Attorney O's Midnight Musings: Connecticut Law » Identity Theft

What to Do If You Are the Victim of Identity Theft

Irene C. Olszewski, Esq. — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:28:01 +0000

It is a frightening reality but every day, some unlucky innocent person learns that his or her identity has been stolen. If that person happens to be you, be sure to act quickly to avoid further damage.

In December, my office was notified that the identity of one of the men I conserve was possibly stolen. It came in the form of a letter from the IRS informing him that someone else had reported income using his social security number. Just last week, I received a writ from an Illinois lawyer including my guy as a defendant in a lawsuit concerning property owned in that state. He doesn’t own property in Illinois. Heck, he doesn’t own property in Connecticut or any other state, for that matter. He resides in a group home. Wrong guy. Oops!

Yes, it appears his identity was truly stolen. A look at his credit report showed a lot of mortgages and loans in his name. Great. What a mess.

If you are a victim, the first step is to contact the police department where the suspected identity theft occurred, if you can pin it down. For example, if you know that someone applied for a loan in Manchester, Connecticut using your social security number, file a report with the Manchester Police Department. If you don’t know where the theft occurred, contact the police department in your town. There are several reasons you will not want to miss this step.

Contact one of the three major credit bureaus to request a fraud alert and to ask them to include a statement that creditors should get your permission before opening any new accounts in your name. Absent a police report, you can only request a 90-day alert. With a police report, you can request an extended fraud alert that lasts 7 years. You only have to notify one credit bureau as they are required to notify the other two on your behalf. They are: Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.

Order your credit report from all three credit bureaus and examine it carefully. If there are creditors you don’t recognize, contact the creditor and the credit bureaus immediately. Note that you are entitled to a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once per year. Even if you don’t think you’ve been the victim of identity theft, you should check your credit reports often. To obtain your free credit reports, go here.

Contact you bank, utility companies, loan companies … anyone with whom you have a legitimate account. Let them know that your identity has been stolen so that all appropriate alerts may be placed on your accounts.

If you suspect that someone may be using your social security number, you should alert the IRS immediately. You don’t want to end up fighting a huge tax bill that doesn’t belong to you.

Contact the post office to determine if anyone has filed change of address forms in your name.

Report the theft to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Although they don’t get involved in consumer complaints of this nature, the information helps them to investigate fraud and can lead to legal action. They can be reached by calling 1-877 438-4338 or online here.

For information on how to safeguard your identity, go to the Department of Consumer Protection’s tip sheet here.

Most of all, be vigilant. Beware of e-mails asking for personally identifying information. Pay attention to your credit card statements. Don’t give out your passwords.

Wish me luck as I try to solve this nightmare for my conserved guy.

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Disclaimer: The information, comments and links posted on the blog do not constitute legal advice. I will not respond to any specific legal questions in the comments section of this blog. Read my entire disclaimer.

Shred that Identity

Irene C. Olszewski, Esq. — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:59:41 +0000

Business as usual in a law office generally means that there are thousands of pieces of paper to shred every year. Maybe its millions of pieces. I don’t know. I lost count years ago.

In my practice, I also serve as court-appointed conservator for several individuals. That role means that I will receive an exorbitant amount of mail every day. I thought this was supposed to become a totally paperless society?

Most mail I receive will have some part that must ultimately be shredded. I eat shredders for a snack. Well, it seems that way. Shredders are high on my list of overhead expenses. I have a line item on my tax return just for shredders. (Not really, but it sounded good, didn’t it?) I bought a new one yesterday. I scoured the internet for reviews of medium-size shredders and settled upon one that appeared to suit my needs. It cost me $250 which isn’t a ton of money but isn’t exactly cheap, either.

The shredder was delivered to my office today as promised. I wrestled the enormous thing out of the box, attached the casters to the bottom and plugged it in. Yes, I oiled the shredder blades, in case you were wondering. Then I proceeded to shred for about 5 minutes.

The machine was quiet and ran smoothly. I was thrilled. Until the dreaded “bin full” light came on. I opened the bin door and squished down the shreds. (is that what you call those tiny paper things?) They occupied about a third of the bin. I closed the door and let out a disgusted sigh when I noticed that the “bin full” light remained on. I took the bag out of the bin and closed the door again. Light on. I removed the bin and looked inside the machine. Nothing caught in the blades, nothing blocking the “bin full” sensor. I turned the shredder off and on a few times, to no avail. The “bin full” light” was on to stay. So much for my earlier joy.

I promptly called the number listed on the front panel of the shredder and spoke to a helpful customer service rep who asked me all sorts of questions and then proceeded to walk me through a troubleshooting exercise in futility. At least she spoke perfect English. After a few attempts to make the “bin full” light go away, she informed me that the company would ship me a brand new shredder within 7 to 10 business days. Oh goodie, a new shredder. I’ll keep you posted about this one.

What does that have to do with this blog? It got me thinking about the volume of mail we all receive every day in our private as well as professional lives. Credit card offers, insurance offers, bills … lots of envelopes and pieces of paper that bear our personal information.
It is no secret that identity thieves have become quite sophisticated in this age of mega-technology. Years ago, credit card vendors stopped using carbon paper for credit transactions as a precaution against identity theft. Banks stopped printing the entire account number on a depositor’s statement. But even those steps haven’t deterred identity thieves.

I always instruct my clients to guard sensitive personal information with their lives; after all, it is their lives they are guarding. I had a colleague who applied for a car loan a few years ago only to find out that her identity had been stolen to the tune of $85,000. She had to learn in a hurry what to do when she became a victim of identity theft. I’ve recently spoken to three friends whose credit cards were compromised. Luckily, they were contacted by the credit card companies in time to prevent devastating consequences. The point is, there was a time when I didn’t know anyone who had even remotely been affected by identity theft. Now I know several people. That’s scary.

Connecticut’s Superior Courts have become savvy to identity protection. On January 1, 2010, lawyers were instructed to redact clients’ personal information from documents prior to submission. Court files are generally public documents.

While identity theft (or protecting yourself from it) is not a new concept, it bears repeating that you can never be too careful. I heard a news item on the radio this morning about a debt collection scam involving callers who demand all sorts of personal information and threaten the listener with loss of job, foreclosure of their homes and court action if they don’t provide it. That is, of course, illegal. Don’t give your social security number, date of birth, mother’s maiden name or any other personally identifying information to some stranger who calls your land line and threatens you. Not even if they ask you nicely. Never. I repeat: N-E-V-E-R.

Be creative with your online user names and passwords. Don’t make it easy for an identity thief to compromise your accounts. Using your birthday or address as a password isn’t secure, yet millions of people use such passwords every day. Experts recommend bizarre passwords that involve some combination of upper and lower case letters coupled with numbers and characters. Of course, remembering those strange concoctions ought to be a challenge. Don’t store your passwords on your computer in a file marked Passwords! That’s rather like dangling a bone in front of your friendly neighborhood identity thief. Yet people do that all the time.

Don’t throw out unread junk mail. You never know what type of identifying information is written inside. Tear the address portion off of any envelope addressed to you before recycling the envelope. Don’t throw anything into the garbage that contains your signature. That’s asking for trouble.

Finally, if you don’t own a personal shredder, buy one today. We’ll deal with the “full bin” issue another time.

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Lawyers Must Know The Identities of Their Clients

Irene C. Olszewski, Esq. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:04:52 +0000

It’s par for the course in this ever-changing world of ours that people will find ways to scam other people. I’m providing a link below to an article in the Connecticut Law Tribune detailing two forged signatures on mortgages that landed the attorney in hot water for not checking the IDs of his clients prior to allowing them to sign on the dotted line at closing time.

Lesson to all: Lawyers should check the IDs of all clients prior to signature time. Clients should not be offended when an attorney asks for an ID. Checking IDs benefits everyone.

Please follow this link to read the full article:
Imposter Clients Land Attorneys In Hot Water

[Source: Connecticut Law Tribune]

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