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Kokua Line
Question: How can consumers protect themselves after their homes have been burglarized and credit cards and IDs stolen? I've reported all the credit cards to the necessary companies but they do have my Social Security number. What else can I do to prevent them from opening accounts with my Social Security number and address and other information with the cards that they do have? What to do after
a theft or burglaryAnswer: Alerting credit card companies and closing accounts may be the easiest thing to do after having credit and ID cards stolen.
After that, it will involve a lot of diligence on your part to protect yourself from identity theft and the whole host of problems associated with that.
The advice we gleaned from Web sites posted by the Federal Trade Commission (http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/info.htm) and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (http://www.privacyrights.org), as well as from the Honolulu Police Department and the Social Security Administration is to regularly check your credit record with the three major credit bureaus and to review your Social Security earnings record regularly.
The major credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. To order a credit report, call 1-800-685-1111 for Equifax; 1-888-397-3742 for Experian; and 1-800-916-8800 for Trans Union. To report fraud, call 1-800-525-6285 for Equifax; 1-888-397-3742, Experian; and 1-800-680-7289, Trans Union.
Check your credit report every year, advises Honolulu police Lt. Clayton Kau, of HPD's Information and Resources Section. "If you are a victim of identity theft, the credit report will contain evidence of credit or banking fraud committed using your name and Social Security number."
As for your Social Security number, the Social Security Administration began mailing annual reports on earning records to all workers 25 and older last year.
Check those records carefully, advises local spokesman Tim Walsh. "If more earnings are posted than what you expect, that could indicate that someone is working under that number."
If you don't receive a report, call 1-800-772-1213 to request Form 7004. You also can download an application from http://www.ssa.gov or visit the local SSA office.
If you suspect misuse of your Social Security number, call the fraud hotline at 1-800-269-0271.
However, if your number has been misused by someone to get credit, don't call the SSA, which says "Social Security cannot fix your credit record." That has to be done through the credit card companies and credit bureaus.
It's probably not a good idea to get a new Social Security number because of all the headaches and problems associated with doing so. Also, the SSA says it may assign you a new number but only if you can document that you're being harmed by someone misusing your number and you've done all you can to fix the problem.
A handy resource is the Citizen's Handbook of Crime Prevention, which is aimed at preventing crime and not about what to do afterward. Call HPD's Informational Resources Section, 529-3351, to request a copy.
It has valuable tips on how to protect, record and identify your valuables, such as keeping a list of all your different financial accounts so you can notify the proper authorities quickly in the event of a theft.
Kau also said HPD has engraving tools that people can borrow to mark their valuables. The recommendation these days is not to use Social Security numbers, but to put a last name and date of birth.
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com