Identity Stolen? Please help

[IndianaMouse]

It found out Friday morning that someone is using my identity to order and sign up for things online. I called the police and canceled my debit card but not sure if there is something else I should be doing.

Friday I received a package from Gevalia that included a coffee pot, various tea's and a bill for $30+ . I called the company and explained that since no one in my house drinks tea I would not and did not sign up for their "introductory" package. The woman I spoke with was able to tell me that I signed up at 12:04 am on 2/28/11, the last 4 digits of my debit card and the (wrong) phone number and email that I used to sign up. Apparently they tried charging my debit card but the charge wouldn't go through. Yet they sent the package anyway?

As soon as I hung up with Gevalia I called my bank, told them what was going on and canceled my debit card.

Saturday afternoon I received a packet from Gerber Life Ins. which included a life insurance policy for my 6 yr old son. They used my son's correct middle and last name but was off on his birthday by 19 years and a few odd days. They also got my name and address correct but used the wrong birthday (made me 12 yrs younger), phone number and email address. I called Gerber this morning and apparently I signed up at 12:08 am on 2/28/11 with a check routing number that doesn't exist.

The email used on both accounts is NPCSECUREFAILS@NPC.NET. I've tried finding information about the email address but everything that comes up is in Indian( not sure what the language is called) and my pc won't translate to English.

I've never had to deal with anything like this before so any advice about what I should be doing now would be appreciated.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

It found out Friday morning that someone is using my identity to order and sign up for things online. I called the police and canceled my debit card but not sure if there is something else I should be doing.

Friday I received a package from Gevalia that included a coffee pot, various tea's and a bill for $30+ . I called the company and explained that since no one in my house drinks tea I would not and did not sign up for their "introductory" package. The woman I spoke with was able to tell me that I signed up at 12:04 am on 2/28/11, the last 4 digits of my debit card and the (wrong) phone number and email that I used to sign up. Apparently they tried charging my debit card but the charge wouldn't go through. Yet they sent the package anyway?

As soon as I hung up with Gevalia I called my bank, told them what was going on and canceled my debit card.

Saturday afternoon I received a packet from Gerber Life Ins. which included a life insurance policy for my 6 yr old son. They used my son's correct middle and last name but was off on his birthday by 19 years and a few odd days. They also got my name and address correct but used the wrong birthday (made me 12 yrs younger), phone number and email address. I called Gerber this morning and apparently I signed up at 12:08 am on 2/28/11 with a check routing number that doesn't exist.

The email used on both accounts is NPCSECUREFAILS@NPC.NET. I've tried finding information about the email address but everything that comes up is in Indian( not sure what the language is called) and my pc won't translate to English.

I've never had to deal with anything like this before so any advice about what I should be doing now would be appreciated.

Contact all three credit bureaus ASAP!!!!! Tell them this info and they'll put a lockdown on your name and SS# so, if anyone tries to open credit in your name, it won't go through. Also call SS office.

Equifax
Consumer Fraud Division
Phone: 800-525-6285 or: 404-885-8000
Fax: 770-375-2821
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

Experian's National Consumer Assistance
Phone: 888-397-3742
P.O. Box 2104
Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion
Fraud Victim Assistance Department
Phone: 800-680-7289
Fax: 714-447-6034
P.O. Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92634-6790

I would also call the cust. svc. center for every credit card that you have.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If you Google there are many site to go to.....here is one. Sorry you have to deal with this. Can't be good.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt04.pdf

 

[HonnyDipp]

I'm so sorry you are going through this. No one deserves to be violated like this. Stay strong!

 

[Planogirl]

The credit bureaus don't lock down your credit but they will add a 90 day security alert with a phone number that you specify. The idea is that prospective creditors will check your report and see the alert and call you to verify that the application for credit was actually made by you.

I'm wondering about the life insurance policy for your son? Why would someone do that?

 

[Hoodie]

The credit bureaus don't lock down your credit but they will add a 90 day security alert with a phone number that you specify. The idea is that prospective creditors will check your report and see the alert and call you to verify that the application for credit was actually made by you.

I'm wondering about the life insurance policy for your son? Why would someone do that?

I wondered that too. Can a policy be used as identification? Should OP be concerned that her son's identity is compromised as well?

 

[Planogirl]

I wondered that too. Can a policy be used as identification? Should OP be concerned that her son's identity is compromised as well?

I would be concerned about the son's identity either way. If she calls the credit bureaus it might be a good idea to talk to a fraud specialist.

I just can't figure out why a fraudster would want to open an insurance policy for her son. It just seems weird.

 

[scrapquitler]

The credit bureaus don't lock down your credit but they will add a 90 day security alert with a phone number that you specify. The idea is that prospective creditors will check your report and see the alert and call you to verify that the application for credit was actually made by you.

I'm wondering about the life insurance policy for your son? Why would someone do that?

They will, you have to ask for a CREDIT FREEZE, and you need to contact all three credit bureaus to do it.

I would also activate a credit freeze for your son. They might have all of his information, too (or at least enough to cause him troubles).

 

[It'sWDW4me]

They will, you have to ask for a CREDIT FREEZE, and you need to contact all three credit bureaus to do it.

I would also activate a credit freeze for your son. They might have all of his information, too (or at least enough to cause him troubles).

This is exactly what I was referring to. With a credit freeze, even you can't open credit in your own name - you'd have to contact the credit bureaus to unlock the freeze first.

Oh, and yes, I would definitely freeze your son's info. He won't need to open credit for a while, anyway.

 

[Planogirl]

This is exactly what I was referring to. With a credit freeze, even you can't open credit in your own name - you'd have to contact the credit bureaus to unlock the freeze first.

True there's that but you often have to pay for it. Sorry, I misunderstood.

 

[cm8]

The credit bureaus don't lock down your credit but they will add a 90 day security alert with a phone number that you specify. The idea is that prospective creditors will check your report and see the alert and call you to verify that the application for credit was actually made by you.

I'm wondering about the life insurance policy for your son? Why would someone do that?

That is very creepy and I would look into that ASAP. They should be able to tell you who set the policy up and who was the beneficiary for the policy as well. Then have that person arrested

 

[bettymae1121]

I agree, put the credit freeze in place for you and your son (heck, do it for everyone in your houshold). Also get copies of all your reports (should be free since your a victim of idenity theft, but you also are entitled to one free report from each bureau annually anyway). This way you can see if there are any other accounts opened by the idenity theif and deal with them accordingly. When you contact the credit bureaus, have a copy of your police report handy, they may need the report number.

I'd also run a virus scan on your PC, a good one (DH handles our computer stuff so I cant recommend one, but maybe another DISer can). Once you run the scan and remove any badies off your PC, I'd change all your passwords for EVERYTHING. And make the password something really hard, like all numbers and random letters. I use the phone number of the home I grew up in, no links from me to that phone number (as the account was in my dad's name obviously) and the only people that may even remember that number are my brothers. I added in a few random letters and bam! instant unguessable password. But run the virus scan BEFORE you change the passwods, if there is a virus on your computer, if you change the passwords first, they'll have your new passwords.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I had something similar happen a few years ago. One place I talked to gave me a lot of information and said that they thought whoever was doing it was responding to those pop up "click here to win a free ipod" type of things. You click on them and then you have to sign up for something-- in my case it was Scholastic books, an Entertainment book, USPS online service and a few other things. I never really figured out how they thought they would get the free item though since they were using my address? It was very strange. They were using my name and address and email but someone else's credit card to have stuff sent to my house? No idea what they were gaining.

I found out when my cc company called because 2 $1 "test purchases" to Itunes were made and it flagged as possible fraud. Of course the card was canceled, I put an alert on all my credit reports, contacted the companies and filed a police report. Ultimately there was nothing really that I could do beyond that. These people use your information (most all of it is things that are publicly available) for a short time until you find out then they just move on to the next one. The police said they can't do anything but having the report gives me the credibility if I had an issue with any of the companies.

The only lasting fall out has been that because they used my email address I now get hundreds of spam emails a day. It is an address that I use for all non-personal contacts and I really like the address so I haven't bothered to change it. My provider's spam block catches all of the junk so I don't ever see it unless I go to the online site to check mail and look in the spam box.

 

[IndianaMouse]

Thank you for the advice and well wishes everyone. This is one reason I've been hanging around the DIS for 10 years.

Sorry for not responding sooner but I've been making calls as I read this thread. So far I've had a freeze placed on my credit, ordered new credit card numbers and spoke to the police and bank again. My son is going to call Equifax and the others when this afternoon to have a fraud alert put on his file.

I actually had my PC checked this weekend by a friend who works in the IT department of a major Corp. and everything checked out fine.

Honestly I'm about to go crazy trying to figure out how they got my debit card number. That card has never been used online or in any shady places.

CM8 , according to them I ordered that life insurance policy, whoever did this listed me as the owner but no beneficiary.


I just noticed I didn't mention it in my OP ,the only reason the charge for Gevalia didn't go through was because the banks system was down for 3 days and being a small bank (credit union actually) they don't have a backup system. As the saying goes , Thank God for small favors!

 

[dis-happy]

I'd still be concerned about the Life Insurance policy that was paid for by check. Is this a phantom checking account that was opened in your name??? You may need to follow up on that too.

 

[IndianaMouse]

dis-happy
The supervisor that I spoke to at Gerber had the same concern. She ran the routing number thinking she could give me the name of the bank so I could contact them , but the routing number was a fake. She didn't seem surprised though and said that this happens a lot more than people think.