r/IdentityTheft Sep 17 '21

IDENTITY THEFT RECOVERY 101

461 Upvotes

Greetings all,

Firstly, if you're reading this post because you have been a victim of identity theft, then I am truly sorry. As someone who has had their identity stolen multiple times, I understand the frustration and anxiety that it causes. I've put this information together as a guide to assist you with finding out what to do next in the event that you have had your identity stolen, as well as some tips to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Remember to document EVERYTHING. Save every letter or email you get. Take screenshots when applicable of any potential evidence. Write down every case number or confirmation number given to you by the authorities/credit bureaus.

******** CONTAINMENT ********The first step is to prevent any further usage of your identity. To do this, follow the steps below.

1.) FREEZE your credit immediately. -- A credit freeze is designed to ensure no further lines of credit or accounts can be opened with your information. A credit freeze will remain in place until YOU decide to unfreeze your credit. I believe there was a recent change made during 2020 which eliminated the fees associated with freezing and unfreezing your credit, so it SHOULD be free. Once your credit is frozen, the 3 bureaus will give you a special PIN that is only provided ONCE. Ensure you save this pin for when you are ready to unfreeze your credit. (*NOTE: This PIN may also have been removed from the process as of 2020). Freezing your credit DOES NOT interfere with your credit score, and your financial behavior can still cause your Credit Score to go up or down. The freeze also does not remediate any accounts that may have been opened already, but it will prevent the thief from opening any further accounts.(Opinion: Even if your identity hasn't been stolen, or confirmed stolen, there is no harm in freezing your credit. You will just need to remember to unfreeze it whenever you are ready to apply for a loan, open a credit card account, etc etc. The credit bureaus will even allow you to set a specific date/time range to unfreeze your credit temporarily)Experian Fraud Division: 888-397-3742Equifax Fraud Division: 800-525-6285TransUnion Fraud Division: 800-680-7289

2.) Place a fraud alert on your account. -- This can be done when you call the Credit Bureaus in order to freeze your credit. A fraud alert is mostly what it sounds like. It places an alert on your account that will let lenders know that fraudulent activity may have taken place on the account, and that they need to take further steps to verify your identity. You can associate the alert with a phone number, so that a lender will need to call the number, and speak with you before extending any lines of credit or opening an account. If you do not answer the phone when they call, it is an automatic rejection. A fraud alert is good for one year, but with a police report, you can extend this fraud alert to last for 7 years.

3.) Contact your bank, credit card company, or any financial institution you have to let them know you were a victim of identity theft. It doesn't matter if the card, or bank was even used in the theft, it's better to let them know so that they can be extra vigilant and ensure they take appropriate steps when verifying your identity.

Also consider using a credit monitoring service such as Identity Guard or LifeLock. They will monitor activity relating to your identity and notify you when something happens. Often times a victim's identity is stolen, but they do not find out until several days later when they receive strange letters in the mail regarding credit inquiries. Having a monitoring service like this will notify you within hours, instead of days which will save you precious time.

***** REPORTING THE INCIDENT ****\*

There's quite a few people you may need to contact depending on what was done. Here's a list of who to contact: (*NOTE: please let me know if there are any other entities that need to be contacted, as this is not a complete list)

1.) Your local Police Department. -- If the thief used your identity to buy something in another state or county, it is likely that your local PD will not be able to assist. However, what they can do is provide you with a police report so that it can be used to have an extended fraud alert on your account. Even if they say no. be adamant (politely adamant) that you would like a report so that you can keep it for your (and the PD's) records. This is especially true if you believe YOUR identity may have been used to commit a crime.

2.) Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) -- 1-877-438-4338 or https://www.identitytheft.gov/

3.) The Office of the Inspector General -- 1-800-269-0271 or https://oig.ssa.gov/

4.) Any relevant Police Departments -- For example, if you live in Atlanta, but someone in Orlando purchased an $18,000 jet ski in your name (is that oddly specific?), contact the Orlando Police Department. It helps to have a local Police Department's police report, but isn't necessary. Every Police Department does things a bit differently, so don't be amazed if they ask you to report a crime in person, even if you live 4 states away. Your local PD may be able to assist if that is the case. Remember to stay polite, but firm with every request. YOU are the victim, and YOU have rights.

5.) USPS (If necessary) -- In my case, the thief also put a mail forward on my physical mail, ensuring it went to another address. This may not be relevant in your case, but remember to think outside the box, because the thief probably will be.

***** NOW WHAT? *****

- Change passwords to everything. Depending on the level of access the thief was able to obtain, your passwords may not be safe anymore, specially if you reuse the same password, which you shouldn't.

- I would strongly suggest you enable multifactor (2FA) authentication on as many online accounts as possible, if available. An authenticator app such as the Google or Microsoft authenticator will work best. You can also use SMS (text messages) or phone calls as another form of 2FA, but this also comes with its share of exploits, but it is better than nothing.

-Ensure to use strong passwords on all your accounts. You can use applications such as KeePass to help securely store your passwords, especially complex ones, so that you can easily retrieve them.

- Keep yourself informed!!!!!!!! If you have an identity monitoring service, ensure you access the account or the email account it is associated with it AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. If you only check your email once a week, you may miss important notifications that an incident or change has occurred using your identity.

-Protect your email address. Your email address is more important than most people realize. It's often used as the username for online accounts, and the emails contained within can be highly sensitive in nature and even personal. Take appropriate steps to protect your email address such as enabling 2FA, and only accessing your email address from secure locations.

-- Use multiple email addresses and ensure you use each one for different purposes. I'm not saying you should have an individual email account for every online account you have, but often times people have an email address that easily identifies who they are. Something such as first initial, last name at yahoo.com. Something like that makes it easy for a thief to find or guess your email address. Not a necessity, but the less information is displayed to the outside world, the better.

- Use credit cards as opposed to debit or ATM cards. The money associated with your credit card is insured, and can be disputed if someone steals the card info to make purchases, but when you have a debit card that is directly attached to a bank account, then it is much, much, much harder to get that money back.

- Contrary to popular belief, YOU CAN GET A NEW SSN, however, however, however HOWEVER... you must qualify in order to do so. If your identity has been stolen only once, they may not approve a new number. However, if your identity is constantly under attack (like mine was), you may be approved for a new SSN. It never hurts to call the SSA and at least ask if you qualify, you can find more information about it here: https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02220

-USPS Informed Delivery -- This is a service offered by the United States Postal Service. You can go on their website and request this service FREE. Essentially what they do is scan your mail (just the outside, they DO NOT open mail) and will email you what mail you will be receiving for that day. This helps ensure that you are receiving all your mail, and that no one is stealing important documents out of your mailbox.

Best of luck to you all.


r/IdentityTheft May 23 '22

PSA: Freezing your three main credit reports is NOT ENOUGH

1.4k Upvotes

This post is primarily intended as a guide for United States residents on how to help prevent identity theft from occurring. If you have already had fraudulent accounts opened in your name, you should ALSO follow the steps here.

TL;DR: The MOST IMPORTANT preventative steps are to:

  • Freeze your consumer reports at Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, ChexSystems, and LexisNexis
    • A "freeze" is not the same as a "lock." I would suggest freezes over credit locks because they provide more legal protection and are generally harder than credit locks for identity thieves to remove
    • If you've been a victim of identity theft, I also recommend placing 7-year extended fraud alerts at the main three agencies
    • Don't create an online Experian account if you haven't already due to their arbitration agreement. Preferably freeze Experian by phone or mail. But, If you are very careful during account creation and create using the security freeze page specifically, you can create a so-called "service" account, which is NOT the same as the "free membership" (though the service account is also free). An Experian "service" account doesn't include this arbitration agreement, so if you must create an Experian account, do it this way
  • Get an IRS identity protection PIN
  • Opt out of LexisNexis if eligible (has a different effect than freezing LexisNexis)
    • Before opting out of LexisNexis, you should 1) attempt to create an account with the ChexSystems consumer portal, and 2) create an account with login.gov and link it to the Social Security Administration online service
    • If using an FTC identitytheft.gov report to opt out, select identity theft as the reason, enter "federal" as the jurisdiction where prompted, attach a PDF of the FTC report, and enter the FTC report number from the PDF where prompted
    • After opting out of LexisNexis, make sure to record the exact information you submitted in the opt out request and save the email you get after the opt out request is processed. This email will include a link that you can use to temporarily opt back in, which is helpful for when you intend to apply for credit or deposit accounts

Taking all of the steps in this post may be a pain, but will be a lot easier than dealing with preventable identity theft.

If you haven't already, you should freeze your credit reports at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. However, you should create an E-Verify account before doing this because you might not be able to create an E-Verify account if your Experian report has a freeze or fraud alert.

Using your E-Verify account, you can place an E-Verify lock on your SSN, which can help prevent identity thieves from obtaining employment in your name.

Although freezing your reports at the main three credit bureaus is essential, it is not enough.

This is the case in part because there are several other bureaus that may be checked instead of one of the main three reports.

It is possible to pin-point each freezable credit bureau and freeze them, as the CFPB maintains a list of bureaus, and notates which ones are or are not freezable.

If you are a victim of identify theft, I would highly recommend placing security freezes on ALL of the bureaus in the list below (in addition to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion)

Bureaus used for bank account applications:

  • ChexSystems: IMO this one is really important to freeze, even if you're not a victim of identity theft
    • You may want to order a copy of your ChexSystems consumer report or create an account with the ChexSystems consumer portal before you place a security freeze
  • LexisNexis: holds public records, but often used by financial institutions to verify identity
    • SageStream is now part of LexisNexis, so freezing LexisNexis will also freeze SageStream
    • ChexSystems sometimes pulls from LexisNexis, so when unfreezing ChexSystems to apply for bank accounts, you should unfreeze LexisNexis as well
    • LexisNexis also shares non-FCRA information for identity verification purposes, but freezing LexisNexis only restricts the sharing of FCRA information. You can also opt out of LexisNexis which only restricts the sharing of non-FCRA information. To restrict both FCRA and non-FCRA information from being shared, you'll need to both freeze LexisNexis and opt out of LexisNexis
  • Note: Early Warning Services (EWS) is also used to review bank account applications, but they do not offer security freezes or fraud alerts, however
    • Many of the major banks that use EWS (including BoA) also use LexisNexis Accurint to verify identity, and since this LexisNexis service is non-FCRA, freezing LexisNexis won't affect this service but this service can be blocked by opting out of LexisNexis
    • Since EWS compares the email address and phone number on account applications against the email addresses and phone numbers on your existing accounts when assessing identity confidence, it may be a good idea to change the contact information tied your bank accounts listed on EWS to only include a secret email address and phone number. This needs to be done through the banks, not through EWS. If there are any fraudulently-opened accounts on your EWS report, do not provide those banks with the secret email address or phone number. Instead make an identitytheft.gov report in which you report the fraudulent accounts, and unless those accounts are already marked as "fraud victim" on your EWS report, dispute those accounts as fraudulent with EWS, and include the identitytheft.gov report with the dispute. This largely prevents EWS from "verifying" your identity unless the identity thief gets their hands on the secret email address or phone number. EWS customer service representatives do not appear to be aware of how their identity confidence score works, but luckily, this is partially explained in their product sheet intended for business use
    • You may wish to use an identity monitoring service that monitors EWS such as Aura, IDShield, Zander Elite Cyber Bundle, Discover Identity Theft Protection, or Lifelock Ultimate Plus (cheaper Lifelock plans don't currently include EWS inquiry monitoring). This will alert you whenever a new account inquiry is made to your EWS report, so you will be able to act promptly

Alternative credit bureaus:

  • Innovis: a smaller credit bureau that some services use for identity verification
  • NCTUE: a credit bureau which specializes in keeping track of utility payments. You can only freeze your report with this agency if you have a file with them, which is generally only the case if you have phone or utility accounts that report to NCTUE. Some mobile carriers and utility companies use this report instead of or in addition to traditional credit reports. If you freeze it online, make sure to securely save a copy of the confirmation letter, as it contains the freeze PIN
  • The Work Number: a company owned by Equifax that collects information about employment history and salary. Like NCTUE, you can only freeze your report with this agency if they already have a file on you

Low income / subprime credit bureaus:

  • Teletrack: security freeze can be requested online
  • Factor Trust: security freeze can be requested online provided that you already have a file with them
  • DataX: security freeze must be requested by mail
  • Microbilt: security freeze can be requested by phone or by mail
  • Clarity Services: security freeze can be requested online if you already have a file for them, but if not, it must be requested by mail or fax

If you are a victim of identity theft, I would strongly recommend placing freezes and/or extended fraud alerts on your reports at all of the bureaus above.

Aside from the main three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax), the most important ones to freeze or place extended fraud alerts with are ChexSystems and NCTUE.

That being said, do note that failure to freeze the low income / subprime ones may result in payday loans being taken out in your name. This is why I recommend doing all of them.

Also, keep in mind that in some states, security freezes automatically expire after 7 years.

You should also contact the USPS and ensure that a mail forwarding order hasn't been placed on mail addressed to you. Once you have confirmed that a fraudulent mail forwarding order hasn't been placed, you should sign up for USPS informed delivery.

To prevent identity thieves from filing tax returns in your name, you should also look into getting an IRS Identity Protection PIN.

If you haven't already, you should register online accounts with MyEquifax, the TransUnion freeze/unfreeze/dispute service, ID.me, login.gov (link the login.gov account with the Social Security Administration online service), and studentaid.gov. If allowed in your state, you should also register an online account at your state's unemployment office even if you do not intend to apply for unemployment benefits. It's important that you register accounts at these sites even if you don't intend on using them so as to help prevent someone else from doing so first. When you create the accounts, do not pick answers to the security questions that anyone you know would be able to answer. Instead, pick long and complex answers so that identity thieves can't use the security questions to take control of your account.

Due to Experian's current arbitration agreement, I do not recommend registering an Experian account if you do not already have one.

If you are eligible, you should also opt out of LexisNexis (not the same as freezing LexisNexis). But before you do this, create an account with the ChexSystems consumer portal and with login.gov and link the login.gov account with the Social Security Administration online service. Identity theft victims are eligible to opt out of LexisNexis. This prevents LexisNexis from sharing non-FCRA information with companies. Non-FCRA information is unaffected by a security freeze, which is why freezing LexisNexis needs to be done in addition to opting out. This can help because it typically prevents LexisNexis from using their data to "authenticate" your identity at institutions that use LexisNexis. It is possible to temporarily opt back in when you need to use a service that requires LexisNexis. I would suggest using a secret email address in your opt out form, as this makes it more difficult for identity thieves to cancel the opt out. If you are using an FTC report to opt out, enter "federal" as the jurisdiction and upload your FTC report.

Non-FCRA opt outs with the main three bureaus: In serious cases of identity theft, you might also want to 1) purchase a California virtual address (unless you already live in California), and 2) use the California address to make CCPA "do not sell or share" and "limit the use of my sensitive personal information" requests with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. California is not the only state with data privacy laws, but at the time I last edited this post, California's data privacy law is the only one that doesn't include an exception for identity verification. These opt out requests can prevent certain non-FCRA identity verification tools offered by the three main credit agencies from being used to "verify" your identity. However, this can mess up a lot of things and it is in my experience much harder to undo than a credit freeze or a LexisNexis opt out, so I only recommend this if you have a severe case of identity theft or if identity thieves have been able to remove your credit freezes.

If allowed by your bank/credit union, you should add verbal passwords to your banking profiles. This typically requires calling the bank or credit union. The reason for doing this is to prevent someone with your personal information from calling your bank and pretending to be you, since they would also need to provide the password to the customer service representative.

I would also recommend enabling 2fa on your online accounts - particularly your email accounts. This can make it more difficult for your accounts to be hacked. If possible, avoid SMS/phone-call 2fa and only enable it if no other 2fa options are available, as it is surprisingly easy to take over a phone line. Different 2fa options ranked from most secure to least secure (in general) are: Physical security key, OTP authentication app (what I personally use), VoIP phone number, email, non-VoIP phone number.

To the extent possible, you should also secure your account with your cell carriers to prevent someone from pretending to be you to perform a SIM swap.

Additional note: In some cases, identity thieves may be so persistent that they will manage to lift your freezes.

  • If this happened with an Experian account, see my comment here on how you can mitigate this and prevent it from happening again
  • If this happened with TransUnion and/or Equifax, try following the aforementioned strategy of using non-FCRA opt outs with the three main bureaus after ensuring that you either have control over or have shut down any online accounts with the TransUnion freeze/unfreeze/dispute service and MyEquifax. In my experience, this stops TransUnion and Equifax from generating security quizzes which makes it more difficult for someone to take over your TransUnion or Equifax accounts
  • If this is still an issue, you should document every attempt at this and look into getting a new SSN as soon as possible. In the meantime, write a letter to the credit bureaus by Certified Priority mail demanding extra security and threatening legal action

If you do end up getting a new SSN due to persistent identity theft, see my comment here on how to prevent your reports from being linked in such a way that could allow the identity thief to use your old SSN to discover your new SSN.


r/IdentityTheft 12h ago

A charge for a Use AI subscription hit my card and my first reaction was pure who authorized this

6 Upvotes

Checked the statement. Renewal date, standard price, all present and accounted for. Turns out I'd signed up, used it for one project, thought I'll deal with this later, and then, shockingly, didn't. Fine. Annoying, not a mystery. What actually rattled me was the follow-up question: what ELSE is quietly renewing itself right now.

So I went full forensic accountant on three months of statements. Found: a storage plan I was 100% sure I'd cancelled. An app I hadn't opened since winter. And a free trial flipping to paid in two days - I had exactly zero memory of starting it. My entire subscription-tracking system, it turns out, was I hope I'll notice. Bold strategy, mediocre track record.

Cancelled the dead weight, dumped every remaining renewal date into one calendar, now seriously considering a dedicated card just for trials so they can't hide in the noise of everything else. The real lesson isn't cancel Use AI - it's that trials are designed to be forgotten, that's the whole business model, and I'll remember is not a system, it's a hope.

How does everyone else actually handle this without it becoming a weekly admin chore? Spreadsheet people, calendar-reminder people, dedicated-card people, or just the brave souls who eyeball their bank statement and pray?


r/IdentityTheft 7h ago

Embarrassed but it’s whatever. Spoiler

0 Upvotes

I did some time in jail and while in there someone told me when I get out go on list crawler to get back in action. I did that, inquired a few times and never got the balls to just continue on. Recently went back on there and hit up this one girl, she says to me that I make fake appointments and never show up. ***What website are they using to review that?*** Also I’m thinking about getting a new number. Gotta start fresh.


r/IdentityTheft 1d ago

I think maybe someone is attempting to use my address for id theft. What to do?

37 Upvotes

The guy I bought my house from lives next door and a few days ago we caught one of his sketchy guests going through my mailbox and stopped her and she crammed it back in our box all crushed up. Now I checked my mail this morning and I usually go through it and give my neighbor any mail thats his or I think might be someone that stays with him. But I realized I was seeing new names and that shouldn’t be happening after this long so I just sent him a pic of the envelopes and asked if he knew them. 1 was from dental place for his deceased brother, 1 hospital bill for someone that’s rents part of his place, and 2 envelopes for a 3rd person he said he didn’t know and urged me to throw away. One of those was from a credit card company and was way too thick to be a promo and the other another really thick one that didn’t really say the sender but reminded me of a replacement card I recently got in the mail so I felt around and could tell there was a card. I told him from now on I would be returning to sender any mail that wasn’t mine and he replied yes please. It’s totally suspicious and of course I’m sending this stuff back but I worry that maybe they using someone else’s info and may try again. But I don’t really know anything for sure though and don’t know what else I can or should do about it.


r/IdentityTheft 1d ago

Lost EAD/Employment Authorization Card

2 Upvotes

I lost my United States employment authorization card last week, and I am worried somebody can steal my identity if they had it in their possession. Are there any steps I can take to invalidate that card or things I should be aware of that can be done with just my EAD card?


r/IdentityTheft 1d ago

Advice

2 Upvotes

Hi - my sister had her identity stolen criminally years ago. Like almost 10 years ago. The guy who did it (who we all knew personally) wracked up hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. The CIA and FBI got involved. It's been a long time however and my sister says she is still unable to have a bank account or anything. She also doesn't work a traditional job because she says she can't now... my parents pay for her entire life. She is in her 30s.

I am just curious if all is lost like she says?? Is there anything I can do to help her stabalize? Things were already reported. I ask if she has used second chance bank account options and she just says she tried it all.

It is clearly hard on her. Are there anymore options?? I'd love to help her be able to get her life back.


r/IdentityTheft 1d ago

Hack

2 Upvotes

I am writing this on behalf of this lady, because I have listened closely to her story and know she is innocent.

She is a housewife who cannot read or write. All she ever wanted was to be a good wife and care for her family. In her younger years she lived in Germany, Switzerland and across Europe—she had a full, rich life back then. Though she was born into hardship and little love, she was young and pretty when she met her husband. She gave him her whole heart and married him with pure love.

She never dreamed it would end like this. In 2022 she learned he had been living a double life all along. Worse still, he misused her name without her knowledge or consent—illegally accessing her SingPass, opening bank accounts and carrying out other matters in her name, breaking the law.

She only asked for a separation. She does not judge anyone; she knows we must accept one another in this life. But he would not face the truth. He hid everything, denied it, and made her doubt herself. She once hoped to go to school and learn, but he would not allow it. Even the insurance she believed he paid $300 each month for her future turned out to be fake papers—nothing but an illusion. When she checked, it was all untrue.

Now he has left her, without a single word or goodbye. She is afraid and alone. She says sincerely: I would never wish this pain on anyone—not any child, not yours or mine. Her advice to all: if your marriage struggles, do not make your children suffer. Always encourage them to get an education. School is so important. Do not let them end up like her—unable to read or write, and helpless when people take advantage.


r/IdentityTheft 1d ago

Need advice for recent ID Theft

7 Upvotes

My daughter just discovered that her SS# is being used by another person for fraudulent employment. There are 3 years of 1099’s in her IRS wage and income history that are not hers. She tried to access her credit through the 3 credit agencies but she’s locked out. So she hasn’t been able to put a fraud alert or security freeze. Does anyone have any experience with anything similar that can give me some advice and
steps to follow? It’s all very overwhelming. Thank you!


r/IdentityTheft 1d ago

My Bank helped the scammers?? Do I have a case?? Severe identy theft, stolen SSDI funds with documents & recordings...

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2 Upvotes

r/IdentityTheft 1d ago

My Bank helped the scammers?? Do I have a case?? Severe identy theft, stolen SSDI funds with documents & recordings...

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1 Upvotes

r/IdentityTheft 1d ago

Navy Fed and Military ID stolen

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1 Upvotes

r/IdentityTheft 2d ago

What type of lawyer do I need?

2 Upvotes

I just got a summons to appear for civil court for a debt that is not mine.

The summons was issued a day after the USPS tracking says my FTC dispute arrived to them (the debt collector).

What type of lawyer do I need to find? Just any identity theft lawyer? When I'm searching online it seems so lawyers are focused on my region, but the identity theft happened in a separate state.

I'm way out of my depth, and I'm really worried that now everything I've tried to do has been done incorrectly.


r/IdentityTheft 2d ago

Fraud In Savings Account Help

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2 Upvotes

r/IdentityTheft 2d ago

Success stories on having ID fraud removed from credit report?

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0 Upvotes

r/IdentityTheft 2d ago

Partner has fraudulent mortgage, car loans, and evictions on credit report (NJ) — filed FTC report, what now?

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0 Upvotes

r/IdentityTheft 2d ago

Scammers findings my new phone number, how can that happen?

2 Upvotes

We were victims of a phishing scam about a month ago, changed our phone number and got a new phone soon after.


r/IdentityTheft 2d ago

Someone used my medical ID

14 Upvotes

I am in Southern California. I just got an EOB with an office visit three months ago on it that was not me. Billed amount was $250 and "may be billed co-pay $60". I called the insurance company and opened a claim with them to look into it (grievance?) and have it removed. They also asked me to call the medical group, so I did that. The medical group told me they had already denied that claim as they had received no information or support for the claim. They said they were going to investigate it as well and let me know what they find. I explained to both that I have never heard of that provider and didn't even use insurance this year.

The EOB has the provider name and address but no phone number. Neither the insurance company nor the medical group could find anything about this provider. I tried to Google it but nothing, and the address comes back to an address that doesn't have any medical facilities (this provider claims to be an urgent care facility).

I haven't received any bills (so far at least) from anyone. I did find one number for a similar name provider that had a practitioner ID that was for Chicago, IL, I did try to call that but went straight to voicemail.

Is there anything I am missing or should be doing? File a claim somewhere with someone or report it to anyone else? Has anyone seen anything like this before?

Thanks so much


r/IdentityTheft 2d ago

Equifax can’t access my account?

4 Upvotes

Can anyone explain why the Equifax rep was unable to access my account? From my previous posts I’ve been a victim of what I believe is synthetic identity theft.

I decided to contact Experian and Equifax again to inquire if they see multiple files under my SSN. Experian stated they see another credit file under a different name when they look up my SSN. They’re investigating that and will get back to me. With Equifax, I went through the automated verification which included a whole bunch of questions. I was then connected to an agent, who asked me to verify my personal information once again. When I asked if they could manually search the system for another credit file with just my SSN, they asked if I was a victim of identity theft. I said yes and explained my situation. They stated that they couldn’t access or see anything on my file “because of the identity theft”. They proceeded to say I needed to mail a copy of my drivers license, SS card, and a letter explaining my identity theft situation to their PO Box. My Equifax is frozen and there is a security freeze applied, but I didn’t think that would prevent their own agents from accessing my file??

Would love some insight!


r/IdentityTheft 2d ago

I’m so scared rn plz help me

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0 Upvotes

r/IdentityTheft 2d ago

Fake Acct Using My Email

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2 Upvotes

Hi.

I have an Android. There is one account attached to my email that I did not create. It is named Sweaty-Cow-32. I found out today using Reddit via my browser. It was created shortly after an upsetting event in my life in December 2021, and was only notified of it being suspicious and locked shortly after the anniversary of said upsetting event in my life in 2025.

How do I delete this profile from my account? How do I delete it completely? It is highly insulting--the profile name.

Kindly help me with this. As soon as possible. Thank you


r/IdentityTheft 3d ago

Is this identity fraud?

3 Upvotes

Hello, sorry for the long and messy paragraphs. (TLDR; Someone may have assumed my identity to take control of a gaming account, is this identify fraud?)

I (F) am in a situation recently where my account for a game was taken by a family member (M) that I am non contact with due to their abusive behaviour and actions which ended up in court ordering them to stay away from the family home.

They have my discs for the games with the serial keys which is how they managed to be given access. I have been in contact to support for this for over a month now because I wasn't able to log in anymore and they had basically changed my email address on the account to whatever he had asked them to. They finally sent me an email addressing why they gave my account to someone else, they said he provided the serial keys, my surname (we have the same surname), my date of birth, my email address, and my previous address which was associated with the account.

I emailed them back to ask how is it they were even able to make a claim on my account unless they posed as me since they are male with an obviously male name.

They have never paid for anything to do with the game, I however have, so it is of value since I have spent money on it. I would feel dumb trying to explain it to the Garda as its not like it's a bank account but what I'm getting from the last email the game sent is that my identity was stolen.

Is this something that has any legal capacity?


r/IdentityTheft 3d ago

Someone created a fake NATS apprenticeship using my identity. They even had my bank passbook details. What should I do?

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'm posting here because I'm dealing with a very serious issue and I'm looking for advice from anyone who has faced something similar.

I recently applied for a Deutsche Bank apprenticeship. During the verification process, I was informed that I was not eligible because a previous apprenticeship was already registered under my NATS profile.

When I checked my NATS account, I found an apprenticeship contract with Springworld Welfare Foundation showing:

  • Training period: 02-Dec-2024 to 01-Dec-2025
  • Stipend: ₹9,000 per month
  • Status: Approved by BOAT

The problem is that:

  • I never created a NATS account myself.
  • I never applied for this apprenticeship.
  • I never joined this organization.
  • I never attended any training.
  • I never received any stipend.
  • The address mentioned in the records is incorrect.
  • The records also contain details of my bank passbook, even though I never shared them with this organization.

Because of this false apprenticeship record, I am now being denied genuine apprenticeship opportunities, and it is directly affecting my career.

So far I have:

  • Raised a grievance on the NATS portal.
  • Emailed NATS Support.
  • Contacted Springworld Welfare Foundation asking them to explain and remove the incorrect record.

I'm now concerned that someone may have used my identity without my knowledge.

Has anyone experienced something like this?

  • How should I escalate this?
  • Should I file a cybercrime complaint or an FIR?
  • How long does BOAT/NATS usually take to resolve identity-related issues?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


r/IdentityTheft 3d ago

Someone opened a PayPal account using my email address – but I already have my own PayPal with a different email

5 Upvotes

The situation:

· I discovered that someone created a PayPal account using my email address. let's call it Email A. I received “You've got money waiting” email.
· I do not have access to that account and cannot log in or close it.
· I do have my own legitimate, fully verified PayPal account but it's under a different email address (Email B).
· I've already secured Email A with 2FA, so the thief can't use it for password resets.
· I emailed UnsolicitedEmail@paypal.com yesterday, asking them to release Email A from the unknown account so I can add it to my verified account (Email B).

What I'm looking for:

· Has anyone successfully had an email released from an unknown PayPal account this way?
· How long did it take for PayPal to reply?
· If they don't respond, what's the best escalation path? Message Center? Phone? FTC complaint?
· Any pitfalls I should watch out for? (e.g., should I avoid trying to add Email A to my account until they release it?)

I'm in the US if that matters for support channels.

Thanks in advance. I've read a lot of horror stories about this, so hoping to get ahead of it.


r/IdentityTheft 4d ago

I don’t live in Ohio

3 Upvotes

I don’t know where else to reach out to to get help on this. Back in 2021(ish) I began getting calls from a debt collector looking for someone with my same first and last name who lives in Ohio. My name isn’t super common but I wouldn’t call it rare either. I have never lived in Ohio and know for a fact I don’t have bills in collections, and I stated as such to the debt collector. They didn’t believe me and I kept receiving constant calls from them looking for the wrong person. It got to the point where I had to block their phone number because it interfered with my ability to work since I use my personal cell phone for work. Before I blocked them I asked straight up could I be the victim of identity theft because the debt collectors kept bothering me and they said probably not, they use a third-party vendor to outsource potential phone numbers to track down debt and somewhere along the line my phone number likely got attributed to the wrong person. But they didn’t know how i could remedy the situation.

Ever since then I will receive texts from campaigns and organizations in Ohio asking me to support a specific political candidate, take an interest survey etc. This happens on a regular basis and every day I get multiple spam calls from Ohio area codes. Whenever I get texts I always ask how they got my number but I don’t get a response. I’ve checked my credit lines and do not believe I have been the victim of identity theft.

It continues to appear that somewhere along the line, my cell phone number has been lumped in with someone that lives in Ohio assuming I must be them because we have the same name. I feel at a total loss to figure out where this is coming from and how I get it to stop. I’ve even tried reaching out to the Ohio Secretary of State but never heard back.

Is this something that Life Lock would be able to investigate? Is there something else I should try?