

Ask HN: What would you do about identity theft? - stuntgoat

My friend had his ssn/name pair stolen and used on several occasions. Mostly, other people are using the pair to buy subscriptions to television services or other mundane things; nothing worth hiring a private investigator or lawyer over but it worries him. What would you do if your identity was stolen?<p>I told him to change his name- simply one letter in his last name. If his new name is different, creditors attempting to seek false debts from his old name would reach a dead end. Unfortunately for him, I am not an expert.<p>Any ideas?
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jacquesm
SSN / Name does not yet constitute an 'identity' and I certainly wouldn't be
changing my name over something that silly.

The better way to go about this is to ask the SSA for a new number because of
fraud, they do that directly, do not deal with any 'middle men' offering this
service.

<http://www.ssa.gov/>

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ScottWhigham
First thing is to put credit freezes on his credit accounts. Call up the major
credit reporting agencies and explain what happened - they will tell him how
to put the freezes on and those freezes will require manual confirmation by
telephone for any loans (asking sensitive questions like, "What year was your
last car loan? What was the amount? Who was it through?").

