ID protection help

[Chibibar]

My wife's wallet was stolen yesterday. She kept everything in there. There is enough information for ID theft.

What service you recommend as an extra layer of protection?

note: all cards are canceled. We are in the process of getting new IDs and cards.

 

[Jiarn]

Sadly there's little you can do. I would call the three credit companies to watch her social for the time being (Equifax, etc etc)

There was a service called "ID LOCK" or something to that extent, though I'm not sure they can help after the fact.

I would also let your financial insitutuion know, even though you already canceled the account.

 

[Docseverin]

Life lock, I don't know if it is as good as it says, but they insure their service. Other than that, yeah just call the credit companies and put a watch on your credit, so that they have to contact you before new accounts can be created and used.

 

[Piotyr]

Lifelock was recently forced to pay the FTC 12 million regarding false claims about what their services could do. Also, their big pitch where Todd Davis, CEO of Lifelock lists his SSN right on their advertisements in assurance of the quality of their service? Well, somebody stole his identity and $500 from him.

As far as real identity theft measures, likely your banks and credit card companies have very good fraud protection in place anyway, since it's their fault if charges get on them (you aren't responsible for charges that you don't make). Cancelling cards and getting new IDs is about the best you can do in fraud protection.

 

[Chibibar]

Thanks. I decides to look around and found out that Equifax allows you to do a free 90 "alert" protection on your SS
It is filed online and they will put an alert on your account for 90 days. It can extend to 7 years ONLY if your identity is stolen and have a police report.

Not a bad deal for free.