Stay Safe
Help I think my identity may have been stolen!
I understand your worry. My identity was stolen after accessing just one of these fake job sites.
If you have provided ANY personal details, particularly your SSN, you are at a VERY high risk of identity theft. What does that mean though?
If your identity is stolen, criminals will be able to take out credit cards, loans and finance in your name. It can be incredibly difficult even with very sympathetic help from the authorities to overcome this. Sadly this is also something you are likely to need to live with for quite some time, as the effects of this intrusion onto your credit report may be felt a long time after the scammer has been locked out.
So what do I recommend?
I personally use Lifelock, which alerts me EVERY time that my credit report is accessed, in the case of new credit cards being added and so forth. They also provide a $1 million guarantee that their service will protect you. My father uses Identity Guard which is a similar service. These do have monthly costs, but if you have exposed your personal details, these services can save you from the pain and suffering that I had to endure fixing my credit from the damage the scammers did.
IMPORTANT
I am not recommending that you use the cheap and nasty varieties of ‘free credit reports’ – these are largely scams in themselves – and thankfully the FTC will be squashing these soon.
I recommend either of these services:
PS: I recall seeing the Lifelock CEO on ‘The Apprentice’ – if Big Don approves – that’s good enough for me!!
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