Nov. is turning out to be a baaad month

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Nov. is turning out to be a baaad month
1
Tue, 11-30-2004 - 12:19pm

While my hoopla with my student loans is still being sorted out, DBF got a call last night from a collection agency - looking for hundreds of dollars on a cell phone account he never signed up for!!!!!!!!!

I've always heard identity theft is the fastest growing crime in North America... but you never really pay much attention until it happens to you. He's requested a copy of his credit report now too, so that he can personally inspect it, and put a fraud alert on his file. He'll be going in to the police station today to file an official report, and he spoke to the fraud department at the cell phone company. It' sounds like everything will be okay on DBF's credit rating, but it's still a pain. Not to mention very unsettling. I know it could have been a lot worse, but still....

One major piece of advice - if you live in an apartment, and you get mail in your box that is not addressed to you - TAKE IT AND MARK RETURN TO SENDER, AND PUT IT BACK IN THE MAIL. Do NOT simply stick it in a pile for the postman to take back with him. This is an excellent way for id thieves to get people's mail.









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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-1999
Tue, 11-30-2004 - 6:14pm

That's a huge drag. Id theft is a HUGE problem in BC. I've heard alot over the last year of id theft rings being busted all over the place. There's alot about community (ie, roadside) post boxes being broken into. Apparently this is big business for organized crime. I always thought this was something that happened "somewhere else" like, say New York or LA...not in places like Kelowna!!

Anyway, it's good advice to mark mail "moved" and put it back in the mail. At my last apartment building mail that was in my box addressed to previous tenants simply got left in a pile on a shelf by the door for the postman to pick up; in my present building there's an actual "return to sender" box for this type of mail, along with a recycling bin for flyers.

Thanks for reminding me: I'm going to make a list of everyone that I have to change my address with so that I don't have mail coming for months to a place at which I no longer live.