Victim of Identity Theft, need security advice

sneakyimp

So some of my personal information was recently compromised when a certain corporate monstrosity got hacked by some attackers. Recently, some clown tried to use this information to take out a personal loan from an online lender. Fortunately, because I had previously issued a fraud warning, this loan was denied. Still, a credit reporting agency tells me that to remove this stain from my credit report, I must resolve things with the company where the loan was sought. Let's call them SeedyLoanCompany.com. I don't trust these people one whit.

In order for them to make nice with me and remove the report from my credit report, they are asking for an FTC form, proof of identity (copy of government issued ID card), and a copy of the police report including a contact number for the investigating office.

Unfortunately, I worry that providing this information to SeedyLoanCompany.com might expose me to still further to identity thieves because I'm sending a copy of my driver's license and verifying certain information that they have stolen is still correct.

What do we think? Is this a bad idea? What can I do?

schwim

In my experience and humble opinion, that's a terrible idea. My wife and I have both had our identities stolen(same situation, two separate instances). Even though we both issued fraud alerts, Dell sold a bunch of computers to the person that used my wife's identity and someone bought a crapload of rent-to-own stuff from a predatory lender place.

In neither situation were we asked to send information to the company that extended credit after ignoring the fraud alert. Dell resolved the issue on their own and for the predatory lender, I simply issued a dispute with the credit agency. Since they were completely incapable of proving the validity of the loan, after 60 days, the dispute was closed in my favor.

TL;DR: It's absurd that they would ask you to prove anything when you issued the alert before anyone tried to take out the loan. Register a dispute with the credit agencies.

sneakyimp

Thanks for sharing your experience. I contacted Experian and told them and they seem to agree that I shouldn't be sending out more sensitive info.

sneakyimp

Saga continues: A prepaid debit card opened in my name arrived in the mail. Apparently Mr. ID Thief tried to open an account, put some money in it, get a loan from a couple of places, juggle the money, etc.

I think I've managed to identify the thief's phone number(s) and residence. Anyone have thoughts on suitable revenge?

schwim

If they've done this more than once, which is likely, it's a throwaway phone. Fingers crossed you get mouth breather that uses his own personal info while trying to use yours.

sneakyimp

schwim;11046455 wrote:
If they've done this more than once, which is likely, it's a throwaway phone. Fingers crossed you get mouth breather that uses his own personal info while trying to use yours.

Pretty sure he has used some of his own info. Unfortunately, I don't think law enforcement has any interest in doing anything about it.

schwim

sneakyimp;11046457 wrote:
Pretty sure he has used some of his own info. Unfortunately, I don't think law enforcement has any interest in doing anything about it.

We found that to be exactly the case. In my wife's situation, they had the computers shipped to their house . The police did not even visit. Dell wouldn't tell us anything because [irony alert]they said since we did not order the computers, we were not allowed to know any personal information of the people that made the order using my wife's personal information because that would be a breach of their privacy[/irony alert].

We were 5 states away, so we just moved on with our lives.