My car was broken into...advice needed, please!

[I Love Pluto]

Tonight started out so well. My adult kids (daughter from DE, son from PA) and I went to a local restaurant (Ninety-Nine). Our meal was fantastic, we had the most wonderful waitress, and dinner conversation and just hanging out together was fantastic.

But - all was crushed when we headed to the parking lot. When we reached my car, thieves had smashed my window and stolen my bag for school with all of my teaching papers of work needed to be done before Tuesday. I was so frustrated. Don't people have a conscience any more? Why do things like this happen?

The police came and stated that there have been about 10 smashes a day recently in our neighborhood. The thieves are after laptop computers. They thought my bag contained one.

My son and daughter searched the area and found my bag and 2 others thrown in a nearby Cracker Barrel lot. All of my papers were there except my recent direct deposit voucher with MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER on it. I informed the police of this.

I'm calling my bank in the morning, and then calling the social security office. Is there anything else that anyone can think of? Thank you for your help.

 

[JPN4265]

Tonight started out so well. My adult kids (daughter from DE, son from PA) and I went to a local restaurant (Ninety-Nine). Our meal was fantastic, we had the most wonderful waitress, and dinner conversation and just hanging out together was fantastic.

But - all was crushed when we headed to the parking lot. When we reached my car, thieves had smashed my window and stolen my bag for school with all of my teaching papers of work needed to be done before Tuesday. I was so frustrated. Don't people have a conscience any more? Why do things like this happen?

The police came and stated that there have been about 10 smashes a day recently in our neighborhood. The thieves are after laptop computers. They thought my bag contained one.

My son and daughter searched the area and found my bag and 2 others thrown in a nearby Cracker Barrel lot. All of my papers were there except my recent direct deposit voucher with MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER on it. I informed the police of this.

I'm calling my bank in the morning, and then calling the social security office. Is there anything else that anyone can think of? Thank you for your help.

Replace your window, and get on with your life. Don't let this ruin your day or put you in a long time depression.

 

[powellrj]

sign up with a credit watch service to watch activity with your accounts. I know how violated you feel after someone goes through your things. Its a creepy feeling. Good luck.

 

[TTFN]

I'm so sorry this happened to you. When I was in college (long, long ago) someone broke into my car and stole a bag with books/papers in it. They dumped it when they found it didn't have anything valuable, so I got all my hard work back, thank goodness. I think you can put an alert on your credit report that advises creditors that you are concerned about fraud. Then creditors will have to get in touch with you personally before any new accounts can be opened with your name or SS#. Good luck.

 

[ducklite]

Two pieces of advice:

1. Put a fraud alert on your credit report.
2. Don't ever leave anything in your car.

Anne

 

[I Love Pluto]

Thanks for your replies. I called my bank, and they gave me the same information and advice. If this happens to you, notify the credit bureaus (bank gave me Equifax, Experian, & Trans-Union telephone numbers). They put a fraud alert on all accounts, and prevent future accounts from being opened in your name.

Again THANK YOU for your caring replies. I will have my car window replaced today. I plan on moving on and not stressing over it any longer. (Great advice, JPN!)

People here on the DIS are really great.

 

[phillybeth]

If you have to leave something in your car, put it in the trunk where it is not visible. Don't leave any power cords (cellphone charger etc) in plain sight.

 

[poohandwendy]

Replace your window, and get on with your life. Don't let this ruin your day or put you in a long time depression.

I'm thinking pretty much the same thing (except the depression part- I guess that was a tongue-in-cheek response?)

I wouldn't get worked up about it, putting a fraud alert out is a good idea. But beyond that, I would just try to put it behind me.

Sorry this happened to you, some people are just no good.

 

[The LK 4]

Are you certain that your direct deposit voucher has your SS# on it? I work in payroll, and a few years ago we stopped putting the SS# on people's checks for this very reason. I thought I read somewhere that for security reasons, most companies do not do this any longer.

I'm glad you got the rest of your papers back.

 

[I Love Pluto]

Unfortunately, yes, my social security number is on my voucher TWICE. I intend to point this out to payroll when we get back to work on Tuesday. We're a little bit "behind the times" in this area, and we need to catch up soon.