Preventing identity theft

[SFernandez13461]

I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this, so I apologize if it's not. 

I recently made the mistake of trying to reconnect with my half-sister who has been imprisoned for most of my life, mostly for drug-related charges. I was hoping she had decided to turn her life around, but quickly found that wasn't the case. 

Throughout the one afternoon I spent with her she was asking me to let her use my name to get a job because it's difficult for her to find employment, and I said absolutely not. As the day progressed there was more trouble and I had to sever ties with her, and now I'm concerned she may try to steal my identity.

Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening? I've worked hard to rebuild my credit and I'm well on my way to doing so. I hate to think someone else might come in and destroy it all over again. I can't begin to think what kind of a mess she might make for me if it becomes a tax issue as well. I'm self-employed, so my taxes are bad enough when everything's straight.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[09Lexie]

Sorry to hear about your half-sister. The best thing you could do is to place freezes on all your CB's and monitor them religiously.


I'm not sure where this should be posted, probably not on this forum maybe general credit topics.

[SFernandez13461]

Thanks for your suggestion. I'll look into that.

[TimeToRecover]

I agree with locking all 3 and a side note would be to change all your passwords on line if you use any online banking or any where that your CC information or personal information could be accessed.

[Anonymous]

Hi there!

new guy on the forums here. What alot of people are doing now is taking background checks into their own hands in order to prevent identity theft (among other issues that may arise.) The idea of "self-background checks" to make sure everything in your background is ok is quickly evolving and becoming a very common thing for concerned individuals to run.

The company I work for actually provides this opportunity to concerned individuals ( www.eKnowID.com ) (I know it looks like I'm trying to upsell you on a product but I'm definitely not.) Just want to let you know that this option is out there and eKnowID was created for issues/worries like that one you stated above so if you do find yourself concerned and look to empower yourself by making sure your sister didn't indeed steal your identity I would say definitely check out eKnowID. edited

[p-]

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@TimeToRecover wrote:

I agree with locking all 3 and a side note would be to change all your passwords on line if you use any online banking or any where that your CC information or personal information could be accessed.

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Any of the paid monitoring or guarantee services are worthless in my opinion.  They notify you once something bad has already happened, and then some of them reimburse you for expenses incurred during cleanup.

If you have a major data breach or reason to believe someone might steal your identity, it is best to go ahead and freeze your credit.