My wife’s identity was stolen in January 2018. Here is a quick lessons learned.
We got a few letters in the mail with new cards for ancient accounts like New York & co, Gap. Then got a letter from I think Best Buy about a failed account creation. Then a few days later, a cop from Orange County, CA called.
He arrested a man at Kohls, but a woman escaped capture. This guy had a fake MN driver license with this lady’s picture but my wife’s information. Plus a stack of credit adds and IDs if not only my wife but other victims. A few weeks later, this woman was arrested.
Basically, my wife’s SSN was leaked (probably the IRS hack a few years back), and she also had my wife’s mother’s maiden name, and other very private information. The way this team works is they get a fake license created. Then hit a mall, going from Kohls to Best Buy, to Bath and Body, etc. In the hopes my wife has an existing account. She says “I’m on vacation and darn it if I didn’t forget my Kohl’s card”. The cashier looks at the license and asks her to enter the SSN and answer the maiden name question. Or, if nonaccount exists, she opens one!
Kohls allowed this ##### to buy $1200 of crap in one visit. As did a few other places. She also rented a Mustang convertible at Avis in Georgia and never returned it. The cops found it weeks later abandoned in Mississippi or somewhere. Avis sent my wife a lifetime ban letter. So my advice is NEVER rent from Avis, as they gave someone a car with an invalid license and stolen bank card. Nice company right?
We froze my wife’s credit at all 4 agencies.
We went to the social security building to create her login account so we can watch activity.
We froze her name at Chex Systems.
We spend TONS of time calling all these places to report the fraud and closed all of her accounts.
This woman, named Andrea, spent 6 months in the can in Orange County. We stalk the #### out of her, so we found she got popped in Canton County, MS just after Thanksgiving and is still in custody today.
