You know about that thing you hear on the news about people getting their identity stolen. You think, “man that would be a bummer, I’m glad that’s not me” and go on about your business. Well, that’s me. Yep, I am a victim of identity theft. Read more below the fold.
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Around 10 years ago, in 1996, I had either misplaced my wallet or had it stolen. It’s been so long I don’t remember the details. Well, among other things I had my social security card in there. At the time I thought nothing of it, I had my SS card and driver’s license replaced and went on like normal. Little did I know that someone was in possession of my personal documents and they sold them to another person in 1998, I call this person Mr. Rata.
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In 1998, Mr. Rata used my social security number to get a job at a couple of packing companies in the midwest. Apparently Mr. Rata didn’t pay his taxes and in 2000 I got a letter from the IRS informing me that I owed them some money. This was the first time I realizes something was wrong. I had to dispute the IRS claims and then call up the Social Security administration to let them know what was happening. At this point I became aware that the Social Security Administration doesn’t do a darned thing about this misuse of SS numbers. That’s right, that number can be used until the end of time. I rarely get frustrated when talking to someone on the phone, but I almost a Russel Crowe when the SSA informed of this. Because of the fiasco, I had to prove my identity to the SSA with birth certificates, baptism certificates, report cards, etc. Eventually they gave me a new SS #.
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Anyway, I got some of it semi cleared up, but then I started getting called by creditors. It turns out Mr. Rata opened up all sort of accounts using my identity including an auto loan, a JC Penney credit card, a Sears card, a Helzberg Diamonds credit line, a Cellular One account, and the list goes on and on. Soon Mr. Rata and his rat buddies decided they didn’t want to pay off a lot of these credit lines and many of these debts were sold off to collections groups. These ruin your credit score, and I was denied credit at countless of places due to these clowns.
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I’m having a hard time staying awake while I type this post, so I’ll have to continue it tomorrow… stay tuned for my tips on how to avoid identity theft and keep your credit report clean.