FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Identity & accounts compromised. Now what?
Old Oct 30, 2014, 5:22 pm
  #5  
chgoeditor
Moderator: Information Desk, Women Travelers, FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 15,652
This happened to me a few years ago, so you have my sympathies.

A police report is a must. I'm surprised that none of the affected companies have asked you for one yet.

I'd highly recommend splurging on a credit monitoring service. I use Experian's, which automatically renews my fraud alerts with each of the other credit reporting agencies.

Also, lock down your credit reports so that any new credit inquiries trigger a call to your home phone for you to verify that the inquiry is legit. (You can also give creditors a one-time password that expires within a few days but which allows them to run your credit report.)

Two-step authentication for every account where it's available is essential.

Have you scanned your computers and phones for viruses? The fact that your Amazon account passwords are reset regularly makes me suspicious. Also, check the answers to your security questions. The thief might have changed them, allowing them to gain access to your account each time you're locked out.

I highly recommend a password manager such as Roboform. I have ~2K saved passwords and no two passwords are alike. All I need to remember is my single master password and I have access to my long, complex passwords for every possible account.

Where is your husband based for the next year? How is he accessing the internet? I know several friends who have been hacked after using their phones in China...I can't help but wonder if there's a connection between his overseas assignment and your issues.

Document every conversation you have with creditors. You'll be surprised how many don't do a great job of annotating accounts and following up on promised actions.
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