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ID Info stolen from employer, What next?

Date: Sun, 05/14/2006 - 16:45
Submitted by LCW on Sun, 05/14/2006 - 16:45
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I received a letter this week that a Human Resources employees' personal computer was stolen in a apparent burglary attempt late last month. That computer contained a company file with the Names, Birth dates and Social Security numbers of 30,000 employees.

The company has arranged for affected employees to have a year of Equifax 3 in 1 credit monitoring for free. I have taken this offer and signed up. In addition I have taken a precautionary extra step of placing a temporary fraud alert with the three CRA's (my company recommended this action). I also had previously sign up for ID Theft insurance through my homeowners insurance.

To my knowledge, no one has yet tried to use my information to open any new accounts. My question is, are there any other steps I should take to protect my self or make it easier if or when someone tries to use my information? There was about a 10 day lag between when the computer was stolen and when I was notified and signed up for the credit monitoring.


Wow. I work in hr, and I can't even fathom how that would affect our employees..I think it's interesting that there was such a big timespan between the event and you being notified...I think you have done everything you can at this point. Even with the fraud alert, You should still get regular copies of your credit report...Like every three months. I'm assuming there was a police report filed? I know that you can't get a copy of that, but if something curious were to turn up on your credit report then that would be foofproof ammunition in a dispute. Anyway, My husband and I both have fraud alerts, and have been notified on several occasions for things that weren't even fraud. This gives me peace of mind, as it shows that they are on top of things. I think you'll be ok...You've got it under control. Good luck.


Submitted by finsfan13 on Sun, 05/14/2006 - 17:00

finsfan13

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Hi Clay,

My personal opinion would be to notify the SSA in advance so that they can take steps to prevent the fraudulent use of your SSN# and correct your earnings record. You have already contacted the Fraud hotline which was a very important step. The fraud department should be taking the following responsibilities.


  • Your accounts should remain flagged and you should give permission in writing to your creditors before new accounts are opened.

  • You should be getting free copies of your credit report because of a suspected fraud. Review the report very carefully and know there are no additional fraudulent accounts newly opened. There should also be no unauthorized changes made to your existing account.

You can learn more on identity theft in the Federal Trade Commission website and the Department of Justice website.


Submitted by john on Mon, 05/15/2006 - 11:24

john

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Clay each time there is credit applied for, the creditor will contact you to see if it is a valid request. With the fraud alert on our report, we had several call within the first 3 months of our nightmare. The jerks that ripped us off applied for a boat, credit cards, etc with hubby ss#. He was issued a new number do to all the problems we were incurring.


Submitted by Not so Lucky on Mon, 05/15/2006 - 13:52

Not so Lucky

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Yes, hubby has new ss# that no one will ever get again, except for his employer and like that. Of course, we are still recovering from this mess. It just simply amazes me the way people will scam honest hard wroking people out of their money and be able to sleep at night. But, I guess they have to have a conscious for it to bother them. We have the 7 year fraud alert on the report. Social Security told us that we will need to still monitor things closely. The way people are today, you never know when your personal information will be in jepority.


Submitted by Not so Lucky on Mon, 05/15/2006 - 18:08

Not so Lucky

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Hi Clay :)

I have to agree with Mike - if a police report was filed, be sure to get a copy of it ASAP, and if, for some reason, one wasn't filed by your employer, file one yourself. It's just one more step to protect yourself later on down the road. I'm so sorry to hear that happened!!

~Mary


Submitted by Mary on Mon, 05/15/2006 - 22:11

Mary

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Quote:

would also recommend getting a copy of the police report. Even though it was your works computer, it contained your personal information on it. The report number should be public info anyways.


That is the kicker. It wasn't a company computer. It appears it was this employees personal computer which had this file on it (they of course did have authorization to have the file). Of course the company isn't releasing their name, so getting a hold of the police report (a different city and state than where I live) would be nearly impossible.
I am wondering if I should file a report with my local police? But what exactly am I reporting? That something might happen??

As for the SSA.. I had a social security card stolen about 10 years ago, and I no longer pay into SSA, but I will check into it. I do still receive the earnings statements (though they haven't changed in 7 years) ..


Submitted by LCW on Tue, 05/16/2006 - 09:56

LCW

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