Had my social and birthday stolen just before Xmas 2010 - not any cc info. Probably from a doctor's office when I was being treated for breast cancer. Thieves used the info to open an account with AT&T and charge 4 iPhones to it (and they were way cheaper than the new ones coming out now). Only way I found out was when mail from AT&T arrived 2 days before Xmas. I thought it was junk mail and was about to chuck it when I noticed an orange band across one side saying New Account Info (like hey, should you be advertising that on the outside of your mailing?). The fraud was committed the day that AT&T closed their billing cycle, so I got the notice about 2 weeks after it happened rather than almost 2 months after. It was actually misaddressed, but the post office delivered it because they knew my correct address. Lucky me.

In the process of dealing with it (disputed charge, fraud alerts, police report), I was told that the info could be held for years and eventually resurface. When you know that your social security number is out there, it is a very unsettling feeling. Maybe it was over-reacting , but I ended up paying for credit monitoring with - guess who - Equifax! Had just been considering dropping it since it has been almost 7 years, and nothing negative has happened. Now I will probably just put on the freezes and drop it. Everyone will have to decide what works for them, but for myself, the inconvenience of the freezes is probably worth it.