Identity theft

[apkole]

I had a conversation tonight with a telemarketer claiming to represent Wells Fargo, offering a deal on mortgages. I just signed a 6%, 15 year note today, but am always interested in the next "better deal".



My concern is that in the preliminary information survey, I may have givin this person too much info. (dob, etc. )



Question: Does any one know how to contact (web sites, phone numbers) the credit reporting agencies (TRW, et. al. ) to so that I can have them flag my account for new credit apps. ???



Thanks,



Andy

 

[DennyDay]

Red Flag

You know the name of the bank, call them and advise you gave no permission to run a credit check.



Call 800-555-1212 for toll free numbers of credit reporting companies.

Denny

 

[illflem]

Andy I had good luck here http://www.experian.com/experian_us.html they make it seem like you have to pay but you don't if someone has accessed your records in the last year. It's an eye opener to see who has been checking you out. I think many of the pre-approved credit card junk mail offers that you recieve really have checked you out beforehand.

 

[apkole]

Thanks guys, I'll try that. What I suspect may have been going on is that the mortgage info survey was a cover to get enough info to pull a credit card under my name. The Wells Fargo name is familiar and would lend legitimacy to the pitch. The mortgate related questions would be a cover for obtaining the info these characters are really after.



These "Wells Fargo" people are supposed to call back tomorrow to provide more info. If no call, I'll know it was a set up.



Andy

 

[The patriot]

I think the laws vary from each state, but here (New Jersey) youre allowed to get a credit report every year for free.

Eric

 

[paccool]

Andy,



Had the same type of thing happen to me a couple of years ago. They called with a good offer on a card then said they needed info for the application. The farther into this we got, I felt uncomfortable giving out info. When they asked for SSN, I told them no. Told them I wanted the card but that they would have to send the application to me and then I would fill out. Funny thing was, they never sent the application! Hmmmmmm.



Was recently slammed for a $600 phone bill that someone had put in my name. We didn't know anything about it for 5 years and then only because we had a bad credit report. Finally got that removed but it was a very big pain in the rear and took several months of hard work. Funny thing was, the phone company never sent a bill to us or let us know there was a problem. They just turned over to a collection agency. Then THEY never contacted us! Was a real circle jerk.



Only way you can spot these things is to get a copy of your report once a year.

 

[Bill Lins]

Originally posted by paccool

When they asked for SSN, I told them no.

That's something that I have never understood- maybe one of you can explain it to me. Y'all know how the government is always telling us NEVER to give our SSN's out? As a self-employed sole proprietor, my tax ID # IS my SSN and the government REQUIRES me to give it to anyone who asks for it, even if the one asking is not a customer of mine! How much sense does THAT make?

 

[Happy Camper]

And now my healt insurance company wants me to put my SSN on the check I write them to pay for my insurance. I wrote the check but my SSN absolutely was not on it.

 

[Fuzz]

Credit out #

Here is a number that the local news channels had on about a year ago.

I did it and supposedly it will take you off these Credit Card

list as regards to checking your credit report from the big 3 credit

reporting agencies...

Not sure if it still works...



1-888-567-8688

 

[dan_gilson]

Sorry for the long post but I have some expierence here.



The credit report service are supposed to give out one free report per year depending on the state you live in. They also have to give out a free report if you have been denied credit in the last 90 days. This is for all states. I live in a state where it costs $8 or $9 to get a report. So, my better half asks Visa to double or triple our current line of credit. They as her all the questions like how much we make etc. Then they deny it because we do not make enough for that much credit. Thank them and ask them to mail a copy of the denial home.



I have had some A$$hole get 3 Visa's in my name. The 1st time Visa they actualy found him. The only thing was that legally I am not a victim here. The credit card company is. They would not tell me who he was or anything. I think the laws have been improved now but it is still a pain. About the 3rd time around it showed up on my report just as I was starting purchase a new home. Wonderful (NOT!).



Each time it takes me 40-80 hours to clear this thing up. Fortunately they did not have my SSNO. If they did it would be much harder if not impossible to clear things up.



Side note: The cedit report people really start jumping when you politely remind them that they could be liable for all the expenses if a home sale falls through because of misreported credit. The normal 90 days to resolve turned out to be more like 4-5 days.



Medical also uses the SSNO for your personal ID. This is may be illegal but it is widely used. I refuse. When I get new insurance, I request that they issue be a new 9 digit unique ID number. I will not provide a doctors office my SSNO. I am not legally required to do so. I do offer my insurance ID and explain why. This normally resolved the issue. I have had a couple of offices insist on the SSNO. I explain their liability, why I do not want to give it and then insist that they post a several million $ bond before I will. For one that was not enough to convience and they responded with no SSNO then no service. I said fine, no service but I will report you to the local DA, BBB and various licensing boards because you are requiring information that I am do not legally have to provide. I then got the reposnse: your insurance ID would be just fine.



If you have this happen to you, MAKE SURE THAT YOU FILE A POLICE REPORT! Like I said, the laws have been improved. You will need one to get the A$$HOLE sent to jail. It is really important to put them there. If not they will keep doing it. It will also help you to get information like their name(s) so that if it happens again you can point police to them. Also, to take them to civil court (this is probably a lose-lose situation) if need be.

 

[apkole]

Great help guys!! I got on to Experian's web site that night and posted a security alert. The other two I had to wait until the next morning, but was done with them by 8:30 a. m.



Still no call back from the "Wells Fargo" people (no surprise).



Credit reports are being shipped from all three agencies. I called the Social Security Agency and they referred me to the credit reporting agencies. Said that was about all I could do until something occurs. Guess I'll just wait it out.



We don't currently use any credit cards, so this should be relatively easy to track I would think.



Thanks again





Andy

 

[Pit Bull]

Originally posted by apkole

Great help guys!! I got on to Experian's web site that night and posted a security alert. The other two I had to wait until the next morning, but was done with them by 8:30 a. m.



Still no call back from the "Wells Fargo" people (no surprise).



Credit reports are being shipped from all three agencies. I called the Social Security Agency and they referred me to the credit reporting agencies. Said that was about all I could do until something occurs. Guess I'll just wait it out.



We don't currently use any credit cards, so this should be relatively easy to track I would think.



Thanks again





Andy

I have Experians security service, it costs $35. 00 per year. Any time anything is added to my credit report they send me a new credit report. You also get all of the crdit reports you want a year for free ( I try to order one every 3 months ) they also offer a big three credit reporting report that shows you what the big three credit reporting services show on your report. We have for the past 20 years made an effort to keep our report clean of any mistakes i. e. like paid off accounts canceled etc. This helps.

 

[Power Wagon]

I got the call from "Wells Fargo" as well. They claimed they needed to "verify" information for processing a home improvement loan application. We'd never submitted any such application. Anyway, we called Wells Fargo (after not giving out anything of interest to the caller) and Wells Fargo's customer service got really interested. However, the call came with caller ID blocked, and we could provide them nothing of interest.



Call Wells Fargo's customer service - talk to the fraud division - and tell them you believe someone impersonating Wells Fargo is attempting to solicit SSN's and other personal data.



They will want any information you might have, including caller ID data.



Between the wife and I, our identity has been stolen multiple times. Someone was passing checks under my name with a fake driver's license. There's a ring around this area doing it. They hit every "loan till payday" and "check cashing" service, they write checks in outlying areas (marginally distant) places that are still close enough that ID is not scrutinized, and sometimes even hit up loan companies.



Because they keep all this under a certain dollar value per incident, the local authorities have it as lowest priority, and generally do just about nothing...

 

[The patriot]

Isnt it interesting how the SSN was NOT meant to be a form of national ID? It seems as though it's only purpose anymore is for ID!!

I have someone in Arizona using my SSN and name. Credit reports have been coming back OK, but ya never know. It almost appears as though he could do this without repercussions. Whoever I talk to tells me "not much we could do". I filled out some papers at the local S. S. office, but it seems it's a very low priority item.

Eric

PS I found this out through my health ins company.

 

[Deezul1]

It is my understanding that when Social Security cards were first issued in the 1930s I think, that part of the law requiring you to have a SS card was that it was to be illegal for it to be used for any form of identification and was not to be a serial #. Can any one tell me more about this? was it illegal? is it still illegal? facts not opinions please, I have plenty of those all by myself.

TIA

John

 

[apkole]

My inquiries to the "big three" credit reporting agencies did result in them each sending me a credit report, the first of which arrived in todays snail mail. Turns out that Wells Fargo did in fact request a credit report from Experian - - in April of 2000.



This whole this still smells really fishy. Contacting Wells Fargo sounds like a good idea, but as previously noted, there was a Caller ID block on the line, so couldn't track the number that way.



Thanks for the great feedback!!





Andy