see if I could fix the problem and get that info to the right person. It turns out one letter mentioned that "they were attempting to get more information about the insurance assistance that was recently applied for." Immediately, I knew it was someone trying to cheat the system that our taxes pay for.
I called the police and an officer came quickly. I gave him some of the credit card offers and an one of the insurance letters. He gave me a case number and his name, in case anyone needed to call him. I also went to the FTC website and completed the form and I went to the Direct Marketing Association and filled out their form to stop any mail offers to this other person at my address. I haven't heard a word back, but I still get the letters regarding insurance along with a delinquent loan.
So I called the department that manages this "free" insurance (the insurance that all the rest of us pay for). I was expecting that once I told them it was a case of "identity theft," they'd do something right away, but they merely didn't care. Their response was, "well we'll just contact them at this additional address we have." I was expecting that the government office would right away cut off benefits to this phony person, but instead they just wanted to find a way to keep the benefits flowing no matter what. So somebody that is using another person's name (and that other person's actual social security number) is receiving benefits free and clear from the government, all benefits that the rest of us pay for.
And yesterday, I received a notice from a bill collector in New York. They were collecting on an unpaid bill from Bank One, and of course in the name of the identity theft victim. I thought for sure that when I called and told them it was an identity theft scam, that they'd want the police case number and then they'd go after the "fake" person. Instead, they did not want any information about the identity theft, but said they would find the "right" person through the social security number and collect their money from them that way. Imagine the surprise of the person who is having someone else use their social security number. I have a feeling that many more of these types of collection letters will be coming to my address.
My frustration stems from the fact that I've done everything possible to help someone else who hadn't even lived at my address for 8 years. I have no way of getting a hold of this person or I would have told him as soon as I determined the identity theft matter. This person is unaware that somebody else is using their name, their previous address and their social secuity number. As soon as the victim applies for credit or for a job, he's going to be in for a "shock" when he gets declined due to several bad debts that were never his.
That's why each of us should check our credit report and look for any suspicious activity. We all have previous addresses and if somebody gets our previous address and social security number, we may not ever hear anything about it, until it's too late. With credit, if you catch a problem early, the credit report can be corrected and the identity thief will just move on to someone else. If not caught early, there could be several items of someone else's derogatory credit to correct on our report, and it can be costly in terms of time and money.
It is my hope that by writing this information, that someone else may benefit and not have to go through significant identity theft correction. I also want to boost awareness that all those welfare programs we pay for are being used by people who are not who they say they are (and the welfare office here doesn't seem to care).
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