[Marine1974]

Originally Posted by FredMitchell

You can search here.

If it has been, be sure to freeze your credit with all three agencies. It is easy and not a big deal before you are an identity theft victim.

Links to the credit agencies are listed on the page linked above. Generally, it is a good idea to freeze your credit anyway. You can always unfreeze it on demand when someone needs it, then freeze it again.

Best practice is to contact credit
agencies directly and freeze credit . They will provide pin to temporarily unfreeze and refreeze . Also go on county to put a fraud alert on your title / deed to your property. Just saying

[Caymus]

Originally Posted by Lanieb

How does one “freeze” their credit?

Clark Howard has a guide on his website.

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

[NoMoSno]

I just got the letter from Change Healthcare regarding the largest healthcare breach in history.
They got all your info including Medicare #s.
How the ransomware attack at Change Healthcare went down: A timeline | TechCrunch

148 million were affected in the 2017 Equifax breach. Pretty bad when the credit agencies get hacked.
2017 equifax data breach - Google Search

There needs to be more accountability for these organizations to protect information.
All they offer is 2 years of free credit monitoring. (I did get $25 for the Equifax class action suit)

[Skip]

Originally Posted by MrFlorida

How do we know that site is not a scam site ?

Yup! Never type in your SS# into ANY website.

Skip

[retiredguy123]

Can someone please explain how a SSN can be used to steal money from another person?

[Lea N]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Can someone please explain how a SSN can be used to steal money from another person?

I'm not sure how but it isn't always what you would think. I'm guessing on some level they try to get credit? That in combination with other info makes it easier?

I heard recently there are thieves somehow getting access to house titles. They don't steal the house, they take a loan out against the house. True? I don't know but it seems dishonest people are always coming up with new ways to steal.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Lea N

I'm not sure how but it isn't always what you would think. I'm guessing on some level they try to get credit? That in combination with other info makes it easier?

I heard recently there are thieves somehow getting access to house titles. They don't steal the house, they take a loan out against the house. True? I don't know but it seems dishonest people are always coming up with new ways to steal.

They can take out a loan against my house, but they won't get any money from me. A lender would need to be pretty stupid to lend money to someone without doing a proper title verification.

I think more people are ripped off by these credit and title monitoring services that spread fear in people. They sell a "service" with no guarantee of outcome, or even that they will do any actual monitoring.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

They can take out a loan against my house, but they won't get any money from me. A lender would need to be pretty stupid to lend money to someone without doing a proper title verification.

I think more people are ripped off by these credit and title monitoring services that spread fear in people. They sell a "service" with no guarantee of outcome, or even that they will do any actual monitoring.

CoachK bought a new car at Subaru dealership. Had to give social security number for loan verification, approval. unlocked account, but had to wait for approval to relock the account. Within two days, Coachk got an email bomb. Someone used her SS number and maiden name information to buy an apple iPhone. Fedex overnight was to our house?? called Fedex at 7AM and got the delivery halted and returned to sender. Had a police report filed, but the police man didn't use the word Verizon in the report. But there had to be a Fedex driver or delivery manager in on the fraud to have the phone declared delivered and then get to the intended thief, or else the sim card was stolen out of the phone prior to delivery. Also there was an online bank account opened in Coachk's name in order to validate the purchase, etc. . . corporate loop holes. . .

Got credit on the iPhone purchase. . however, Verizon starts service automatically without verification of delivery. Got the service stopped after the first bill, but Verizon wouldn't accept the police report without the word verizon in the report, to erase the first bill.

Fine, now it takes 6 months or more to get the policeman to adjust the report, and had to use a retired cop from Coachk's employee's husband to get the policemen to actual update the report. . azzhole. .

meanwhile Verizon keeps sending the bill to collectors and we keep sending a standardized response to the collectors and they stop. . Meanwhile Verizon's fraud reporting system is also a nightmare to complete and upload. . .

So steal money, possible. I have a work colleague who have had person walk into a bank on the other side of the country and go up to the window and withdraw funds from their checking account. I don't know if they asked for any id, and if they did, what id was used, but the bank was embarrassed, and this was 10 years ago. .

Foreigners tend to figure out how to fake / represent people and events and status, and then take advantage of it with online processes. There is a lot of LLC fraud in FL with home ownership, transfers, mortgage applications and money delivery, and then the money is gone and the final LLC is a fraudulent LLC. . .

need SS / EIN numbers to do all that, and mostly foreigners. .

good luck out there, its a jungle.

[daniel200]

The site mentioned in post does not require much information. To find out if you have been breached it requires ONLY this data:

First name
Last name
State
Year of birth

It will then provides a list all of the data that meets this criteria including the last 4 digits of the associated social security data.

I understand the skepticism, but providing a name/state/year of birth is nothing to worry about. In fact most people know enough about their friends that they could look up if you have been exposed.

[FredMitchell]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

As I understand it, it is almost impossible to change your Social Security number. I have had the same number for my entire life and thousands of people have had access to it. But, I have never froze my credit and I don't intend to. So, I guess I am a sitting duck.

You don't have to be a sitting duck. Here is how it works. I find your name, SSN, previous address, birthdate online. Apply for a loan or credit in a different state. Buy stuff. Never pay for it.

Why does that work? Because, you are in state A. The police pretty much won't get stuff from the bank or credit company in state B.

Credit freeze prevents that from happening. The credit company won't be able to verify your data from somebody else, because the reporting company will deny it. Then the offender may get arrested on the spot. Probably not. But at least you won't spend hours reporting and documenting that it was not you!

Why do you think I know about this?

[FredMitchell]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Can someone please explain how a SSN can be used to steal money from another person?

It is stolen, not from another person, but from a credit issuing company. The criminal misrepresents himself with information that got verified via a SSN that was valid and matched the name and other information on his application.

So the impact is spread across the employees, stockholders, and other creditors having to pay higher interest rates.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by FredMitchell

It is stolen, not from another person, but from a credit issuing company. The criminal misrepresents himself with information that got verified via a SSN that was valid and matched the name and other information on his application.

So the impact is spread across the employees, stockholders, and other creditors having to pay higher interest rates.

Credit issuing companies deserve to lose money. They don't even require their merchants to use the latest and most secure methods to accept credit cards, like tap-to-pay. They allow restaurants to take customer credit cards into another room to process a payment. They don't require a photo on their cards or any other biometric identification. They hire lobbyists to get the Federal Government to make borrowing easier, so people can get deeper into debt. They promote "having good credit" as a good thing when it isn't. I don't ever borrow money where I need to pay interest, so I don't care what the interest rates are. There is no way that I will ever pay off a loan that a criminal initiated in my name.

[roguesearcher]

I have the perfect solution. My credit is so bad no one will ever approve anything

[MorTech]

Everyone's SSN number has been exposed for the last 25 years. That database has been hacked many times.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by MorTech

Everyone's SSN number has been exposed for the last 25 years. That database has been hacked many times.

Correct. So, if a lender relies on a SSN to approve a loan, the lender is being stupid and irresponsible, not the person whose SSN was compromised. I would be happy to get a new SSN, but it is not possible. Why would a competent financial company ever rely on a SSN for identification or for any legal or financial transaction?