I was recently shopping online for a specific type of lotion (my skin seems to hate all other types). I am somewhat predisposed to avoid Amazon.com because its size and increasing dominance of online shopping concerns me as it moves closer and closer to "shopping" (in the sense that "searching" means Google to most people). However, my biggest reason for avoiding Amazon.com is simpler: it has become incredibly confusing to shop there. Searching for just about anything will yield thousands of results and it takes (me) a lot of effort to determine which one is appropriate. This can be a great thing in a lot of cases, but more often than not it feels more like navigating a minefield of deceitful listings than comparing competing products.

This lengthy post evaluates one example - Aveeno "Daily Moisturizing" lotion. As with most personal care products, when searching online I pull up a couple of websites to compare prices. In this case I pulled up Amazon.com last, searched for "Aveeno" and was impressed to see just what I was looking to compare (the 18 oz., non-SPF version) as the first result. I clicked through and, curious to figure out the price …

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On Sunday, 19 March around 10AM I received an email with the subject line IMPORTANT: ProtectMyID Surveillance Alert. I was busy at the time so I flagged the message and moved on with my day. I had received these alerts a few times before when applying for credit cards and getting a home loan. While I hadn't done either of those things lately, I still was not particularly alarmed by the subject alone and had many other things on my mind. Going about the busy day, I promptly forgot about the email.

Before starting the work day the next morning, I noticed and remembered the email in my inbox. Why do I even have ProtectMyId? Because my personal data was part of a breach at some point. Which breach? I don't even recall - there have been so many. I opened the email and logged in to find that a new credit account with a provider I had never used had been opened in my name. Surprise! I am a victim of identity theft.

What do I do now?

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