I locked my credit at all major credit agencies.... Not sure if it helps
It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
291–300 of 347 posts
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#292I think a tit for tat system could help. Anyone which views your info should also allow you to view theirs. Regardless if you work for some legitimized cause or not. This should be codified into law and should be punishable via a fine/debt which could not be canceled(gov loans, taxes).
Our legal system typically isn't built around vengeance.
And if Experian knew who was viewing our info inappropriately, they'd know it's not us -- and stop it. Instead their lame system assumes that anyone who has minimal information about us _is_ us.
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#293Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even the term "identity theft" needs to go. My identity wasn't stolen! I'm still the same person. The bank got tricked by a scammers and somehow the bank tries to make that my fault. Edit: Imagine this the other way around! Grandma gets scammed by someone pretending to be her bank. So the bank's identity got stolen. So now the real bank needs to fix it, provide more proof of identity to all customers and jump through…
Why do you think that calling something theft blames the victim of the theft?
I think the point that's trying to be made is, the traditionally recognized 'victim' is not the actual victim. The person whose "identity" was "stolen" is not a victim, the bank is. What was stolen was money--from the bank. But, we've designed our system, laws, contracts, etc such that the third party who was not involved at all has all responsibility of cleaning up the mess shoved onto them
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s no such thing as identity theft, it is impossible to steal an identity, the person still has their identity. It is impersonation. The victim is the entity that has fallen for the impersonation (likely a bank, etc), the perpetrator is the one who did the impersonation, and the impersonated person is just some uninvolved third party. I know it is pedantic but it is important to keep in mind because dumping the…
100% agree, except the impersonated person is impacted when their credit score eventually gets screwed and they can no longer get loans themselves. So, in that regard, they are also a victim.
The point is that the impersonated person shouldn't have these fraudulent items reported on their credit. That's the crux of how the responsibility of cleaning up this mess is absolutely on the wrong person
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is treated like a secret, so if you come to know someone else’s Social Security number (thanks to a thriving black market you can buy up plenty of them) that’s enough for lenders to start giving you money and then chasing down that other person to pay them back. Are you starting to see an issue yet?
Well that's another thing, I don't see why would you need to get rid of SSNs. You just need to add another layer that will confirm that you're the "owner" of your SSN. Seems pretty easy to do?
Agreed, except that nobody has done it. So SSN is your username and password anyways, despite everyone* knowing they’re all public knowledge at this point
*: except judges and juries, apparently
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#296Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the issue with SSN being an ID?
It was creating for the purpose of tracking an individual's account by the Social Security Administration. It later became a de facto identifier and, even worse, is many times abused as a form of authentication, but it was never designed to be either. As a result, we have processes that ask for or require a social security number that aren't even related to the purpose for which it was created: Health care, loans, de…
> some citizens of certain religious sects, like the Amish, do not have social security numbers.
Fun story: many years ago, I worked on some consumer tax prep software. Specifically because of the Amish, the SSN field was optional. Imagine that - an Amish person using tax prep software.
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve signed up for all 3 bureaus and enabled the credit freeze. My understanding, and experience years later, is that it is still frozen. I had to unfreeze a specific one last year for an auto loan. Is there something else I’m missing that’s only temporary?
The fraud alert adds a requirement that potential lenders call a phone number added to the credit file to authorize new loans/accounts, making it significantly less likely that fraud can take place.
TIL! Ty, I'll keep this in mind next time my credit card number is inevitably compromised.
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#298Stepping back, and looking at the situation as a whole: the real problem is a lack of privacy laws. Banks, businesses and employers should be prohibited from sharing your personal information with third parties. I live in Switzerland, where this is the case. Even the government doesn't get this information. If the government thinks you're cheating on your taxes, they have to use warrants and follow the same procedure…
“Everything works just fine” It definitely worked great for a lot of dictators, tax cheats and the sort… I think Switzerland is a great example of why complete privacy isn’t fair on ordinary taxpayers - it allows the ultra-rich to hide what they owe
You're behind the news. The USA pierced that privacy years ago.
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would say this problem would also be solved if we stopped pretending that a Social Security number was a serious substitute for secure national ID.
What's the issue with SSN being an ID?
I'm late to the party, but CGP Grey has an excellent video detailing the flaws of how SSNs are utilized.
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm an American living in Switzerland for over 10 years, and this was definitely my impression as well. But that isn't really the case anymore here - you can no longer have anonymous (i.e. only numbered) accounts, and Switzerland is no longer a preferred locations for dirty money. The ironic thing is that one of those new hot spots, in addition to the usual suspects like Cyprus, the Caribbean, etc., is the USA. See h…
As far as I know, Cyprus complies with FATCA/CRS as much as anyone else (unless the "anyone else" is, as you say, the US).
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