My husband's office was broken into over the weekend and the thiefs took data-not money or things. Everyone's Social Security numbers have been taken. Has anyone used a Fraud Prevention Service and had good (or bad) results with them? I did the standard stuff- 90 day fraud alert with the credit card companies, called the bank- but I know there are some things that can be done that I can't block- like open a new bank account with fake ID or start phone or electric service. So I thought a fraud prevention company might be a good idea for a year or so... Advice?
I use lifelock. My identity was stolen by my housekeeper and her husband and they caused a lot of problems for me. After finding out, I enrolled in lifelock. Wish I would have had it before!
Don't know of any companies, but know that it is probably a good idea. Also, make sure to contact the major check/credit companies as you can have an alert placed on your info.
Telecheck: 1-800-TELECHECK (actually located here in Houston)
Equifax: 1-800-685-1111 equifax.com
Experian: 1-888-397-3742 experian.com
TransUnion: 1-800-916-8800 transunion.com
I used to work for Telecheck. Banks would run the social security and drivers license numbers through the system before issuing accounts. I know there were other check authoriztion companies, but am not sure of their names.
One woman had a PIN code that she would tell us over the phone so that we would approve her checks because her identity had been so compromised. This was 12 years ago when hardly anyone knew about identity theft, so I'm sure that there are a lot of safeguards in place....
Good luck!