I write this letter as a warning to anyone who has ever had their personal ID stolen. Someone else out there wants credit in your name. That someone could be the thief themselves or a person who the information has been passed on or sold to.
On May 29, 2011 my daughter’s ‘secured’ locker at the Chilliwack Leisure Centre was broken into. Personal items, identification, keys, phone, eye glasses, etc. were removed.
We had our home locks, gate locks, and her car locks re-keyed rendering the stolen keys useless. At great cost and inconvenience; we replaced the stolen items and identification, only to find out, two months later that someone is using the Internet and attempting to apply for credit in her name.
We received a letter from Home Depot Credit Services stating that the recent application for credit was declined. When we contacted Equifax, we were informed that, someone was online attempting to gain credit in my daughter’s name. Equifax has now ‘red flagged’ my daughter’s name and the flag will remain on the account for years to come. She has never applied for credit and will now have to explain herself, and prove that she is who she says she is anytime she applies for anything in the future. This is adding insult to injury.
With Internet technology, thieves try to steal or forge identities, but this same technology enables law enforcement to trace Internet locations using IP addresses as well.
For the first time in her life, my daughter has experienced the pain of property loss and has definitely changed her view about the trustworthiness of people or public lockers.
Roberta A. Friesen