I see a lot of people telling others that they should freeze their credit files. Freezing credit can be an effective way to deter casual identity thieves, but the system is flawed.
For example, take a look at this Equifax FAQ concerning PIN resets:
If a thief has enough of your information, it's pretty trivial to create a copy of a bogus driver's license or a bogus utility bill to get the PIN reset, get the mailing address changed, get a new PIN, and then apply for credit.
Social engineering is the greatest threat here.
Furthermore, credit freezes do little to prevent someone from filing a bogus tax return in your name, opening up a brokerage account and applying for margin, getting health benefits in your name, etc. Those are other vectors that one should also consider.
Active monitoring and nipping accounts that suddenly come up is the best way to deal with this. It's not ideal, but it's what happens when you use a 9 digit number as a national identification number and make it hard to get it changed.
Submitted September 08, 2017 at 02:32PM by rimlogger http://ift.tt/2xbUZwo
