Identity Theft and Social Security

Before I start with what I have to say I want everyone to know that I have been cross-shredding all my receipts, statements, bills, etc for many years. Before I got a shredder I would save these things up and burn them. I've never lost my wallet. I don't share passwords. I don't use easy passwords. I've tried to be very careful to protect myself and my assets from the bad guys.

A couple of years ago when I had a temporary residence in Texas (fer about 10 years, pardner) I received a phone call from a woman who identified herself by name and said she worked in the fraud division of Bell South. She said she had some bad news for me, and informed me that I was a victim of identity theft.

She said someone in Georgia had used my name and social security number to establish credit in order to get a cell phone from Bell South. She said the account had been closed and that they understood it was identity theft and would not be after me to pay the bill. She suggested I order a copy of my credit report and check in closely for fraudulent accounts. In our conversation I was able to verify she had all my vitals and was even able to call her back at Bell South.... pretty sure she was on the up-n-up but I was still a bit doubtful because I had been so careful for so many years to protect myself.

I ordered the credit report and sure enough there was a few accounts, in Georgia, that were not mine and, of course, were past due.

I alerted the credit bureau of the identity theft. I called the businesses and made sure they understood the accounts were not mine and opened by someone posing as me. I wrote letters to the credit bureau and the companies. I contacted the police in both Texas and Georgia. I thought I had it all behind me. Silly boy, silly boy.

So here it is about 3 years later and all of a sudden I get a notice in the mail from one of the credit companies saying there was some stuff in my credit report that could be detrimental to my credit and they had to tell me because Colorado law said so. Thank you Colorado.

I got online and once again I find that someone, this time in Florida, is using my name and social security number and not paying their bills. I disputed the entry in my credit report and slept soundly thinking that as soon as they checked it out they would figure out the problem and all would be well in the world.

Silly boy, silly boy. The next thing I hear is from a collection agency wanting the past due money that I owed in Florida. The collection agency does not provide a contact name, an email address, not even a phone number. All they give you is an address to send the money! I suppose they get their fair share of sad stories about why this isn't paid and why that isn't owed but that leaves use good guys who always pay their bills on time out in the cold. It seems like you are assumed to be guilty... if you will.

Well, I wrote them and told them I had been an identity theft victim in the past and apparently it was happening again..... bla, bla, bla. They sent me forms to fill out and get notarized and I did all that and so far haven't heard from them... it's been a month now.

So that is my sad story about identity theft.... it isn't over yet. True to form I have a few comments.

1. Ones social security number along with the name should NOT have the power to open any account real or fraudulent. A social security number should not have any power (as in power to open credit accounts).
2. I believe someone sold my information. Maybe from a doctors office. Possibly a bank. How about a disgruntled government employee. Old school records. I don't know but I feel very strongly that I didn't screw up and give it away.
3. If my credit card number became compromised like my social security number, it would only take a phone call to the credit card company and that number wouldn't work anywhere in the world from that moment on. Why can't the social security nerds figure out how to do the same thing?
4. I wrote my congressman, Mr. "I'm working for you" Salazar, about item 3 above and the response I got was canned and didn't address my point. He probably didn't read it and some pre-school volunteer responded. I didn't vote for him today.
5. As long as my social security number is "out" I can expect this to happen again and again.
6. When contacting police all of them gave me the run around and didn't want to be bothered and I'm sure once they got the report don't do anything about it. I never heard from them.
7. In the original ID theft I provided an address... want to bet they checked it out? The last theft one was for electricity... think anyone goes to the house to check it out?
8. We are always hearing about someone losing a computer with thousands of individuals "sensitive" data. Seems to me if you lose this type of data you should be liable and possibly go to jail for neglect. The loss should be reported immediately with fines (given to the victims) from the day the loss occurred until social security issues new numbers to all the victims.
9. What's with these dopey companies allowing someone to open a line of credit and NOT checking them out. The credit report stated (assuming they got one) that I didn't live in Georgia or Florida... duh.
10. If I want to freeze my credit... i.e. not allow anyone including myself to get credit using my credit rating I have to pay. Not only pay but pay each of the big 3 credit reporting companies (it's like a subscription, pay for so long and then pay again).
11. It seems you have no rights, no influence, no nothing in this arena. You are a victim and you are on your own. Good luck silly boy, good luck.

So stay tuned. As we go down the merry path of identify theft we will fear no evil.......

See you in the funny papers..... silly boy.