You go out to get your mail, and upon checking it, you see an envelope from a credit card company that says "statement enclosed" on it. The weird thing is that this statement is from a credit card company you don't have an account with. You open it, only to find you now owe nearly $20,000 (which, according to the statement, was your supposed credit limit. You are even more shocked to find that this credit card has been used to purchased everything from books on Amazon to sex toys at some 'adult novelty' websites. You can't believe it, and with your heart racing and feelings of anger and embarrassment welling up inside you, you rush to your phone to call the credit card company to let them know. You are told you can contest the charges, but even if they are able to 'write it off', it still has marred your credit in ways you probably couldn't conceive of. What happened?

 

 

You became a statistic, one of the people that every 3 seconds has their identity stolen. Identity theft is on the rise, and sadly, there isn't a lot that can be done after it happens to you. How do I know? I had mine stolen a few years ago. I received 4 different credit card statements that showed I had credit cards that were maxed out, and in that instant, I went from being 'financially comfortable' to being nearly $100,000 in debt. Then, I got a statement from a cell phone company (which I didn't have a cell phone at the time), and it showed I owed nearly $9,000 for 1 month's use! Soon after came a knock at the front door from a sheriff wanting to know what exactly had I purchased overseas and tried to have sent to Russia; apparently, the officer informed me, it wasn't only illegal here in the United States, but illegal in Russia, and I was an idiot to have used my credit card to pay for the shipping charges. I spent years trying to get my life financially back together, and it got to the point where I had to declare bankruptcy. I finally got my life back (literally)... and I can honestly say it was no easy feat. If you should ever have to go through the hell that is identity theft, you will understand; in the meantime, I'll give you some quick tips to help cut down on your chances of having your identity stolen.

 

 

First, sign up for the "Do Not Call" list. It's simple, fast, and free. Check your credit report yearly (it is free to check each of the 3 agencies once per year), and, although a bit more of a hassle to deal with, you can let the agencies know that you want to have an alert on your information which will prevent your info from being easily used to sign up for credit cards and other lines of credit. Finally, a cross-shredder can be the best $60 you'll spend for peace of mind. Hopefully, you'll never have to go through what I did... just try to keep your information secured as best as possible.

 

This rant written by Joe Rosendorf Jr.  This is merely an opinion based on personal experiences, and is intended to inform based on those experiences.