Identity theft can happen to anyone at any time; a friend of Arthur’s and mine had her identity stolen and didn’t even know it until she tried to take her child to the emergency room and they gave her an ID with another woman’s picture on it. Her Social Security number and name was the same, but that’s when she found out there is a woman going around south Florida impersonating her.
When she’d had her purse stolen at a gas station the month before and canceled the cards, got her DL replaced, etc… she forgot about it. She thought that she’d taken all steps necessary to protect herself. But the robber had either assumed her identity herself or sold the info and after the emergency room visit, our friend checked her credit report and found that she had had her identity stolen. Eight months later, she is still fighting to clear things up!
As we go increasingly digital, there is an even greater need for identity theft prevention like lifelock. Instead of spending hundreds of hours cleaning up your credit and trying to get your good name back, why not simply protect yourself? As one of my employers used to tell me: be proactive instead of reactive.
I found out in 2006 from an employment background check that someone used my SS# to get housing in NYC in 1992 and 2000.
So I now have that hanging out there, wondering if they are going to use it for anything else.
I have the address, it’s an apartment complex but nothing can be done (or so I have been told).
Funny thing is, I have had a lot of background checks done but that was the first time anyone bothered to ask if I ever lived in NY.