There's another me.. another you?

Shhh! I have a secret! 📣 I'm living a double life... according to my credit... are you? 👥

As I was leaving work Monday night, I received a notification saying a hard inquiry hit my credit report!!! By now you have probably guessed, but I was in fact at work all day and not meeting financiers to expand my asset portfolio...

As soon as I saw the alert, I immediately scolded myself because I had intended to freeze my credit just days ago (considering the National Public Data news), yet had simply lost track of time. It's hard telling where this personal breach specifically came from, though I am curious. Alas, with as many people as I've helped in their own similar situations, it was time to put my money where my mouth was.

Once home, I looked at the credit report and 2 things stood out: a new phone number with the same area code as my personal cell, and a new hard inquiry to Capital One (whom I've never sought business with). I called their support number for credit inquiries but they couldn't find an open account nor assist me further. Luckily, I was given the phone number to their applications department before we hung up, and they were able to find an active application for credit using portions of my information, including my full SSN. This application was canceled and reported as fraudulent, so it was never officially approved.

During and after the call, I worked to freeze my credit and place fraud alerts at the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. Luckily, from walking through this process to obtain screenshots for others in the past, I had already setup accounts at all three so the freezes & fraud alerts at Equifax and TransUnion were quickly completed. Likewise, I disputed the new entries and called it done! However, for some reason... Experian was unable to verify my identity. Was I who I said I was? Was I living in a new place? Was I this new person applying for credit? Was I from Venus? How do you verify someone's identity, via identity verification, when they're a victim of identity theft itself?

Tuesday, after hours of trial and error, literally dozens of failed attempts online and to reach someone over the phone, I was finally able to access Experian through re-downloading the phone app, in what I could only assume was thanks to it being a former trusted device. Within minutes, a freeze, fraud alert, and dispute were placed and I was well on my way.

In my case, I wasn't proactive enough to prevent this, but now's the best time as ever to try and prevent future occurrences. So I went to IdentityTheft.gov and detailed what happened. I also notified my bank/lenders, my landlord, and my work of the situation (a) in case any further personal or identity theft issues arise, but primarily (b) so that they're aware of the freeze/fraud alert while performing routine checks of my credit report.

After thinking my work here was done, I received a notification later in the week that a car had also recently been associated with my information & credit profile (used car, around the same time). I must be on Santa's nice list this year to get a new car! Jokes aside, it's now being removed as well, and I'm in a great spot. But this is truly a great example of how anything in the security field can happen to anyone, including practitioners such as myself who make it their life's work to be extra careful! So, for now my family and I are set, but are you?

Credit Actions, Resources, & Why

Security Freeze (e.g., lock down access to your credit)

• You must individually, manually place a security freeze your credit at each credit bureau to stop new lenders from accessing your credit and opening or approving new accounts in your name
• If you need to legitimately open an account, you temporarily or permanently lift the freeze(s)

Fraud Alert (e.g., add a layer of MFA to your credit)

• You can place a fraud alert at any of the credit bureaus to alert them that you suspect you are a victim of identity theft or likely will be within the next year; the bureau must notify the others
• When doing this, you provide 1-3 contact phone numbers to reach you; this forces all new lenders to take additional steps to verify you by contacting the phone numbers you provided
• Fraud alerts placed online can last up to 1 year. For extended fraud alerts (7 years) you must mail in a form to the credit bureau

The portals to perform credit actions such as placing security freezes, fraud alerts, obtaining free copies of credit reports, filing disputes for items found in the credit reports, etc. are found below. When you create an account for the first time, you must create one at each of the three major credit bureaus. They will all ask for personally identifiable information that is used to verify your identity, which is expected. Note, if you've moved around frequently or recently, you may have trouble verifying your identity with your current address. You can also place freezes over the phone or by mail for all 3. See their websites for more info.

I highly suggest you create an account and verify your identity now before you need it in the future. If you know you will not be using your credit soon, I suggest you freeze it now. If you know you were a victim of identity theft, I suggest you place a fraud alert and follow the advice in the custom remediation guides provided by IdentityTheft.gov.

Resource Portals

1. USA.gov info about Credit Freezing
2. Experian Credit Freeze/Fraud Alert portal
3. TransUnion Credit Freeze/Fraud Alert portal
4. Equifax Credit Freeze/Fraud Alert portal
5. IdentityTheft.gov remediation guide and portal