My Identity Theft Story

Runitup · ‎04-04-2017

So, had an interesting week filled with phone calls from companies I've never dealt with before and other strange occurrences.

Let me rewind back to two Saturdays ago. About to go to sleep at around 11:30pm when I heard a car door slam in front of my house. I saw a guy get out of the car, take a picture of my license plate and get back in the car and off he went. Took all of about three seconds. Couldn't see a face, plate or anything else. I thought it was weird but I just bought a new car, kind of unique and I figured the guy had never seen one before and decide to take a pic. I forgot all about it until the middle of the following week.

On Wednesday, got a call from Tractor Supply stating they needed to talk to me to verify some information about a new account. I figured it was some telemarketer and I blew it off. On Thursday, I started getting e-mails from Credit Tracker about multiple changes to my credit report. Also on Thursday, I received a call from Penske Truck Rental asking to confirm when I was bringing the truck back I had rented. Surprise, I hadn't rented a truck. So I logged on to Cap1 credit tracker and of course, there was one new account and two inquiries. Pulled my other two reports and they were a mess as well. After about five hours on the phone with the CRAs and the creditors, I think I have most of the issues cleared up (at least on my credit reports). They got Citi for about $6k between two cards. They opened two Synchrony backed store cards, one of which was denied due to suspicion of fraud and the other was opened but not activated.

I am writing not to ask for help on what to do because this forum has provided me with that knowledge (of which I am grateful) but to inform and warn others that something as simple as a license plate number can lead to identity theft. I have never heard of anything like this before so I just wanted to put it out there that it may be a thing.

Anonymous · ‎04-04-2017

Wow-they were able to get enough info to open accounts just from your license plate? Any idea how they did so? My S.O. has a unique plate on a unique car, people take pics of it all the time so we think nothing of it. We'll have to keep an eye out on his credit going forward!

Runitup · ‎04-04-2017

My guess is they knew somebody who worked in the DMV. Of course, the guy taking the pic and the subsequent hard pulls on my credit could be just a massive coincidence but I doubt it.

Anonymous · ‎04-04-2017

There used to a co that if gave them the tag they would give you the owner's info. So sorry.

Anonymous · ‎04-04-2017

OH man, that bites! I'm glad you were able to make the necessary phone calls and things taken care of.

Anonymous · ‎04-04-2017

So sorry you had to experience this. I work for an airline and use to work in our fraud dept. It's crazy how much fraud there is. We would call out to the airport and catch them all the time, pull the off the plane and require them to buy a ticket with cash or a credit card in their name that they can present. They would usually always have cash. Sadly airlines really don't prosecute. There's just too much fraud and it would get really expensive. I have seen them go after someone that has frauded thousands of dollars though.

Anonymous · ‎04-04-2017

Wow that is horrible Runitup, I'm glad you were able to take care of the fraud on your CR's..

elim · ‎04-04-2017

Wow, sorry to hear, that sux.

This is why all 3 of my CR's are one ice at all times. Opened briefly to app for what I need and locked up again just after. So busy at work I don't have what it takes to deal with all of that. GL.

I would use this event (and police report) to freeze LexisNexis also.

DaveInAZ · ‎04-05-2017

@Runitup wrote:
My guess is they knew somebody who worked in the DMV. Of course, the guy taking the pic and the subsequent hard pulls on my credit could be just a massive coincidence but I doubt it.

Well, from a license plate # all you should be able to get is the owners names & address. Someone well up in a DMV would probably be able to cross reference that to the Driver's license and get the date of birth, but I don't believe any states' DMV have social security numbers. I know I've never given my SS# to the AZ DMV.

Sorry for you ID theft, OP, but I'm not convinced whoever snapped a pic of your license plate did it - that would be too easy, all you would need to do is snap pics of license plates of the car ahead of you in traffic all day & get hundreds of IDs.

That said, there is too many businesses still trying to collect DOB & SS#'s, and too many folks giving it up. I recently went in for an annual eye exam at a new eye doctor. So, they gve me forms to fill out as a new customer, and you guessed it, they wanted my DOB & SS#. I asked the clerk loudly so other patients would hear: "Why in the world would you need my Social Security number?" The clerk shrugged and said "Then just put down the last 4 digits". I replied: "No, you're not getting any part of my SS#, there is no reason for you to have it". I wrote in "PRIVATE INFO" on the line for SS#, and also didn't put down my real DOB.It's been mny years since I app'd for a job, but I suppose the job app forms still want DOB & SS#? I would put down on the line for SS#: "Will provide on hiring".

Runitup · ‎04-06-2017

Dave, I called my DMV, they do have social security numbers in their data base. I just find it too much of a coincidence that the theft started the next day but, it could be.