ConsumerWatch: How To Avoid Identity Theft
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) -- Two women convicted of identity theft told CBS 5 the secrets behind their trade. To avoid being a victim, an expert reveals some red flags to watch out for.
Bonnie Hoag had her wallet stolen, and within an hour the thief had racked up $600 on seven cards in her name.
Hoag thought she had done everything to stop the thief in their tracks. She contacted her banks to let them know about the theft, she went to Equifax to fill out the necessary paperwork, and went online to file a police report.
But one week later, bank tellers told Hoag that a woman posing as her accessed accounts at various banks and changed her passwords and opened up credit cards. The unknown woman even bought a diamond ring with Hoag's identity.
"The best crooks are great at social engineering, at talking people into doing things they otherwise shouldn't do," Neal O'Farrell of the Identity Theft Council said.
O'Farrell said that Hoag did the right thing by approaching the credit bureaus, but stressed that are several things to take into consideration when your identity becomes compromised.
Instead of issuing a fraud alert, which notifies you when someone tries to open an account in your name, O'Farrell recommends a credit freeze, which will stop any activity with your account altogether.
"We've come across so many cases where there's fraud alert on a credit report and the car salesman for example will just ignore it or believe some story that thief will them," O'Farrell explained.
For Hoag, the theft affected more than just her credit. The thief also withdrew thousands of dollars from Hoag's account and even locked her out of it.
"The one weird thing for Bank of America is she [the identity thief] changed my verbal password," Hoag said.
As odd as that may sound, O'Farrell said it's not as strange as you might think. He said with a driver's license, Social Security number, and some Facebook research, most thieves can crack security questions like a mother's maiden name, address, and someone's old high school, so it's a good idea to keep tabs on what information you leave public.
Hoag admitted her biggest mistake was carrying her Social Security card.
"You can not cancel your social security number and get a new one issued, so she [the identity thief] will forever, whoever this person is will have my Social Security number," Hoag said.
While changing your Social Security number isn't impossible, it is very unlikely. The local San Francisco Social Security Administration Office said they have only changed two Social Security numbers in the past 25 years and will only do so under "extreme circumstances."
However, Hoag said the one valuable thing she did do was file a police report as every credit agency and bank has asked for her report number.
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