identity thief

[Goldy1]

Just found out my parents were victims.
Any advice on how to prevent this from happening to us too?
We shred documents.
My dad got upset his income tax return was taking so long.
He went to irs office. They found out it was sent to another person.
Someone filed a return for them and it sent to them.
Few months ago someone tried to use thier visa online but visa called them and stopped them.
My mom said he threw away income tax returns from many years in a dumpster unshredded. What a dumb thing to do.
The cops are the way to thier house to have a report filed.
My parents have signifigant assets.

[chrisburke21]

Go to http:\\Federal Trade Commission then find the identity theft section. It has a good step by step guide to prevent and resolve identity theft issues.

[bjl584]

You can get your credit report 3 times a year (once from each major reporting agency.) Also, you can do things like shred your documents as you do. I try to use one card for everything that way I can reviw the bill to make sure there isn't anything strange on it. Be careful about giving your credit card to a waiter/waitress at a restuarant. They can copy the number down when you aren't looking. I also don't write my SS number down unless it's absolutely necessary.

[Goldy1]

goldy1

good advice
such a scary thing
the nerve of people messin with the irs

[GrimJack]

The sad fact about ID theft is that 90% of it is out of your hands. Generally, someone somewhere gets their hands on a database (from a company or government laptop lost or stolen, data breach at a hospital or medical center, some clerk sells the data) and sells the info to various felons. At the beginning of the year, the names are sold for tax return fraud; later, credit card fraud and so on. If this paints kind of a bleak picture, there is some positive news - almost no database now keeps the entire SS# in one place, and most are referenced only by the last 4 digits. Take your SS card out of your wallet and put it in a safe place where you can get it when you need it but no one else can. Google yourself occasionally to see what the world knows about you. Look at all the information you have posted about yourself on the various social media.

To paraphrase, the price of good credit is eternal vigilance.

[snafu]

We have been warned repeatedly that we are most at risk from Government documents, Banks & large institutions. We are careful with the part of the paper that has our account numbers but are at the mercy of careless handling from those institutions that demand SS/SIN and detailed account numbers. There is so much processing being sent off shore I'm wondering if the famous copy cats are copying our financial information.

Thanks for the heads up, if income tax assessments/refunds take more than 60 days, we'd better take the lead and follow up.

[swapnil]

This incidents are increasing these days, be careful while sharing any documents relating to identity authentication or any other personal identity documents. The chances of frauds are increasing and any body can misuse those documents once they get acquisition by fault or by any means.

[elfen lied]

Good thing you were able to think about that immediately. Thieves are becoming more rampant these days that they will do anything that they can think of just to get a hold of other people’s information. This is one good experience that should be shared to everyone.