Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas 

Identity theft came knocking recently. I first heard it on September ninth although it had to have started at some point before the fourth. I’ve opened the door with the security chain in place and when I figured out what had happened, I closed the door and now I’m adding extra locks. I think I caught it before any damage has been done to my credit rating or my bank accounts. 

With Increase COVID Aid Comes Increased Identity Fraud 

Although I’m not a financial expert, I decided to tell this story as a way to encourage you to sharpen your senses and be more vigilant than ever in watching for signs that someone is messing with your credit or worse, your financial accounts. Identity theft has been on the rise for years. Now, with federal money flowing heavily to try to help the unemployed and stressed small businesses, the bad guys are trying to get their hands on as much of the bounty as they can. 

On September 11, I was not feeling well and had a COVID test. I never did become very ill but waited the entire weekend until Monday morning to find out I was negative. By then, the symptoms had tapered off and I was lethargic until coming back to 99% on Wednesday. 

“Your Unemployment Claim is Being Processed” 

Meanwhile on Saturday, the 12^th, I received a notice from the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL.) At first, I thought it was a “here’s what you might expect in unemployment benefits should you be laid off” but on closer inspection, it actually said “your application for benefits has been received and is being processed.” Whoa, as far as I knew, I was still employed, and I certainly didn’t file for unemployment benefits. My employer reached out to KDOL and, along with assurance that I was indeed still employed, provided me with this link-https://www.dol.ks.gov/fraud. It was my starting point for what’s become a rather lengthy checklist of locks, freezes and alerts to stop any further fraudulent use of my social security number. My hope is that the rest of this story might help you develop your own checklist in the event you think your social security number has been compromised. Early-on, you should consult with your financial advisor and maybe banker to refine your checklist. 

Several years ago, we signed up with an identity theft protection company called Zander. It is endorsed, or perhaps owned by, Dave Ramsey. We think he is reputable, so we felt good about picking Zander from the plethora of mostly unknown protection companies. Fortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any financial damage so although we’ve notified them, there likely won’t be a recovery claim.  

Stopping ID Theft Early 

After filing a fraud report with KDOL, the next step was to contact the three credit reporting bureaus; Equifax, Transunion and Experian. I found out that for each, I could create a free online account and check my credit report on each in real time. I used the exact web address provided by KDOL to find their sites. I didn’t want to take a chance on Googling them by name and picking some look-alike clone site run by bad guys. The only thing I found that was suspicious was that the US Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Assistance had made a “hard” inquiry into my credit report on September 4. I have been fortunate not to have had any disasters so I certainly didn’t apply for any benefits that would have caused them to need to check my credit report. I also found out that you can request a “fraud alert” be placed on your credit record. That means that when you apply for credit, the lender will be alerted to be extra careful to check your identity. You also can request a credit freeze which means no lenders can check your report without you temporarily lifting the freeze. We don’t apply for a lot of credit so elected to freeze my report. We will plan to keep it frozen permanently except for such rare times when we might buy a car or open a new account of some kind. 

Besides filing the initial fraud report with KDOL and locking my credit record, I’m in the process of filing fraud alerts with the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, Federal Trade Commission, Small Business Administration and any providers of bank or investment accounts that would have used my social security number. 

Tips for Everyone, ID Theft or Not 

Here are my tips, whether you think your identity has been compromised or not. 1. Order the free credit report from each of the three bureaus, reviewing for errors. 2. Set up a freeze on your credit report, even though that will take some extra effort each time you buy a house, car, cell phone contract or apply for a credit card. 3. Pay immediate attention to what you receive in the mail. Wade through the junk, looking for individual notices from state or federal agencies that might indicate someone is using your identity. 4. Be suspicious of email from state and federal agencies. None of them do any detailed, personal business through email inquiries. 5. Although best to reconcile each account, at least review your bank and credit card transactions regularly, looking for transactions you didn’t initiate.   

Jim Correll can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of Fab Lab ICC or Independence Community College. Archive columns and podcasts at jimcorrell.com.