
Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You (2017) - mtmail
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-reports/
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davidroberts
This advice works in other scenarios where companies string you along hoping
you will give up and disappear.

Once my car was badly damaged by someone who ran a stop sign. It was clearly
the other driver's fault. Her insurance was Allstate. They strung me along for
more than a month "investigating" this obvious situation.

My car was an older one that was worth about the cost of the repairs, and they
probably thought I would just give it up. But it was my only transportation
and I needed it for work.

I did some research on California's insurance regulations and discovered their
requirement that claims be settled within 40 days. After 40 days passed, I
wrote a email similar to the letter examples in this article, giving then five
days before I reported them to California's insurance department.

It was astonishing to see the immediate change in their behavior. The adjustor
who had been playing telephone tag for weeks called me within an hour and
arranged for a body shop near my home to start work immediately.

They laugh at angry bluster, but will move mountains to appease a focused
person who can bring a regulatory agency down on them.

~~~
ilamont
Similar experience with a telco in my state. As soon as I called the state
regulator about being strung along over a bait and switch, the telco bent over
backwards to clear up the issue.

There was also the time I took an airline to small claims court after repeated
customer service calls and a demand notice failed to get their attention; the
airline's chief counsel called me up at work after they received the notice
from the court. They still failed to resolve the problem and also didn't show
up for the hearing, so it was a summary judgement in my favor with damages
multiplied x3.

Tip if you do escalate to a court or state regulator: Keep copies of
everything including postage receipts with tracking info and records of phone
calls (screenshots of call logs, notes about each call, etc.)

~~~
fnayr
I’ve heard that even if you win in small claims it’s hard to collect from
these giant corps. Were you ever able to collect the damages?

~~~
ilamont
The airline sent me a check about a month after the hearing for the full 3x
amount.

~~~
Casseres
Does that airline still allow you to fly with them?

~~~
ilamont
Yes, it did. I never had any service denial or other problem as a result of
taking the airline to small claims court.

ETA details

~~~
alexis_fr
Then it didn’t?

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cdubzzz
Here is my identify theft story, also from 2017 (thanks, OPM):
[https://chrxs.net/articles/2017/03/23/responding-to-
identity...](https://chrxs.net/articles/2017/03/23/responding-to-identity-
theft/)

I never got around to writing about it, but this also happened to my wife
earlier this year. The fraudster opened a T-Mobile account with her data and
we had an absolute hell of a time getting T-Mobile to do anything about it.
After a few months and a letter threatening to send her "debt" to collections,
my wife finally filed a complaint with the FTC and the matter was resolved a
few weeks later. Good thing to keep in mind for issues with communications
companies, at least when the damn government is functioning...
[https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov](https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov)

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blfr
Calmly and shortly stating what happened and how you want it remedied is an
all around great and underrated strategy for dealing with any organization and
even individual relationships. Many people don't get what they want simply
because they never ask.

In less acrimonious and regulated situations than dealing with debt collectors
you can kindly ask if the other party would like a copy of your complaint by
certified mail (that is, issue the least antagonistic of threats) and
straighten things out by phone or email.

~~~
HarryHirsch
Calmly asking for your money back never works, in my experience, the other
party are crooks preying on the naive and helpless, and they know they are
crooks. Asking for a serviceable address and then sending the demand letter
has always worked, it establishes that _you_ are not naive and helpless. What
the other side absolutely wants to avoid is a public paper trail, they'll go
to great lenghths to say away from the legal system, to continue to rip off
the next poor sod.

~~~
blfr
I managed to get invoices paid simply by calling and emailing a duplicate.
Sometimes these are complexities of large organizations, sometimes laziness
that needs a jolt to action, and even among crooks there are levels of
crookdom.

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mothsonasloth
Interesting read, I was a victim of identity fraud a while back after moving
from my rented apartment. I am very careful with my digital identity, however
I was caught out by physical address fraud.

I didn't setup mail redirection and assumed updating my banking and important
correspondence would be enough. However in the UK you get lots of spam mail to
my old address, for things like credit cards etc. which someone managed to do.

In summary, I would setup mail redirection.

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mtmail
I reposted this today because somebody was looking for an old HN thread "Ask
HN: Looking for an old HN post about how to effectively lodge a complaint"
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18799453](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18799453)

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myself248
This belongs in a list of "strategies for adulthood" or something, along with
the Art of Turboing and surely others.

What others, off the top of our heads?

[http://www.macwhiz.com/blog/art-of-
turboing/](http://www.macwhiz.com/blog/art-of-turboing/)

~~~
rootusrootus
Never heard it called turboing. It definitely works. When I bought my last
car, it got lost in shipping and GM couldn't find it. I could tell them where
it was because OnStar, but for whatever reason that never translated to
success on them finding it themselves and getting it shipped along to me. So I
sent an email to Mary Barra. I was under no illusion she would actually read
it, but my wife used to have friends on the Wells Fargo Executive Response
Team so I figured the odds were good GM had something similar. Yep! Couple
hours later I got a call from a "Senior Account Representative" who knew
everything about me, my car, where it was right now, and when I would see it
on my doorstep, before she even called me. Magic! And she called back twice a
day until the delivery actually took place. I don't recommend abusing the
process, but it is very effective when things go off the normal rails.

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deogeo
I feel compelled to mention: The actual crime in identity theft is fraud, and
you are not the victim. E.g. a bank gave a loan to the wrong person. _They_
lost money. But they call it 'identity theft' to move the damage to you.

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dang
Discussed at the time:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15206926](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15206926)

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wtmt
This one needs a (2017) in the title.

