Identity theft...WWYD?

[love1999]

DH got a call from a collections agency this week saying he owed on a Sprint account.  They had his name and social security number.  He called the Sprint fraud department and sure enough they showed an account in his name with his social using an old apartment address of his but the wrong birthdate.  They are supposed to research and then send him a letter in about a week saying we are not financially responsible for the fraudulent account.  They suggested calling Equifax to notify them.  What else should we do?  As far as we are currently aware, this is the only fraudulent account but I worry about the possibility of others.  Are there other free things we can do to protect ourselves or should we sign up for identity theft protection like LifeLock or All Clear ID?

[shamrockshake]

Did you pull his credit report and check it? I'd start there

[M]

Www.freecreditreport.com

Find out what's happening first, then decide what to do next. I'd probably freeze his credit next.

[WOT?*]

www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

I would check annual rather than free. Annual is the government authorized site for free credit reports and where you get all of them. Free is the dude with the dumb commercials I think, but it's limited to Experian.

[aurora]

Annual credit report, then consider a police report. They probably won't do anything about it but having a record could help you in the future if more thefts arise, from what I understand.

[ECB]

File a police report. Trust. It was what saved my credit card co from coming after ME for over $10,000 in fradulent charges. Even if you don't really need it, even though the police probably won't do anything - file a report.

[litasail]

Jun 20, 2015 23:33:59 GMT -5 M said:

Www.freecreditreport.com

Find out what's happening first, then decide what to do next. I'd probably freeze his credit next.

No, not this site! AnnualCreditReport.com

www.identitytheft.gov/

[ellipses84]

Jun 21, 2015 16:56:58 GMT -5 ECB said:

File a police report. Trust. It was what saved my credit card co from coming after ME for over $10,000 in fradulent charges. Even if you don't really need it, even though the police probably won't do anything - file a report.

I second this. I recently had one of my online banking/credit accounts hacked and all of my personal info changed. Whoever did it also set up 2 phones in my name. I had to get a report with police in order to report it to the phone company and get it shut off. I just received another past due notice from the phone bill, so it's not resolved as I'm going to need to police report to make sure it doesn't negatively impact my credit. You also reminded me they said a detective would call in a couple of weeks because they are so back logged and one never had.

You may not realize all the identity theft yet, and may get more statements in the mail or see stuff slowly pop up on your credit report, so definitely report it to the credit agencies and follow their advice. I was a victim of ID theft 10 years ago, too.

[arch01]

Police report
Put a lock on your credit and his credit so you have to go through a phone call verification process before opening any additional accounts
Pull your credit reports

[Norticprincess]

Get the police report, then you can put the 7 year alert on your report vs doing it every 90 days. www.transunion.com/fraud

[love1999]

Thanks for the help ladies. We're following your advice and trying to get all of this resolved. 4 fraudulent accounts so far plus some hard credit pulls we'll need to get cleared...ugh!

[ECB]

Jun 30, 2015 0:21:27 GMT -5 love1999 said:

Thanks for the help ladies. We're following your advice and trying to get all of this resolved. 4 fraudulent accounts so far plus some hard credit pulls we'll need to get cleared...ugh!

Wow.  Good luck!  Just keep record of EVERYTHING.  Who you talk to, when, etc.  I had an inch thick file that I carried around w/ me for the longest time so that I'd have all the information in front of me at all times.  It sucks.

[LoveTrains]

Jun 30, 2015 0:21:27 GMT -5 love1999 said:

Thanks for the help ladies. We're following your advice and trying to get all of this resolved. 4 fraudulent accounts so far plus some hard credit pulls we'll need to get cleared...ugh!

So sorry - that sucks!!

Do you have identity theft insurance? There are some credit cards where it comes standard. You might want to look into that as a benefit on any of your credit cards to see if they can help. 

[love1999]

Jun 30, 2015 9:10:39 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Jun 30, 2015 0:21:27 GMT -5 love1999 said:

Thanks for the help ladies. We're following your advice and trying to get all of this resolved. 4 fraudulent accounts so far plus some hard credit pulls we'll need to get cleared...ugh!

So sorry - that sucks!!

Do you have identity theft insurance? There are some credit cards where it comes standard. You might want to look into that as a benefit on any of your credit cards to see if they can help. 

Ooh...I am not sure. I will look into this tonight. Thanks! We are going to work on notifying all our credit cards, etc that weren't affected out of precaution tonight.

Ugh this sucks and is going to cost us money in certified mail fees, future credit reports, etc. The scumbag shopped in person about an hour and a half from us so I am hoping maybe they will catch the thief. Though the police said there is only about a 3% chance.