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Protecting your personal information should always be an ongoing focus, but what do you do if the unthinkable happens and your identity is stolen?
That goes beyond credit card numbers or checking accounts. It is quite literally someone becoming a new you and for many victims, that theft is just the beginning of their struggles.
Yuri Ho is one of those victims. Yuri is an elementary school teacher, and in February learned someone had stolen her identity. The first clue was when she went to her bank to sort out a loan in her name that she was unaware of.
“When the bank employee saw me he said, ‘Oh yeah, that’s definitely not you’ and so he kind of filled us in as to what he meant by that,” explained Mrs. Ho.
What the bank employee meant was that another woman, who is now in custody, had secured a loan. As the story began to unravel, Mrs. Ho learned the woman had stolen Yuri’s social security number, obtained a copy of her birth certificate and with that, acquired a California driver’s license — creating a “new” Yuri Ho. This identity thief then bought, and wrecked, a new BMW.
“I think she even contacted the FTC and wrote a statement about me and how I’ve at some point in time, I was trying to steal her identity and it’s uprooting her life. So, she’s just done a lot of undoing and whatever I do she’ll undo that again,” Mrs. Ho explained.
Like many victims of identity theft, Mrs. Ho began to realize it was hard to prove she is the real “Yuri Ho” and that it was a fraudster taking out these loans to get money. Financial advisor Ali Hashemian says that is because the banks are not on your side in that moment.
“They have to cover the money in the interim period of time, so from an incentive standpoint, they’re not really excited to restore this because they’re the ones who have to cover this fraud if you think about it. So there’s a cost at the end of the day and that motivates them to slow things down,” said Hashemian.
Slowing things down can be good advice for victims as well. In a moment that can be overwhelming, don’t panic.
First, take the necessary steps to protect yourself from further damage. Contact one of the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax or Transunion and freeze your credit or file a fraud alert to prevent further damage.
Also, file a complaint with the Internet Complaint Center, which is run by the FBI and allows law enforcement to take over. In many cases having a criminal investigation underway can help you with further damage and proving who you are.
Take the next step by contacting the IRS who will then assign you a PIN number you will use to file your taxes. In many cases, an identity theft will file a false tax return very early in year to steal your tax refund. The PIN will prevent anyone but you from filing a false tax return simply because they have your social security number.
And finally, go to identitytheft.gov. Run by the FTC, they can walk you through a process that can be overwhelming.
“These are all things that are fixable, right? They’re the ones that are going to basically help you fight the good fight against the bank, against the lender — whoever is basically the one that is coming after you for the funds that were loaned,” explains Hashemian.
Mrs. Ho’s case was extreme. She has been forced to get a new driver’s license and is considering a new social security number. But that is a process that must be done in person, is incredibly difficult and doesn’t guarantee you won’t be victimized again. So take that step only as a last resort.
“It’s been a learning process, and I feel like I’m in like a crash course on how to protect my self and my identity.” says Mrs. Ho. “I didn’t know anything about these things until it happened. It’s hard to get over something like this.”
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