Comments about identity theft programs

I have HEARD that all they do is freeze your accounts at the three credit bureaus so no one (including you) can open a new credit account, which you can do yourself for free by calling the bureaus.  And it is real hassle if you want to unfreeze it temporarily so you can open a new account.  

Perhaps there is more to it than this but this is all I know.  I would be interested in hearing more from others who have used these services.

Chuck

I heard someone say something similar. That they don't do anything proactive, will not attempt to stop the source of the initial theft but just alert you and notify the accounts along with the freezing part. I try to be extra careful with sensitive info but then we live in a computer age where privacy doesn't exist anymore. The issue of using the SS # as an application entry in my places where they should not be asked about except banking and maybe medical billing but now it seems that even utility companies ask for such info.

Yes, it's frightening how much any one can find out about you.  I recently got a e-mail forwarded to me by a local guy, originated from a man in Germany who said his 90 year old mother would like to find out how my wife and her sister are doing.  Then he proceeded to list the family tree on that side of the family and he had every detail right on- even where my wife went to college and what year she graduated.  He knew all the right names and relationships going back a hundred years!  Since he has my address too, I wonder why he wouldn't contact us directly.  I have now had two strangers in the area call me to tell me this guy is looking for us and requesting I reply to him.

No, I'm not going to reply.  We don't know those people anyway, what's the point?  Or maybe it's a scam of some sort.

I suspect all those genealogy programs on the internet are fueling this kind of activity and revealing all this personal info.

Be careful out there!

Chuck

Did the guy in Germany give his mother's name? Maybe your wife and sister remember the old lady but you are right,  It's frightening when stuff like that happens.

No, he just referred to her as "his mother".  Seems like a red flag to me.  He said she was the only one left in the family who spoke English, taught to her by my wife's great grandfather.  My wife and her sister would not remember her, as they never knew her.  Yes, this is spooky.  We're staying away from this!  Maybe it is all legitimate, could be just some people trying to play the genealogy game, but who knows?