So I have had an ongoing issue with identity theft that started about 4-5 years ago.
I think my first brush was noticing that I was getting hard hits on my credit from someone(s) attempting to open a credit card in my name. I would call each place and report the fraud and the hit would eventually be removed from my credit report.
Around 4 years ago, the/a identity thief actually opened a card successfully in my name from Macy's which really unnerved me. I guess I should've been alarmed at the attempts but naively figured they were harmless attempts. Anyway, I was able to get the card closed, reported the fraud.
Now, I don't remember if I froze my credit right then or after this next fraud event but around 3-4 years ago, I found out a week or two later that someone had withdrew or transferred 16k out of my bank account, starting with a couple of small withdrawals. I usually check my accounts a bit obsessively but at the time, I was on vacation so I didn't notice until a week or two later because I was in a country where I could not access my bank online.
Anyway, after a lot of back and forth with Suntrust, I closed the account, opened a new account at another bank, changed all my passwords using Lastpass instead of variations of the same PW. I think at this point is when I also finally froze my credit at the 3 credit bureaus. I also reported it to a few different things like identifytheft.gov, FTC (is that the same thing?),etc. Documented all the dates and occurrences for a police report which I never filed.
Ever since then, I had not experienced anything and I keep a close eye on all my financial items...
Until this past Friday, my boss called and said that someone had tried to file for unemployment benefits, claiming that I had been laid off in August. He rejected the claim and I called and left a voice mail at the unemployment office, as well as emailing them (their message says they are unable to pick up the phone right now due to how busy they are). I filed another FTC report.
My question is, is there anything else I should do to further protect myself? I am reading about changing your SSN - are there any cons to changing your SSN besides having to update everything? I know this is my personal issue, but this kind of stuff really stresses me out.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Submitted September 27, 2021 at 09:26AM by toorad2b4u https://ift.tt/2XPngID
