If mail was stolen out of my car, what can I do to protect myself from identity theft or fraudulent activity?

Answer 1

Contact one of the credit bureaus..ask them to put a flag on your credit. I had to do this because while I was getting my free yearly credit reports, I found out that some chick had used my first and middle name, and her last name, and my SS#. I called one of the credit bureaus and had a flag put on. They will automatically contact the other 2 bureaus, and for the next 90 days, anytime your SS# or other personal info is used to try to get/use credit, they will contact you by mail/phone to make sure that it was really YOU that applied for the credit. Call your credit card companies and let them know, they can also put flags on your accounts. As far as checking accounts, the only way I know to handle that aspect is to open a new account, IMMEDIATELY and close your old one. My mother in-law's home was recently robbed and the crooks went through her bank statements, and the bank told her all she could do was open a new account and close her old one.

Answer 2

Your first 2 answers are pretty good. I don't know of anything else you can do since it's already been stolen.

But by all means, buy yourself a shredder TODAY. Never throw anything in the trash that has your name & address, nor any bar codes, etc., if the mail was sent to you. About the only things I throw in the trash are empty window envelopes. If it has anything on it like my name, I shred it.

About 10 years ago, I bought the whole family shredders for Christmas.

P.S. I don't know if this is valid or not, but I am told not to sign credit cards because it requires the check-out clerk to require picture identification of the user. If it's signed, then your card could be used easier than if they require ID.

Answer 3

File a police report. Freeze ALL of your monetary accounts -- that means checking, debit cards, credit cards. Notify DMV if your car registration has been stolen---

In the old days, money was the object. Now they want your identity.
Good luck and may justice be with you.

My son had this problem. Stuff was charged to his card within 2 hours. (over the Internet, so we traced it. The cops won't do much, but the credit card company is really unhappy. Time to kick thieves' asses.)

Answer 4

File a police report first.
Contact all 3 credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and Transunion. They can put an alert on your account. You can be called when credit is applied for under your information so that you can verify if it was authorized by you.

Answer 5

Go to My free credit report. com, and monitor your credit. You can recieve alerts on anything new, people checking your credit or trying to obtain credit with your SS#.