Has anybody been a victim of identity theft while in the military and what can be done to fix the damage?

2015-11-19T15:03:56-05:00

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Nov 19 at 2015 3:17 PM

2015-11-19T15:17:35-05:00

As far as I know I am not a victim of identity theft SGT Shawn Volkmann; but, the US Government Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent me a letter and a 25 digit PIN because DoD had been breached :-)

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 19 at 2015 3:31 PM

2015-11-19T15:31:29-05:00

Had it done once, what you an I depends on what happen.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 19 at 2015 8:11 PM

2015-11-19T20:11:13-05:00

same as civilian, long road to recovery! It sucks

Response by SPC Kortney Kistler made Nov 19 at 2015 11:20 PM

2015-11-19T23:20:39-05:00

I have had my information stolen 6 times now I think. Multiple times were because of Tri-Care or affiliated insurance companies were broke into and had computers stolen. VA computers stolen. The latest was all the information on my Security Clearance was on a computer that was stolen. I haven't seen anything fraudulent pop up yet. This has all happened since 01'- Now.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 20 at 2015 7:10 AM

2015-11-20T07:10:15-05:00

Just got a letter in the mail saying my information was hacked and stolen. Including my fingerprints.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 20 at 2015 9:43 AM

2015-11-20T09:43:34-05:00

Good Morning SGT Volkmann: Yes I became a victim in 1992 and it will take at least three (3) years to repair the damages, because first you will have to file a police report, then you have to contact all three (3) credit agencies notifying them that you are a victim, then depending on the type of identity theft you will have to notify creditor if it is financial theft, if it is medical you will have to notify your health insurance company and your primary care doctor, if it is social security then you will have to contact the closets SSN office to you asking them to deactivate your current social security number and give you a new one, if it is DMV that will be harder but can be done with time.

Lastly purchase identity theft protection coverage. I became a victim when somebody stole my car from my home that had my purse that of course had all my credit cards, check books, and personal information inside. I didn't even know I was a victim of identity theft because weeks later my car was found abandoned alongside the road, I placed stolen notifications with creditors and banks it wasn't until three (3) months later when I went to a local grocery store to purchase food for the week for my family that I learn the devastating news because I wrote a check knowing that I had thousands of dollars in the account only for the cashier at the store to run the check through her system to tell me that it declined, so I asked her politely to run it again it declined and I asked her why it declined she was very young and couldn't answer the question so I asked her to call for a store manager he came over after 5 minutes of waiting and holding up the line and I shared with him that the check was good and funds are in the account and that is when he told me that it is not checking for funds it is checking for bad checks written and flagged in the system and that I should contact my bank for additional information.

My thieves got away with over $2,000 in goods from various stores like Sprint, Shoe Carnival, and a clothing stores and they were never caught.

I then became a member of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc now known as LegalShield and signed up for Identity Theft protection my SSN is locked down so tight that I have to call all three (3) credit agencies when getting ready to open a new account or making large purchases when traveling.

http://www.patriciabaisden.legalshieldassociate.com

P.S. When you are a victim and it was a government breach they are responsible for helping to restore or repair damage and they will provide you with one (1) year FREE credit protection services, what you will need to do is pull all credit reports and dispute any charges that are not yours with the credit agencies. If you received a letter notifying you from the government you can use that letter to send to the credit agencies to help dispute your records.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 20 at 2015 9:59 AM

2015-11-20T09:59:00-05:00

SGT Shawn Volkmann This might be helpful for you.

https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/how-to-remove-your-information-from-pulicrecords-com

How to remove your information from pulicrecords.com. | RallyPoint

How to Remove your Information from the PublicRecords.com Public Records DatabasesPublic records are available from the official public records custodian or repository to anyone who requests them. In order for any database of public records to be useful, the databases must contain all of the information in the public records offices. If you have a compelling privacy or security issue, you may wish to contact the official custodians of those...

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 20 at 2015 10:04 AM

2015-11-20T10:04:08-05:00

been a victim three times, damn va guys leaving them in their cars. Once in 05, once in 09 and then again just last month.

Response by CAPT Tom Bersson made Nov 20 at 2015 10:17 AM

2015-11-20T10:17:00-05:00

I thought I was once, but turned out it was a mistake by the credit union.

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 20 at 2015 11:21 AM

2015-11-20T11:21:59-05:00

research into ID protection ... you will need to have one for sure. If you get a letter from OPM? then they provide you 3 years for free ... why 3 years? never understand ... at least 5 - 10 years, that is what the length of years required for background check anyway.

ID protection will relief you from the constant work to monitor your own credit history or criminal record. The one that OPM offering looks pretty comprehensive ... I already got a ID protection before OPM PII got hacked. so lets hope the ID protection really worth what they are advertising.

Response by MSG Floyd Williams made Nov 20 at 2015 1:34 PM

2015-11-20T13:34:19-05:00

My good friend was in the Navy at the time his identity was stolen, unfortunately the individual went on an robbery spree. My friend was in a lot of mess until he got cleared after the person was caught, my friend was so disgusted he changes his name and retired from the Navy a few years later. He almost went to the Brig for a crime he didn't do, now that is a living nightmare.

Response by PV2 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 20 at 2015 2:10 PM

2015-11-20T14:10:56-05:00

I'm a federal employee. My information was compromised as part of the OPM hack. I was also the victim before that from the VA hack. Unfortunately, it's becoming all too common these days. Many of us feds despite having credit monitoring services, have also opted to purchase additional identity theft insurance and monitor such as Life Lock.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 22 at 2015 10:16 AM

2015-11-22T10:16:37-05:00

Twice I have had credit card information hacked, and both times I lost money. Not a lot, but it's still pisses me off. It takes a lot of time, and a lot of phone calls to get things resolved, and even then you may (as I did) lose money.

One of the most annoying was Apple. In the initial run using my card, the thief bought a tune from Apple iTunes for $1.99. I called Apple, and they said they wouldn't give out any info about the purchase, and they wouldn't refund my money, but that if my bank would call, they would do the refund then. Of course, you can imagine what my bank said ... you want us to call just to save $1.99?

Lifelock was mentioned, but it's not that good a deal. What Lifelock does for you, you can do yourself, and save $100+ per year.

First, ask for a credit freeze from the credit reporting agencies. That just means you CANNOT be issued a credit card or a loan without having the freeze removed. But it also means that no one can set up an account using your name and information. The credit freeze has to be renewed regularly.

Second, once each year you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report. The credit reporting companies don't like to do this, so they make it hard, but be persistent and organized. I put it on my calendar. January is Experian, May is TransUnion, and September is the 3rd one (forgot the name.) Dispute anything that comes up.

Third, two factor authentication is a good idea on your credit cards. It's not perfect, but it's a damn sight better than wishful thinking. Chip and PIN is useless. Sure, it helps if you are paying for dinner at a restaurant, but 80% of credit transactions are done over the internet, where Chip and PIN is useless.

Response by SGT Gene Langley made Nov 23 at 2015 6:31 AM

2015-11-23T06:31:11-05:00

Nope and that's one reason I won't verify with as dd-214

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 23 at 2015 7:05 PM

2015-11-23T19:05:25-05:00

Contact the credit bureaus. If you have any evidence such as a police report, be prepared to send them a copy. You can use their websites to file a dispute for fraudulent accounts. They are very simple to use, the free annual credit report page won't cost you anything to check out your report. You can dispute straight from the credit report on the site. They can place an alert on your report for 90 days after fraud.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 28 at 2015 10:28 AM

2015-11-28T10:28:09-05:00

The OPM just sent another round of letters indicating that the "breach" they encountered was larger than they initially thought. Not only was background investigation data stolen, but also fingerprints and biometrics. Un friggin real! Yes...I held a clearance and my entire life history......et al.....is somewhere in China!

Response by Col Kyle Taylor made Nov 28 at 2015 5:35 PM

2015-11-28T17:35:53-05:00

My information has been compromised three times but never used to my knowledge. My wife's identity was stolen several years ago though. What a pain. Someone racked up over 10k in bills not recognized until the end of the month. It became a felony and we called the local police and reported it. We then kept a copy of the police report to submit to creditors etc. I would recommend looking into something like ID Shield (~$9.95 month or $19.95 for a family) or others http://www.reviews.com/credit-report/credit-monitoring/. It is well worth it.

The 5 Best Credit Monitoring Services of 2015 - Reviews.com

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Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 3 at 2015 7:28 PM

2015-12-03T19:28:36-05:00

Military or not, let me recommend an excellent article by a top security specialist:
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/12/opm-breach-credit-monitoring-vs-freeze/

OPM Breach: Credit Monitoring vs. Freeze — Krebs on Security

Many readers wrote in this past week to say they’d finally been officially notified that their fingerprints, background checks, Social Security numbers, and other sensitive information was jeopardized in the massive data breach discovered this year at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Almost as many complained that the OPM’s response — the offering of free credit monitoring services for up to three years — won’t work if readers have...