Identity Theft Gets Personal

While waiting on the line, I looked in my wallet -- and there it was: my debit card, supposedly safe and sound. I then went onto Bank of America's Web site to check my account. There was an $812.18 charge pending. The bank employee clicked back to me. She said the transaction had already gone through even though the suspected thief ran out of the store without taking the merchandise. Don't worry, she said. I would get my money back in a few days.

I started to relax. Then the bank employee told me something else that put me back in a panic. The impostor had an awful lot of information about me, she said: my full name, address, phone number, even the security code on the back of my debit card. Could it be someone I know? she asked. An ex-boyfriend?

Great, I thought, it's bad enough that some of my exes did what they did to become my exes. Now they might be robbing me too?

She asked me if I wanted my debit card canceled and reissued with a new number. I did.

File a Complaint, Request a Fraud Alert

She then instructed me what to do next. I learned that because the thief had so much of my information, she might be able to open other accounts in my name. First step: File a complaint with the FTC and call one of the three credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- to request a fraud alert.

I thanked the bank employee and proceeded to figure out how to clean up this disaster. I got online and looked at the balance in another bank account I had. Well, at least, I could cover the rent.

But I couldn't shake that uneasy feeling. Brian Lapidus, chief operating officer of Kroll Fraud Solutions of Nashville, summed it up well. "That's a pretty scary feeling if someone was in your space. What's more personal [than] your identity?"

I filed the FTC complaint, which I would need to present to the police, the FTC Web site informed me. I then sought the fraud alert. This measure would require creditors to take extra steps to verify my identity, such as calling me or asking to meet me in person, in case my impostor tried to open credit cards in my name.

To place a fraud alert, you only have to contact one of the three credit bureaus. In turn, the agency you contact will contact the other two. I called Equifax. The automated system asked me to key in the numeric portion of my address, my phone number and other identifying information.

Then I had to decide whether I wanted the alert to stay on for 90 days or for seven years; both options were free. Ninety days didn't seem a long time to me and seven years seemed too long. Steven R. Katz, a spokesman for TransUnion, said few people request seven-year alerts because that can be a hassle. "You put it on four years ago when you thought you had a problem and four years later you have absolutely no problems and you're at a car dealership trying to buy a car, and you've forgotten about it," he said.

David Rubinger, a spokesman for Equifax, said I could keep extending the 90-day alert.

There was another option: a security freeze, which all three credit bureaus started offering recently. With a freeze, creditors cannot access your credit reports or scores unless you ask that the freeze be lifted. A security freeze is free if you have a police report proving that you are a victim. If you are not a victim, fees vary by state for the cost to freeze and thaw your report. Unlike the alert, you have to contact each credit bureau to request a freeze.