A professional organization that my wife is required to belong to got hacked. They got all her info including her SS#. It's almost a monthly occurrence that someone tries to open a credit card in her name. We also get our credit card numbers stolen at least once per year, also related to her getting hacked. Its never cost me a penny yet, banks are getting good at identifying and stopping it. I am thinking it might be a good idea to get some identity theft protection, just in case. I had allclear for 2 years, got it for free when my insurance company got hacked. Didn't like them a bit, absolutely no help ever. Anyone have a company they really like or dislike?

Credit freeze.
It's easy, free, you can unfreeze anytime you need to open a new account.
The other stuff is a lot of fluff and they charge you lots of money, year after year after year.
You can do it better yourself.
And did mention it's free?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 220-9er,

If your wife hasn't already I suggest she signs up for Social Security. Just make an account don't have to do anything besides creating an account. A good buddy who is former Army had his info hacked with the large OPM hack. Someone created an SS account under his name/info and started collecting disability. This went on for awhile before he even found out. Then it took him a long time, money and lawyer to get it squared away.

He was told if he had an account, even though he is nowhere near retirement, it would have made it very difficult for someone else to set one up and collect disability.

I use protectmyid. My employer had a "data breach" and all of its US employees data was taken . My employer stepped up to the plate and purchased coverage from protectmyid for 5 years for all its US based employees. They will re-evaluate at year 4 if they will continue coverage.

I had someone attempt to open a credit card in my name and protectmyid was very helpful taking care of it. They notified the credit bureaus and had everything cancelled and removed. All I had to do was sign a few forms and that was it. My credit score never took a hit and they had fraud alerts placed on my accounts.

Hopefully my company will continue paying for it after year 5 but if they don't I'll pony up for it.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
If your wife hasn't already I suggest she signs up for Social Security. Just make an account don't have to do anything besides creating an account. A good buddy who is former Army had his info hacked with the large OPM hack. Someone created an SS account under his name/info and started collecting disability. This went on for awhile before he even found out. Then it took him a long time, money and lawyer to get it squared away.

He was told if he had an account, even though he is nowhere near retirement, it would have made it very difficult for someone else to set one up and collect disability.

This is good advice too but you have to unfreeze your credit to set up a SS account (I just set mine up last week) so a credit freeze would prevent that too.

We’ve been ‘frozen’ for years, stops much of this at square one.

I had this happen a few years back...is this freeze the same as a "fraud flag" not he account?

JB

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Credit freeze.
It's easy, free, you can unfreeze anytime you need to open a new account.
The other stuff is a lot of fluff and they charge you lots of money, year after year after year.
You can do it better yourself.
And did mention it's free?

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
We’ve been ‘frozen’ for years, stops much of this at square one.

Same here, I've been frozen for about 15 years. While it does not stop all sorts of credit fraud, particularly bogus credit card charges, it absolutely prevents anyone from obtaining any form of new credit in your name, plus other things like opening a bank account. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've had to lift a freeze during that 15 years. Registering for an online SS account was one example, mentioned above by 220-9er, but they at least tell you which credit agency they are using, so you only lift on that one (unfortunately Equifax, at least when I did it). Some other places will also do the same, but most do not. Still, you can lift for one entity only, for anyone, or for a period of time, or forever (cancel the freeze outright). These days they have streamlined the process of lifting a freeze. Years ago you had to do it by sending a letter. Now you can do it online, do your business, and be quickly refrozen. It's free in some states; others have a small fee (like $5).

Yep - credit freeze with all 3 agencies. I've had a freeze for years as well. It's easy to lift when needed, can be done online, takes about 15 minutes or less for the freeze to be lifted, and you can have it automatically reinstated the next day or just go back in and freeze it immediately online. Easy, safe, and pretty effective too as already stated.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo Jones:
I had this happen a few years back...is this freeze the same as a "fraud flag" not he account?

JB

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Credit freeze.
It's easy, free, you can unfreeze anytime you need to open a new account.
The other stuff is a lot of fluff and they charge you lots of money, year after year after year.
You can do it better yourself.
And did mention it's free?

No, a fraud alert will put a notice on the three agencies for creditors to see that you have had a problem and notify you before anyone can open a new account. They only last for three months and need to be repeated. As I understand it, that's what these pay sites do for you and they repeat it as long as you are paying. They appear to me to be mostly a highly profitable marketing operation (nothing illegal, unethical or wrong with that).

A freeze will not allow anyone else to access your file or open new accounts of any sort. You put it on and no maintenance is required. The exceptions are; already existing creditors can do the occasional monitoring of your credit as they do without a freeze. They can't open new accounts without you "unfreezing" which you can do yourself with a code they give you at signup.

Just a comment on your credit card getting hacked.

Many cards today are "scanned" while still in your wallet and purse. Somebody only has to be within a few feet to do it.

If you carry credit cards in public places, get an RFID Blocker.

We used to have identity theft protection. But, ironically enough, I'd always felt their security measures lacking. Then, when an associated service dropped the ball, I just let them both lapse. In researching I.D. theft services, afterwards, I found the service we'd had didn't rate very highly.

So I've been thinking of hooking up with another, but haven't been able to decide which one. Currently I'm thinking either IdentityForce, because they consistently review as one of the best, if not the best, or CompleteID through Costco, which is much more affordable and still reviews well.

In the meantime, I've frozen our...

• Credit reporting at all three major reporting agencies
  
• Bank account reporting at ChexSystems
  
• Telecom (phones, cable, broadband) services reporting at NCTUE
  

As to why the measures: My personal info has been stolen multiple times, from just about everybody who's been breached.

quote:

Originally posted by Graniteguy:
Just a comment on your credit card getting hacked.

Many cards today are "scanned" while still in your wallet and purse. Somebody only has to be within a few feet to do it.

If you carry credit cards in public places, get an RFID Blocker.

Note RFID blockers are easy to make. For a typical wallet, cut a piece of a manilla folder or similarly thick paper to be a bit larger than a dollar bill so it slips into the outside pocket where money and checks usually go. Once you have it cut to size, cover that piece with aluminum foil on one side, then cover the whole thing with packing tape so the foil stays in place and isn't torn. Please this in the outside area of your wallet. When the wallet is folded in a pocket, any cards inside are shielded from RFID.