Responding to Identity Theft

Posted on 23 March 2017 in Life • Tagged with credit, data breaches, finance, identity theft, privacy, usability

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?

Credit Reporting Agencies

First, a bit of background - ProtectMyID is a service available from Experian, one of the three Credit Reporting Agencies …


Continue reading