FReegards!
CowboyJay
“Try” is not yet “Done”! You’re lucky thus far. ASAP change all your passwords to strong ones (there is plenty of info out there about what constitutes a strong password.) Check the status of your credit card accounts.
Lifelock.......................
Second, change all of the passwords.
Third call the three credit bureaus, tell them you are a fraud target and ask for free copies of your credit report and a fraud watch. They may require a police report. If they do it might be easier to do LifeLock or some other fraud protection service.
Call your banking institutions on the phone and tell them you are a fraud target. They often have special password procedures or policies to protect you and them. If this person gets access to your banking info the only thing you are liable for is usually your debit card and pin. Stolen credit card info, withdrawls through third parties like Well's Fargo, etc. are the bank's problem.
Funny you should mention this. Several days ago both my wife and I received letters allegedly from Experian on official-looking stationary regarding our credit scores. The letters asked us to supply to a certain address our social security numbers, two credit card numbers, dates of birth, and several other things. Why would Experian want this if they already have my credit record? I smelled a rat and tossed them.
More. I had my identity stolen twice via malware. Didn’t cost me anything (the credit card covered the loss), but it got my e-mail address on the mailing list of the computer company from which the thief bought $200 worth of equipment. Nowadays I use Avast and Chrome, which protect me pretty well live, and frequently run Malware Fighter, Malwarebytes and Spybot on demand (all of the above free.)
Any stalking victim will tell you that the first and best thing to do is go to the police as soon as you can and develop a timeline. That “someone” may be someone who has it in for you, and this may be only the beginning. If problems escalate along the lines of stalking, Freepmail me.
1. Set a fraud alert with the major credit bureaus. This is free to do. All you have to do is call one of the bureaus or visit their website and answer the questions. You dont even have to speak to a person. The alert is then passed from the bureau you contacted to the other two you dont even have to contact the other two, its done for you. The alert is good for 90 days and lets credit issuers know that you may have been the victim of fraud and that they should request additional information or documentation before issuing credit. It doesnt stop the issuance of credit but it does, if followed correctly by the issuer, cut down on incidents of identity theft. You can renew the alert every 90 days.
2. Remove your name from pre-approved credit card offers and other junk mailings. Contact Opt-Out PrescreenDirect Marketers Association to be removed from many junk mailing lists. The DMA is the largest database used by solicitors, so opting out with the DMA greatly reduces junk mail. Read the privacy policies of companies you do business with and find out how to let them know that you dont want your information shared. If you get junk mail with a prepaid mailer, you can stuff their materials into the envelope and write, Remove me from your list on the material. This usually works, although it may take awhile. Make certain when doing business online that you uncheck any boxes that say, Contact me with future offers, or similar. Many websites pre-check these for you in the hopes you wont notice, leaving it to you to opt out of their crap.
3. Order your free credit reports and set up a monitoring cycle. You are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit reporting agencies, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. You get these reports through AnnualCreditReport.com. Only use this site. Others that sound similar require you to pay. But dont request them all at once. Since you can get one per year from each service, you can request one every four months to keep a constant eye on your credit. So, for example, if you request from Equifax in January, wait until May to request one from TransUnion. Then request one from Experian in September. Then, when January rolls around, you request from Equifax again and keep the cycle going. This means youre seeing your credit report once every four months which lets you catch potential problems quicker than if you look at it only once a year or less often.
4. Keep records of your credit card numbers, bank accounts, insurance cards, and drivers license information (and contact information for each agency) separate from your wallet or purse. Make photocopies of sensitive items that you carry and keep them in a secure location separate from your wallet. If your wallet or purse is stolen, you can quickly contact each bank and card issuer and notify them of the theft so they can shut down your accounts and open new ones.
Another option.
Freeze your credit. This isnt free, but the peace of mind is worth it. It is similar to a fraud alert except that it cannot be ignored by a lender. A fraud alert merely tells a lender that you may have been a victim of fraud and that they should request proper identification and verification before issuing credit. However, a freeze locks your credit file so that it cannot be viewed at all unless you unfreeze it. There is a fee to freeze your credit and another fee when you want to unfreeze it, so if youre actively pursuing loans this option isnt for you. Freezing your credit also means that you cant be spontaneous about getting credit. If youre shopping and see a great same as cash deal or want a store credit card, youll have to wait because youll have to unfreeze your credit before you can apply. Freezing and unfreezing arent instant there are a few days of processing time so be prepared to wait if you need credit in a hurry.
btt
Protect yourself, mitigate damages as best you can, jump thru untold hoops, then................ Find the bastard who stole your identity, then torture him.
The Arizona number wasn’t really disconnected; that was just an outgoing voicemail. The phone company will have a record of who owns it, but good luck getting that information.
Bump for later.
Accelerate to a speed that allows you to go back in time to 48 hours before the theft occurred. (The acceleration works, I’ve seen superman do it - though on his own power)
Then hire LifeLock.com to prevent problems.
This is the fastest way (no pun intended).
Any in your house that had physical access?
I do IT security work so i seen lots of this. You’ve probably been infected with keylogging malware (computer viruses) and your information you use in online banking and purchasing has been stolen. Sometimes malware is not that easy to remove even with decent tools but, you should definitely make sure you’re running a traditional antivirus like program. I prefer “Norton Internet Security” but, it’s only one layer. You need more. You should also consider installing Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/) and MalwareBytes free version(http://www.malwarebytes.org/ and scan your computer with them asap. Another thing i’d advise but, it really requires someone familiar with malware remediation is to run a program like “Autoruns” (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx) to inspect the startup environment (registry, services, scheduled tasks, etc..) for lingering malware execution paths. If you can’t get the malware removed then you’d have to seek a technicians help or restore your computer from the restore disks.
After you get it cleaned consider running your web browser(s) “Sandboxed” in an install of Sandboxie (http://www.sandboxie.com/) with it set to discard the contents of the sandbox on browser close. Browsing the internet from an un-sandboxed web browser has become too dangerous IMHO.
Hey I got Sued (3 different Law Firms, 3 different States, GA, TN and TX) and didn’t have a clue about what the hell they were talking about.
Some Clown pretending to be me and also pretending to be some Company in Corpus Christi generated humungous unpaid bills ... they went as far as sending the Law Firms their 10% Collection Fee in advance... I spent a day getting grilled by a team of ASSHOLES (they had reams of Invoices) when they get a call from the Bank that “The Check” (Their Collection Fee) bounced... non-existing account. It took the Bank 4 days to figure out the check was bogus.
I ate Prime Rib that evening.
TT
The attempt to hack your Facebook was an attempt to get more personal info to continue their rampage.