My poor friend from high school called last night, and updated me on why she hasn't been in touch lately. Danielle had her identity stolen, and I feel the need to blog this on her behalf. She had a package stolen that was delivered to her apartment, and the package contained most of her personal information. The thieves have her entire life, bank account numbers, and all financial information contained inside this package, as it was a copy of her mortgage paperwork. Yea...thats right...mortgage paperwork...shes closing on her new home like next week. Ugh. The worst part is that the thieves emptied all of her accounts, leaving her no cash at all. I wish Danielle would blog this herself because I'm not doing her story any justice, but basically since the bank cannot prove it WASN'T Danielle who took the money out, shes completely OUT of cash. Lots of cash.....we're talking thousands here. She isn't protected in any way to get her money back. This could happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere, and it isn't due to the internet. You could fill out an application for anything, and it could be on someone's desk since they're working on your file, and someone could come along and steal the app, or make a copy of it, and do what they want with your identity. Danielle's identity is out there, and theives are making money selling it to other thieves, and things could be opened in her name for the rest of her life. This could happen to any of us....it is very very easy to rob our identity at any time. Danielle's story may appear on Dateline in the future.
The best part of the story was when Danielle said that she contacted Social Security to change her number. One would think that this would be a good idea, right? Well SS said that she could change her number, but she when she retires, nothing from her previous work will be calculated...meaning it will be as if she never contributed to Social Security until right now...the last 10 years wouldn't count. Did you know this? There should be legislation against this....we American's should be protected better than this. If we have to change our number due to identity theft, we shouldn't be penalized for it. I'm writing my legislators...and I hope someone introduces a bill to congress to change this. (As a sidenote I just wrote my legislators about an issue with a local sex offender, and several have written me back with updates, and even called me. One congressman wrote me back twice with what he's doing on this issue. So our voice matters, we just don't think it does.)
When I spoke with her last night she told me this horrible story, and how she has worked two jobs over the last few years to save money for her first home. Now she has nothing left, nothing. I just feel awful for her, and am asking everyone to pray for a miracle. She has an attorney who is working on recooping some of her funds, but this is a long and expensive process....attorney's dont fight hard for free. Please keep her in prayer. She was kind enough to email all of her friends and urge them to buy identity theft insurance from State Farm, and sign up with Equifax. Equifax will email you immediately if someone is opening something in your name, and this would help you stop the transaction if you weren't the one who intiated it. State farm will cover you for up to $20,000 in legal fee's...which will be a drop in the bucket if you're fighting multiple companies to protect your identity.
Danielle, you sounded so brave on the phone last night. I admire your courage, strength, stamina, and fortitude to fight this awful situtation. Let us know if Dateline covers your story! We're rooting for you.
Heres a few links that might be helpful for the rest of us.
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/
www.equifax.com
http://www.idtheftcenter.org/index.shtml
Lisa
