Had a minor scare, but nothing I'm real concerned with. This is more a state of ready I should have done a long time ago and I'm quite sure we have many members with this already done that will chime in. It's that time of year for the scum of the Earth to try and pull bullshit scams, identity theft, etc.

I have a unique name and I'm pretty careful about where I spend money, use cards, etc. Online accounts are password protected with passwords that are so difficult and lengthy I couldn't memorize. Anything to do with money, credit, bills, etc, is locked down.

But I have never "frozen" my credit with the 3 credit agencies. Not until today. About a month ago I was sent a Target Red Card Mastercard. I received it in the mail. I have two MasterCards, one from one of my bank, the other from a major credit card company, so I quickly treated it as an "offer" from MasterCard and shredded it. The card, the envelope, documentation, all of it immediately into the shredder. I was basically "Fuck off I don't want this shit". I thought it was an offer, nope. I got an alert from my mortgage company in email today that I had opened a new account. I put 2 and 2 together and off we go.

I called the "Target Red Mastercard" people and a card was opened up in my name, and the funny thing is, it was mailed to my address. Wouldn't a scam artist send it somewhere else? Was a scammer going to attempt to check my mailbox? I have surveillance cameras and we already got a guy busted by the local PD who was ripping off mailboxes. He would come at like 4am in the morning and make the rounds, opening up every single mailbox. But the guy was stupid and would do this on Sunday night/early Monday morning. I don't keep mail in the box for more than an few hours and nothing at night. I had the video footage, put it on a flash drive and they got the plate and got him. But that was quite a ways back. Didn't get my mail so I don't quite understand this but it's irrelevant at this point. I may get my DL # changed, maybe.

What I think is someone at Mastercard was using account information to open new accounts, and I mean internally. You know an employee, and everything these days is farmed out to subsidiaries these days, opened a new credit card in my name, had it mailed to me, etc. This was probably done as they got $ to get new accounts written or cards opened. Either way it wasn't requested by me. The Target Card people asked me if I knew a "Carol" with same last name. I replied no. They asked about relatives and I said I had none (just a cousin I barely know whose maiden or surname is not the same). Good ol Carol. Anyways, the card was never used, no balance on it, and I checked my credit report for additional shit and there is nothing else on all 3 reports. I only have a few balances, the mortgage, a vehicle, and the current balances of my two cards I regular use which are both paid off each month So just this new single credit card with a zero balance and the card itself long gone.

So I filed the identity theft/fraud/dispute bullshit with all 3 credit agencies. They'll handle it, it'll be removed from name, and credit, and my score is still the same as it should be. I'm really not that concerned with any of it. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are definitely 2022 with all this shit. Each call was quick, simple, etc. Sad that this is that routine. I mean I spend more time getting people on the phone who I actually do business with than this.

My PSA is to lock your shit down. Again I know many here have already done this but having just spent 90 minutes knocking this out, and while I have the information up I thought I'd pass it along. Freeze your credit at all 3 credit reporting agencies. Need a loan, need to buy a house, car, new credit card, whatever, it's pretty easy to lift the freeze. You can lift it permanently, or lift it for a week, but you should freeze it so no new accounts in your name can be opened. Now an existing card you have, if that gets jacked, hacked, and someone charges up thousands of dollars of shit, well that's a simple call to your credit card company, debit card company/bank, whatever, to tell them those are your bullshit charges and not your own. They file a dispute, send you a new card, and remove the charges. Rest of the shit is on them. But freezing your shit is actually pretty simple and unfreezing it is as well.

Below are all 3 credit reporting agencies websites, and phone numbers, as well as the U.S Federal Trade Commission. My PD, after I filed a police report (Target MasterCard people suggest I go ahead and do it for documentation purposes) online (the lady at the PD said it's less hassle than waiting for an officer to call me back) listed this out for me so it was quick/easy.

Basically you can, in probably 10-15 minutes if you have a real keyboard and know your shit, create accounts at all 3 agencies, freeze your credit, etc. You create a username/email address, password, and pin. You can freeze/unfreeze yourself online and it's instant. I'll be keeping all my shit frozen from here on (lol) unless I need to buy a car, land/home, etc at which point I'll unfreeze it for the loan then back on freeze it goes. I don't open new accounts willy nilly so it's not something I anticipate having to fuck with unless I buy a vehicle. The freeze also prevents people from checking your credit sans the companies you already do business with, utility companies, etc. It definitely prevents new accounts. Each company has products and this and that they try to sell you for extra protection. You needn't spend a cent on this, it's all free. Buy the extra if you are so inclined, I'm not.

Equifax
www.equifax.com
1-800-525-6285

Experian
www.experian.com
1-888-397-3742

TransUnion
www.transunion.com
1-800-680-7289

U.S. Federal Trade Commission
www.ftc.gov
1-877-438-4338

Mine have been locked for a couple years. A few years back I got an alert that all my drivers license info was for sale on the dark web. I’ve had them locked since then.

Definitely a good idea. My credit accounts have been frozen for a while now. I think I did it after the massive Equifax breach in 2017 IIRC.

while you are at it, put the extra PIN on your phone account so nobody can steal (port) your phone number to another phone.

Yes, even phone numbers are being stolen now. Once they steal your number, they easily take on your identity since they are calling from and answering "your" number.

I filed with the FTC as well which spat me over to the consumer finance protection bureau. Filed a case there.

(855) 411-2372
consumerfinance.gov

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
while you are at it, put the extra PIN on your phone account so nobody can steal (port) your phone number to another phone.

Yes, even phone numbers are being stolen now. Once they steal your number, they easily take on your identity since they are calling from and answering "your" number.

That's been on there for years. This credit freeze bullshit was the only thing I hadn't done.

If you bank with a major bank and have a credit card with them, they likely offer you a credit monitoring service for free within their app/online portal. Basically, it's just a reminder email once a week to log in and check your score, and see if any new accounts have been opened or credit limits or balances changed.

You can also sign up for CreditKarma which provides the same service, but with an underlying agenda to push credit and loan advertising at you. I've been using CreditKarma for years without issue.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
What I think is someone at Mastercard was using account information to open new accounts, and I mean internally. You know an employee, and everything these days is farmed out to subsidiaries these days, opened a new credit card in my name, had it mailed to me, etc. This was probably done as they got $ to get new accounts written or cards opened.

Sound like a former 'Wells Fargo Employee'...

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

Sound like a former 'Wells Fargo Employee'...

Yeah it could be similar. It has to be something like that. I've got multiple MasterCards in my name and it could have been opened by someone trying to write new accounts just like that Fargo scam.

The other is the mother. She is a POS and ruined my credit in high school unbeknownst to me. I started my credit off at 19 trying to get my first credit card via a Citi application at college. Make a copy of your tuition for the semester and if you are a full time student you were guaranteed a card. Did that, it got denied. That was back in the paper only days, at least for credit cards in the mid 90's. Figured out I needed to snail mail all 3 credit agencies and when I got the credit report, it was immediate who'd done it. Wasn't any identity theft. It was the POS parental unit who had used my social to charge shit up all over town. Unpaid cable bill (and I gave her money to pay the got damn thing, the whole thing, every month), defaulted to collections. A defaulted loan on a ring from Joe Daiches Jewelry from her, I think 3rd loser husband. A phone bill unpaid. I forget what else, there was one more thing on there. I told that bitch get it all removed, call every company on that credit report, get it moved to your credit. She refused so I said on the phone, cool, I'm heading to the police station right now then. You did this while I was a minor, it's fraud even if I was an adult when you did it, so you're looking at federal charges for fraud and me being a minor, you're completely fucked and I'll make sure you're in jail by the end of the fucking week. Scared shitless, she called each company, had the shit removed and put under her name, her social security number, etc. Man that was a hassle. 6 months later I mailed all 3 credit agencies for my credit report, think I had to pay back then as it was only one free one per year. Once I saw it clear, reapplied for my card, got it, and I have maintained all my shit on time ever since. I'm more proud of that mid 800 credit score than my retirement account just like I'm more proud of the letter I got from Fannie Mae telling my school loan is repaid 100% in full than my degrees I hold.

So it's possible it could be that bitch but she hasn't tried that social security number move in 30 years. She did try to have a Sprint unpaid, collections bill, for their mobile service, mailed to my house 10 years ago. I guess she thought I might pay it for her. Nah, she's a POS that even tried to hustle my Great Uncle's pastor into giving her money one time. She could be alive, dead, don't care and haven't spoken in more than a decade. She may still have my social but not my DL which is required to open up a new account. So I don't know 100% the source of this. I do know it's over and I escaped the situation much milder than other people I've known. I'm thankful to God for that. If I find out it's the pathetic excuse for a parental unit I had (raised myself since 5) that somehow has my DL and pulled this stunt I will pursue the letter of the law and try to put that bitch in prison. The above is so mild compared to all the bullshit she pulled. I literally saved her dumb, drunk, ass from death one time. Drunk ass fell down the apartment stairs busted her head wide open to the white meat bleeding out everywhere on the concrete stairs completely knocked out. If it wasn't for God giving me a high IQ, that 6 year old would not have saved her at 3am in the morning. We didn't even have a phone so I had to hustle, and fast, really fast, or she wouldn't have made it. If she is still alive she's walking this Earth by my good grace via God and nobody else. She should have been in the coffin 40+ years ago.

My Police report was just approved by an officer. Tried to reach him but he got off shift at 6am. Definitely going to speak to him tomorrow and provide some data and find out where the bitch is and see if I can help this along. If ain't her, cool, I'll ask the Lord's forgiveness for questioning it but honestly she's done it before and I would not put it past her. It would not surprise me at all if she attempted to this and get the card mailed to her and the card company said no it has to go to my address, etc. She's pulled bigger stunts in the past with other people.

If it is her LE could figure it out talking to the credit card company as they have to have an origination phone number. We already know Carol is a fake name but she's done that also in the past. But the credit card company might have some data they wouldn't give to me. I know her birth date and last whereabouts and she's got a debt jacket and she's been to jail before. Fun times. Happy to see my local PD handling business, promptly. Maybe more to follow later. Hopefully not. If I ever see that bitch on this green Earth again it will be too got damn soon.

Freeze your credit and do anything else to prevent problems.
Otherwise, don't get too worked up trying to chase someone down. The banks and law enforcement/justice system could care less, unfortunately.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
Equifax
www.equifax.com
1-800-525-6285

Experian
www.experian.com
1-888-397-3742

TransUnion
www.transunion.com
1-800-680-7289

U.S. Federal Trade Commission
www.ftc.gov
1-877-438-4338

Thanks for this, Prefontaine. I had freezes put on my three accounts years ago - or so I thought. Apparently the freeze I had on the Experian account was no more so I had to redo it.

Without this thread I wouldn't have thought to check on things. Now that I'm aware that somehow, someway, what I've done can - and will - be undone by persons unknown, I'll be sure to frequently check my freeze status at all three agencies.

You might want to add Innovis to your list of credit bureaus. Don’t think it’s quite as popular, but you can add a Freeze none the less.

I been frozed for years.

Ours have been locked for over 10years.
Additional PSA,if you are helping elderly parents get theirs locked asap. They are major targets for identity theft and their judgement can be compromised.

Question. Ours have been locked down for about 3 or 4 years, but if I want to finance a new car or (heaven forbid), take out a loan, do I have to unlock all of them before hand?

quote:

Originally posted by Ironbutt:
Question. Ours have been locked down for about 3 or 4 years, but if I want to finance a new car or (heaven forbid), take out a loan, do I have to unlock all of them before hand?

No, it's a simple process.

1) you ask the dealer (or other lender) which credit agency/agencies they will be using,

2) you temporarily unfreeze the info at those specific agencies, and

3) let the dealer/lender know they are good to make their inquiries.

The unfreezing process is pretty simple assuming you have kept handy the unfreeze info that each bureau gives you when you set up the freeze.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

Originally posted by Ironbutt:
Question. Ours have been locked down for about 3 or 4 years, but if I want to finance a new car or (heaven forbid), take out a loan, do I have to unlock all of them before hand?

No, it's a simple process.

1) you ask the dealer (or other lender) which credit agency/agencies they will be using,

2) you temporarily unfreeze the info at those specific agencies, and

3) let the dealer/lender know they are good to make their inquiries.

The unfreezing process is pretty simple assuming you have kept handy the unfreeze info that each bureau gives you when you set up the freeze.

Yeah, I printed out my pins for each of the three agencies, and keep them with my banking files.

There have been multiple large scale data (hospital and postal service were two biggies) breaches in my area over the last few years. The problem is once your info is out there, its out there. These asshats may sit on your info for several years before acting.

There was a large scale operation opening Chase and Bank of America CHECKING accounts, not credit accounts. I dont believe the checking accounts would ever hit your credit monitoring services. The scam was the banks were giving out $200 for each new checking account opened. The scammer would open the account with your info but electronically transfer the $200 from the account. They did not care you received a debit card mailed to your house and never intended to use the account past the $200.

 
I have had mine frozen for several (10+) years. For the once in a great while I need to have a credit report pulled (new credit card, e.g.,), I just unfreeze for 3 days, time enough to get the process done. Some places will even tell you which agency they are going to pull from, so you only have to unfreeze that one.