great - now i'll never know who i am...

[indras_net]

i may never know - cus someone 'stole my identity.' that phrase always cracked me up. like if you take away the credit card and social security numbers, there isn't much left. now that someone has cashed over a grand of checks against the equity line on my house -- me not laughing no more. since i didn't find out till a little after 5 on friday

Comments

[neph13]

bah...to hell with silly cameras and sensors....I say put high explosives and rabid alligators in there...that will teach them!

But really, Ia m sorry to hear about that....sucks and there is a special place in hell for people like that.

((hugs))

[indras_net]

well, i admit the electrical shock is not as elegant as that crowbar :p

[neph13]

hehe..I guess my little fantasy last week is not going to be let off the hook that easy....;)
but i regress...yes your right, corwbars have a way of saying something special!

[aurifex]

That sucks...!

But, how sure are you that it is because of checks? If they are accessing your home equity, they probably have something else, like your SSN! Do you take care to shred or otherwise destroy personally identifiable information on papers etc. leaving your home? Having just moved you might have disposed of some personal data without realizing it.

Shred all those credit card offers, anything with account numbers or personal data (SSN, birthdates, etc), and, yes, checks.

[aurifex]

Actually, one other thing: many times this sort of thing can hapen from lax security over personal data at credit/mortgage/etc. companies.

Either way, all I am getting at is that these things can occur from many different sides, not just mail in your box.

(I took an information policy class last semester; privacy and identity was one module, can you tell?)

[indras_net]

the way i found out about the checks was a statement of account from the mortgage company. it showed seven cashed "courtesy checks." though i have received tons of mail since moving into the new place - i had never recieved any courtesy checks. i called my loan officer and he said that i should have received those checks right away, so i figured they must have been intercepted at some point. all the house stuff is public record, so i figure someone out there makes a habit of this.

regardless - your advice is good advice. i frequently receive things like open checks from my credit cards and while i never use them, i am not very careful about getting rid of them. i'll get a shredder tomorrow...