I’m a victim of fraud. Some people are scum.

July 03, 2021, 06:00 PM

quote:
Originally posted by V-Tail:
For at least thirty years, probably more, I have refused to supply my SSN wherever possible. This number was never intended to be a universal identifier and has been terribly misused for that purpose.

I realize that I am pissing into the wind on this, but it just annoys the hell out of me.

I do not use it on 4473 forms and I have never had to wait more than two or three minutes for approval.

One branch of the Federal government finally saw the light not too long ago -- Medicare cards have been re-issued with individual alpha-numeric identifiers instead of social security numbers.

Any time that an SSN has been required by an organization that was not using it for the intended purpose, I supplied a number of my choosing when I thought the circumstances would allow me to get away with it. To date, this has not come back to bite me on the ass. Numbers that I have used include
078-05-1120 The "Woolworth Number" (my favorite)

042-68-4425 Barack Hussein Obama

567-68-0515 Richard Milhous Nixon

562-10-0296 Walt Disney

Don't SSNs get reused some years after the previous holder dies?

July 03, 2021, 06:41 PM

V-Tail

quote:
Don't SSNs get reused some years after the previous holder dies?

I don't think so, but SIGforum member "Fed161" could probably tell us.

July 03, 2021, 06:55 PM

a1abdj

quote:
Don't SSNs get reused some years after the previous holder dies?

I had a friend who was issued the same number as a person about 40 years older who was still alive. It was never noticed or an issue until he was old enough to work and file taxes.

Although I do not use my debit card nearly as much as I used to, my bank had an app that gave me full control of the card. I could set the limit to $1.00 or $100,000 if I wanted. I would generally keep it set low, and could hop on the app and adjust it in real time if I needed to make a higher purchase. It also notified me via a message through the app (similar to a text) every time the card was used.

July 03, 2021, 09:38 PM

iron chef

I've been a victim of identity theft. I'm also an independent contractor who has to submit IRS Form W-9 for jobs all the damn time. I have to trust that the recepients will use & dispose of the form properly. What are the odds that the hundreds of W-9s I've submitted over the years were all disposed of properly and didn't get into the wrong hands? Why am I not surprised that I became an ID theft victim?

Oh, and fuck Equifax. I was part of their data breech, and they had the nerve to come and sell us victims Equifax ID theft insurance? Hello?! It's your fault that our info was stolen!

Some of the schools I attended also had data breeches and had my personal info compromised.

July 04, 2021, 08:17 AM

just1tym

After dropping my Lifelock this year I froze my accounts at all 3 credit bureaus online just for protection from new accounts being opened. It took about 30-45min to do it online. They will tell you however that you're existing credit cards if you have them are still vulnerable, the freeze just protects from new accounts being opened in your name.

ensigmatic, good bank account and utility info, I wasn't aware of those.

July 04, 2021, 08:59 AM

ensigmatic

quote:
Originally posted by just1tym:
After dropping my Lifelock this year I froze my accounts at all 3 credit bureaus online ...

Just as long as you're aware that identity theft protection and credit fraud protection aren't the same thing. Freezing your credit reports will prevent new credit being taken out in your name. It will not protect you against a plethora of other identity theft threats.

July 04, 2021, 09:02 AM

Graniteguy

quote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
quote:
Originally posted by just1tym:
After dropping my Lifelock this year I froze my accounts at all 3 credit bureaus online ...

Just as long as you're aware that identity theft protection and credit fraud protection aren't the same thing. Freezing your credit reports will prevent new credit being taken out in your name. It will not protect you against a plethora of other identity theft threats.

Neither will most Identity Theft Services. The most important thing they do is freeze your credit - which anyone can do in 5 minutes. Oh I forgot - they scan the dark web for your info. Yeah, right.

July 05, 2021, 08:48 AM

ensigmatic

quote:
Originally posted by Graniteguy:
quote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
quote:
Originally posted by just1tym:
After dropping my Lifelock this year I froze my accounts at all 3 credit bureaus online ...

Just as long as you're aware that identity theft protection and credit fraud protection aren't the same thing. Freezing your credit reports will prevent new credit being taken out in your name. It will not protect you against a plethora of other identity theft threats.

Neither will most Identity Theft Services.

It's true they won't, literally, "protect you from," but they can, in some instances detect stolen identity use and they will, if you have the coverage, mitigate the fallout. That last bit is the primary reason we have it.

quote:
Originally posted by Graniteguy:
The most important thing they do is freeze your credit - which anyone can do in 5 minutes.

Takes a bit more than five minutes, but, yeah. Which I did. Which is why we're not paying for that protection.

quote:
Originally posted by Graniteguy:
Oh I forgot - they scan the dark web for your info. Yeah, right.

They do. It's not very useful if you already know your information has been stolen. If it has, you can be guaranteed it's out there. And, if it's out there, you can be guaranteed somebody will eventually try to abuse it.