Some $*&%! I stole my identity to collect unemployment benefits

My name is Lonnie and I am a victim of identity theft.

So check this out. A friend of mine wrote a Facebook post about how someone stole his daughter’s Social Security number and applied for unemployment benefits with the Washington State Employment Security Division (ESD). Since it had never occurred to me, I decided to go to ESD and try to file an unemployment claim. After entering the information, I received the following message:

The Social Security Number (SSN) you entered already exists and is linked to this partially hidden email address: *****@fasternet.co

WHAT??!!??!? I have never filed an unemployment claim in my entire life and have certainly never used an email address on fastnet.co. Who the #$%^%! It is this?

I read further and saw the following message:

If you think you may be a victim of unemployment imposter fraud, when criminals illegally apply for unemployment benefits using someone else’s personal and employment information, please report it! Use the form in Employment Security Department (ESD) website. Then wait for ESD news.

I could not believe it. For the first time in my life, I was a victim of identity theft. And it wasn’t through the more traditional route of credit card or bank fraud; it was through unemployment benefits fraud.

As I navigated the what do you do about it Along the way, I learned a lot about the prevalence of identity fraud and how exposed I was. Experian, one of the three credit reporting companies, published some eye– popup statistics (all as of 2017).

• 158 million Social Security numbers exposed in data breaches

• 14.2 million credit card numbers exposed

• $905 million in total fraud losses

• 13,852 reports of identity theft affecting children and adolescents

• 60,000 mail theft complaints

• 883,000 identity theft tax returns confirmed

• 27% of data breaches were related to healthcare or health care

Identity theft is real. The bad guys are smart and only care about getting your money. The pain, frustration, and fear they leave behind mean nothing to them. If you think it can’t happen to you then you are living under a rock.

As a result of my experience, I decided to compile everything I did to check for fraudulent activity and the steps I took once I discovered unemployment benefits fraud occurred. I hope these are also useful for you.

1. Check your credit report at annualcreditreport.com for fake accounts. You can do this for free once a year. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security if everything seems fine. Things like unemployment benefits don’t show up on the report. You have to dig more.

2. Check to see if anyone has used your SSN to file an unemployment claim. In Washington state go to ESD Safe Access Washergton and follow the instructions to create a Secure Access Washington account. This is how I found out that someone applied for unemployment benefits using my name and SSN.

3. Request a Social Security Accountstatement of account for any claim for benefits against your SSN.

4. year of application IRS Transscript for your tax filing history.

5. Check if your personal information was included in the Equifaxbattain that occurred between May and July 2017 that exposed the personal information of 140 million Americans. My SSN was one of 140 million.

If there has been fraudulent activity, take the following steps:

1. Go to the Federal Trade Commission website Identityrobo.gov. The website guides you through the steps to take based on your situation.

2. File a fraud report in your state. In Washington you appear before meSouth Dakota.

3. File a police report with your local police department.

4. year file IRS Identity Theft Sworn declaration.

5. year file Equifax FAlert. This lets credit card companies know that you are a victim of identity theft. According to Equifax, this establishes additional controls to detect fraudulent activity. They also notify Experian and Transunion of the theft. I can’t say if it’s effective at this point, but I feel like it wouldn’t hurt to do so.

6. If the theft was related to a doctor, file a health privacy complaint with the doctor. US Department of Health and Human Servicesfrozen.

Regardless of whether you have fraudulent activity, I recommend that you do the following:

1. place cafreeze again in your report with Experian, transunion, Y equifax. A credit freeze restricts access to your credit report. However, if you plan to apply for a credit card, bank account or mortgage, you must unfreeze your credit with each of the bureaus and then freeze it again after you inquire. A small inconvenience compared to someone who opens a credit card in your name using your personal information.

2. Set up email or text alerts with your bank and credit card companies for any transaction with an amount greater than zero. Large financial services companies offer alert options that you can customize. You’ll get an alert every time the card is used, which some might find annoying, but again, I’d rather delete a notification email or text than have someone go on a rampage with my credit card or bank account.

3. Setting two factor authenticationtemptation in your accounts. Also known as two-step authentication, it enforces a second type of authentication in addition to a password (ie text message, fingerprint, or email verification) if someone tries to log into one of your accounts.

4. Use a cross-cut shredder for any document that contains personal information. This also includes any credit card or financial service offerings that you may receive in the mail.

5. If your state offers it, set up an account that allows you to register your SSN and access online services from various state agencies. In Washington state this is called Insurance Aaccess washington. You may need to do some research for your state, but it’s worth it.

6. Be careful with the use of public WIFI; consider using a Virtuousto the Private Network (VPN) if you access sensitive personal information on public networks.

7. Be sure to also review the accounts of a loved one, spouse, partner, and children.

Identity theft is real and it can happen to you. The bad ones will never go away, but you can make it more difficult for yourself by implementing some preventative measures to protect yourself and your loved ones from identity theft.

Note: If you want the hyperlinks to all bold References go here.