Best Identity Theft Protection?? (Spooky Spam Call)

Just got a call that showed up as suspected spam on my personal cell phone.

I answered (I do when I have time, just to waste their time) and it was easy to tell that the operator was clearly a scammer from India.

I spoke back with an accent telling him my name was Jose’ Hernandez and said “No hablo inglés.”

Normally they hang up after I say “noh” a few times, but this time was different….

He said (in his Indian accent) that “No, you’re name is _____ _____ and da last four of your social is ____, your wife is _____ _____ and da last four of her social is ____.”

His reply was 100% correct

I hung up.

So….what’s the best and reasonable ($$$) identify theft prevention out there??

I’ve heard the Life Lock commercials on the radio, but is there something more recommended?

WHOA!!!
Yeah, That’s not good.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

WHOA!!!
Yeah, That’s not good.

Yeah no kidding.

I hate to say it, but I know I’m not alone. If they have my info it’s just as likely that they have any of your guys info as well

REALLY glad I answered the call

It’s best to just freeze your credit until you need it and that’s free. Remember you need to do all three bureaus. When you apply for something you can unlock the bureau(s) that will be checked temporarily.

I used lifelock when I had a breach. Worked good.

You can also see your current reports weekly I think, despite the name, through https://www.annualcreditreport.com

That’s definetly scary. I like watching the guy on YouTube who exposes the scammers and brings up their computer cameras and accounts and everything.

In Minnesota, freezing your credit, and your wife’s, is free if you can show that you’re the victim of a breach. I’d do it ASAP. Even if it costs something!

duh queen wrote:

In Minnesota, freezing your credit, and your wife’s, is free if you can show that you’re the victim of a breach. I’d do it ASAP. Even if it costs something!

That’s an older thing in MN. It’s free for everyone everywhere since 2018 and you don’t need a reason.

Thanks for the tips guys, I froze our credit on all three reporting agencies.

Got all six done (hers and mine) in less than 20 minutes, super easy to do

Back to fraud prevention companies such as Life Lock, anyone use anything different?

Luckily they only have your last 4 digits which is probably relatively easy to get in a data breach. If he had more he would have told you.

He can possibly get by some security questions on some of your accounts with the last 4 but not much else.

Freezing your credit is really the best defense.

Coletrain27 wrote:

That’s definetly scary. I like watching the guy on YouTube who exposes the scammers and brings up their computer cameras and accounts and everything.

If IT YouTubers can do this why doesn’t the United States Government go on the offense and tar and feather a bunch of these C#*ksu*+ers. Seems like we hear about all this cyber crime but never hear of any prosecutions for it??
I hate thieves especially s**t like this!!

wirivereyes wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Coletrain27 wrote:</div>
That’s definetly scary. I like watching the guy on YouTube who exposes the scammers and brings up their computer cameras and accounts and everything.

If IT YouTubers can do this why doesn’t the United States Government go on the offense and tar and feather a bunch of these C#*ksu*+ers. Seems like we hear about all this cyber crime but never hear of any prosecutions for it??
I hate thieves especially s**t like this!!

Unfortunately, a majority of our fraud stuff originates from out of the US. Specifically from places like Africa.
DT

I should add that in most cases, they are basically immune to prosecution because the countries they are in will not cooperate with the US.
DT

The Feds need to crack down on these spam/hackers/financial thieves, and the best way I could come up with would be simple to incorporate, and it would bring immediate results…

This would require an investigation with the proof showing that the case originates from somewhere outside the USA… It would also require people in Washington DC “with the balls” to create legislation…

I’d call the bill, “The No Action, No US Foreign Aid Bill…”

We would need to inform the countries where these type of activities are originating from that until they put an immediate stop to these criminal organizations business operating inside their country, that the USA will withhold any/all foreign aid money packages to them…

Some of these countries are in “dire need of US money flowing into their country…” They couldn’t afford to not cooperate…

^^^This^^^

If you don’t have your credit frozen with the 3 credit bureaus, you’re missing out on the easiest and one of the most effective ways of identify theft protection. I keep mine frozen 24/7 and only unfreeze it when I am applying for credit which is hardly ever. It takes 30 seconds to unfreeze it. When it’s frozen, no one can do anything credit wise with your SSN

^^^i do the same now.

Gitchi is spot on.

If they stole my identity, they’d probably send it back .

I have been receiving a phone call for approx. the last month. It shows up on caller id as MCM. They stared calling every few days and more recently called daily. I have been just ignoring it but when I finally looked MCM up it is listed as a collection agency which I became a little curious. I then decided to answer this call to see what they had to say.

They stated they were a collection agency and I had a delinquent credit card balance of 16,ooo + dollars on a account which I just laughed and stated no. They stated my name for confirmation along with the month and date of my birthday which was correct, they did not state a year.

In further discussion they stated the account was opened in 2005 but just became delinquent in Nov 2023. I stated surely not mine and I have never received any previous notification of any request for payment due. In further discussion they stated some address associated to this account which was not even in the state of Minnesota where I reside.

After denial of this address being associated with myself he stated that he would but on a supervisor and clear this up so I would not receive any further calls. When the supervisor came on he asked for the last 4 digits of my social security number for varification. I told him that I was not going to give this information and that this was either a scam or they had the wrong person and I hung up the phone.

They seemed fairly persistent with the number of phone calls. I suppose I should have given them a incorrect last 4 digits of my social security number to see where this conversation would go.

OG Net_Man wrote:

I have been receiving a phone call for approx. the last month. It shows up on caller id as MCM.

If it’s Midland Credit Management I believe they are a real debt collection agency. Check if the number they called from is listed here maybe: https://www.midlandcredit.com/

You should check your credit reports to make sure this isn’t on there and ask them to validate the debt. Validation should be requested within 30 days of them first contacting you. There is a template attached and you should send it certified.

Template didn’t attach, can get it here: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201307_cfpb_debt-collection-letter-2_more-information.doc

Woke up this morning to a bunch of texts from my bank. Some scammer tried sending himself over 8k from 1 account through some tap tap pay or something in 8 different transactions. Luckily wells fargo seen it, shut it down, locked my card and notified me. I’d sure like to beat some of these scammers to a pulp.

Wow that is downright scary. Good thing the banks and card companies are on top of this nowadays.

I’ll bet a lot of these hackers and scammers are foreign entities in China or Russia.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

If you don’t have your credit frozen with the 3 credit bureaus, you’re missing out on the easiest and one of the most effective ways of identify theft protection. I keep mine frozen 24/7 and only unfreeze it when I am applying for credit which is hardly ever. It takes 30 seconds to unfreeze it. When it’s frozen, no one can do anything credit wise with your SSN

I didnt even know that was possible. Good to know. Works to keep someone from using your SSN, but doesnt stop a hacker from getting access to your accounts.

gimruis wrote:

Wow that is downright scary. Good think the banks and card companies are on top of this nowadays.

I’ll bet a lot of these hackers and scammers are foreign entities in China or Russia.

It sounds like it some overseas money sending scam that tried to get me. Those people need to be hunted

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

If you don’t have your credit frozen with the 3 credit bureaus, you’re missing out on the easiest and one of the most effective ways of identify theft protection. I keep mine frozen 24/7 and only unfreeze it when I am applying for credit which is hardly ever. It takes 30 seconds to unfreeze it. When it’s frozen, no one can do anything credit wise with your SSN

How is this done?

Update-I did this per the process below. Thank you.

Access online Transunion, Experian and Equifax and create a account. You can search each of these names with the words credit freeze and the search results may shorten your efforts. At least one of these services has multiple types of accounts but all 3 have free accounts available.

You can call 1 or more of these and do a credit freeze over the phone but I would recommend setting up the account on each. Once the account is set up then you can request a credit freeze, review personal information, credit card account information and such. If you see anything out of line you that you desire to change or delete they refer to it as a dispute. You need to review your information on each of these sites because the information usually varies between sites.

My wife and I have 2 joint checking accounts. One at a big national bank the other at a local credit union. That way if one card get compromised we still have access to the other account while we wait for new cards to show up in the mail. Every time a card has been compromised it’s from the big national bank never the credit union. Don’t know if the big banks are easier targets with more members or why that account is the only one that gets hacked since we mainly use the credit union account now due to no issues so far.