9 Things To Do When Your Identity Stolen

they wont give me one and the person that stole mine also has felonys:( I am church goerand this person has felony drug charges. SS wont give me a new ss card. I think that is just wrong. I even have proof i was pregnant at the time in a totally different state in a hospital with my baby having complications. They still wont do it. How would you like to live with that hanging over you name/ identity, its just not right.

Today is February 2, 2009. I received a check for almost $900 with a promise of $4000 more. Yes I really did make a point of sale transaction matching the receipt numbers on the letter that came with the check. I haven't attempted to cash it because my thought is this; if I  cash this check, the scammers will have my drivers license number (and probably my date of birth and expiration date of my ID and depending on the bank, they may even get a my fingerprint like some banks make you do if you dont have an account with them) If I deposit it, they will also have my checking account number! THAT IS WHAT THEY GET OUT OF THIS!! A LOT! The amount on the check is a small price for them to pay to be able to drain my checking account. The fact that they know my receipt number tells me that they have already hacked the stores point of sale system. I am going to report this to the police and maybe my local news station. If some of you have cashed your checks, you have already fallen a victim of their scam. Should you all want to get together for a class action lawsuit... Email me @ reohomequeen@yahoo.com.

Just wondering the outcome. I just read your message of Jan. 9, 2009.
Any backlash. Did you get to keep the money. Did they get your account # from the stamp on the check you cashed.
I just received one of these checks and I'm wondering weather to call them and cash it

I have been in the identity theift boat myself and I know what a horror it is to deal with. My ID thieft was taken during a burgulary.
These thugs opened cell phone accounts and tried to open credit card accounts. They were wise enough to contact me and ask if it was me. I then did a fraud report with the credit agencies and hired a ID thieft company to handle the paperwork. AT&T called me (on my real number) and tried to collect and the collector was very nasty. I told them where to stick it and the ID thieft company sent them an affidavit.
The bottom line is stick to your guns and know your rights.

Credit collectors have the right to attain information from you and they have a right to call you to get it. Unless you inform them in writing to stop. Simply telling them over the phone to stop calling you won't suffice. It won't help to tell them to take you to court either because they may not even have the right to do so (check the FTC website).

If a debt collector calls you ask them for their name, mailing address and phone number. Ask what they are collecting on and attain as much information as you can (i.e. account numbers, debt amounts). Do not verify the debt is yours, but, ask that they mail you a statement to your home address, if they haven't done so already. Ask them who owns the debt, if they don't own it then they have no legal recourse and cannot take you to court to sue you for the debt. This is important because they may not even own the debt. If you have had an account go bad and a few years have already passed then whoever the debt collector is probably paid pennies on the dollar for it. For example, you owe Sears $1000, four years pass and that debt has been written off by Sears and sold to three subsequent collection agencies, the person calling you now probably paid about $200 for it so anything they collect over that amount is profit. You can get away with paying half of what you originally owed, however, that can reflect negatively on your credit report.

When you get the statement of the debt, or even before if you'd like, write the collection agency a letter and reference the account number. In the letter state something like the following: "My name is Jane Doe, I am writing to dispute the following account number: XXXXXXX. I do not have any information proving that this debt is mine and demand you remove this from my credit report and cease and desist all collection activities immediately. The only form of communication I will accept will be in writing: Do not contact me by phone." Per the FTC they are not to contact you by phone once you write to them. Once they mail you a statement you have to reply to it within 30 days otherwise they assume the debt is yours and valid (as will a judge).

Please, please, please, refer to the FTC and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, especially toward the bottom of it in which they list pertinent information as it relates to consumers.

I can't obtain one either.  I had no idea it have even happened to me, until I applied for a mortgage, assuming I could get the first time buyer's programs, only to be told I had already had a mortgage, that it had  been forclosed on, in a city and state I never even lived in.  That was five years ago.  I am still fighting it.

hi i have a problem..im in debt and really dont know what to do.Im not the one who got myself in debt, my identity was stolen. i dont know how, but i think that it was some one from the hospital because back then i really didnt know my address becuase i had just moved in, and the exact same address that i put in the hopital was on the notes that i got back..Now im in serious trouble because i owe lots of money and now i have bad credit
PLEASE help me

You have a better chance of being reincarnated then you do getting a new SSN# issued. They only issue new numbers for a really stupid reason. If your original SSN has a 666 in it then they will give you a new number. Until Congress changes the law it will remain that way. Sorry. Anybody that says they've been issued a new SSN is a liar.

I suggest you tell anybody threatening to sue that they do so and hang up.  Nobody threatens to sue, they just sue.  If you know the identity of the person that stole your ID, consider launching a civil suite against them -- you'll have no trouble getting a judgment against them if they have already been convicted in a criminal court.  Even though you may never get an actual settlement from them, you can show the court's decision to the creditors that are harassing you.  I believe you can even attach a statement to your credit report that outlines what has happened to you.  If you still feel you need an attorney, I suggest calling your local bar association, or even university or college -- any of these may have a service that can help you.

I would have liked to use this identify theft thing because of all peopple who haved called me and taken advantage of me like ballys fitness, and now theres geico asking for $93 andi dont even have a car, it wa takken from me so now theres probably someone with my name out there and i looked on a census page that there are 11 others with my name, so one of them has my car? this is not fair, and i think that when neighbors ask who i am they should help me in a good way. but then again im nt expecting anything and  not even the karma that come with it.

my boss' line (a private line) keeps getting calls from 866-459-2796 - to stop them, i "press 1 for a live operator" but it's dead silence for about two minutes and then it disconnects.  when i call back the number (which i got from caller ID), i get a fax machine - it's annoying and you know they're doing something illegal (this just happens to be a law office too) but not much you can do to stop them except not give them your info.

Recently we discovered that 4 adults are using our home address, but we have not been able to find out the reason why.  We found out their names, but we do not know who they are.  We have not found help at the post office or other institutions because no harm has been done to us, as far as we know.  We suspect these individuals (who are father and sons) are committing some form of fraud, and is very worrisome.  We are very careful to protect our identities, however, about 1 year ago my husband's laptop and passport were stolen while on a trip. Any suggestions?  Thanks!

And tell them that somebody else is using your address to commit fraud.

These are good tips! I think tips on how to prevent identity theft would help to. I always tell people to use a prepaid credit card when making big purchases or traveling because these accounts are often separate from your primary account and can be reloaded with only the amount you will be using. This helps thieves from comprimising the rest of your finances. AccountNow, http://www.acccountnow.com ,is a pretty good prepaid card to use for big purchases and travel. The reason I mention them over others is because they have a section called Money 411, which gives a lot of useful information about personal finance and related topics; they even have an 'identity theft' section.
hope this helps.

Actually the Fair Credit Reporting Act specifies that you tell them to cease and desist *in writing* in order to be left alone.

It works too. I had 150K worth of medical bills and got constant calls. They stopped when I followed the instructions given by FCRA.