Stolen SS card question

cindy100

Hi! Wanted to ask if anyone might know what I need to do; I was robbed just a bit ago after I walked into a restaurant to get dinner. The losers took my wallet with all my CC cards and Social Security card. I’m in the process of canceling the cards but not sure what, if anything, I can do about the SS card. Anyone ever lost or had one stolen?

Thanks,

Cindy

Polkersince85

I presume the police were notified. The SSN is an identifying number. Place a fraud alert with all 3 credit report companies. This gets nasty because even you may be limited . There is a lot of info and links on the clarkhoward.com site. Hopefully they only take the money and dump the purse, but I doubt it. Keep and make copies of the police report for future use and defense against possible creditors coming after you if your number is used for purchases. Not a pretty picture. Sorry

http://clarkhoward.com/shownotes/category/6/162/

http://clarkhoward.com/shownotes/category/6/162/331/374/

cambir

I think you can get a new card through your local Social Security Office

Check out: http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/ssa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=251

F1nut

They robbed you in the restaurant...damn! Like Polker said, contact everyone including the SSA. Sorry that happened to you.

dudeinaroom

That really sucks. I hope all ends up well for you.

Shizelbs

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I would imagine the SSA would know exactly what needs to be done.

dkg999

Contact all three credit bureaus identity theft specialists. You may have to be a little bit aggressive with the customer service rep, but we all have these in our customer centers (yes I work for one of the credit bureaus). They can help you flag your account. I believe in the case of identity theft that the SSA will issue you a new SSN, not sure what they will do for a stolen SS card. I would also suggest subscribing to a credit monitoring service such as Credit Expert for a year. Well worth the $80 for an annual subscribtion in a case like this. Keep all the documentation and police reports. Your credit card companies also have procedures in place to help prevent account hijacking, make sure you inform them of what happened. Your SSN is a pretty hot property for the scumbag, I mean theives to resell. If you have online access to your accounts start watching them daily. Good luck.

cambir

We had an issue a while back (my wife was deceased for a short time until we showed proof of life) and we ended up with a complimentary monitor service for a year. Is it the credit bureaus that would give this?

dkg999

We jokingly call that the "recently resurrected consumers" file Each of the bureaus has the ability to offer a complimentry subscribtion to a credit monitoring service based on guidelines their CSR's have. In this case no identity theft has happened ......... yet! A smart crook can get a long ways with a drivers license, ssn card, and credit cards. My guess is one of the theives looked very similar to cindy100 and can use the photo identification.

cambir

There is actually a name for it?

We were buying a house some time ago and our loan officer said "we have a problem." He proceeded to tell us that my wife was deceased (as she sat next to me). That makes it difficult for her to participate in a home purchase. Oh the horror we went through to get that corrected.

dkg999

Once your dead it can be a challenge to get you back to the world of the living :rolleyes: It really depends on what happened to make a consumer appear dead. Sometimes it's consumers themselves getting some bad advice from websites and TV shows that initiate the problem. It can be hell to fix in some circumstances!

cambir

this was reported to the bureaus by a credit card company (Chase)...an account she was not even on at the time...we think it may have been due to my father's death and was incorrectly reported as my spouse being deceased instead. it was hell.:eek:

dkg999

If your wife happened to have the same first initial and last name as your deceased father, it can be a disaster waiting to happen!

cindy100

Hi to all! Thanks for the help; I wil make sure I contact everyone Monday morning. I have cancelled all the CC's but one. I just received it two days ago and have no idea who to call. It was a Tweeter card so I'll call them in the morning.

As for them having my driver's license, when the first guy came to me with the gun, he told me to sit on the floor which of course I did. He walked back around the counter and when he did, I took my license out and slid it under the rug. I didn't want them having my address. I don't know what made me do it; this all happened within 3 to 4 minutes although it seemed like forever. I don't wish this on anyone; trust me, it was not a good feeling.

Anyway... thanks for the help and suggestions. If you think of anything else, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Cindy

danger boy

first off.. hope you're ok Cindy.. man that would totally freak me out to be robbed like that. I'd be a basket case for a while.

cheddar

Cindy,

You really kept your cool under a horrible situation. Having the piece of mind to take out your driver's license and all. Hope you're ok. In California, we have something called a credit freeze. I think Texas has it too. dkg999 probably would have told you about it if your state participated, but I thought I'd throw it out there since I don't know for sure about your state.

It protects against identity theft by freezing any new credit authorization on your social security number so even you would have to give a special code when applying for a new mortgage and such. It is a lot more effective than just keeping tabs on your credit for a year. But very few states have it. Seems like more states need it...

SCompRacer

cindy100 wrote:

It was a Tweeter card.......

Off the back of a Tweeter card....866-396-8254

I am sorry to hear about you getting robbed.

bobman1235

God that sucks

Kinda late now, but they do recommend that you don't carry your SS card on you for this reason. So if anyone out there reading this has theirs in their wallet, take it out, put it in a safe or something in your house.

Hope everything works out OK for you Cindy, glad you made it out without a scratch.

I-SIG

Damn. I guess this was like some kind of home invasion thing? Anyway...to quote Neo: "Guns. Lots of guns."

But also know how to use them. (duh) So many people miss that little point.

I have all 4 (SSA, Equifax, TU, and the 3rd one) of the theft hotline numbers programed into my cell phone.

I think my parents still have my SS card. I ended up memorizing my numbner applying for college and haven't given it a second thought and no one has asked for it.

Wes

Midnite Mick

I mis-interpreted your original post. I thought maybe you just went to the washroom and somebody lifted your belongings or something. I have never been a part of an armed robbery before. I hope it never happens because knowing me my anger would get the best of me and I would do something stupid. I am glad you didn't and that you are okay.

Good luck,
Mike

cfrizz

First off Cindy, I am very happy that you are unharmed! Secondly, YOU ROCK!! To keep the presence of mind to remove your drivers license was outstanding!!!

Hopefully you cancelled everything in time & they catch the thieves!

disneyjoe7

Cindy,

You have a good head on your shoulder, love the fact you keep your cool. The whole situation sucks, hope it turns out ok.

dkg999

Cindy - didn't realize it was an armed robbery! Glad you are OK. The reason I mentioned the identity theft specialists is they can help you with the credit freeze, etc. They know all the rules, federal, state, and industry.

cindy100

Hi again! Long day here and was finally able to get online and see the posts from everyone. Thanks again for the advice. I normally do not carry my SS card; I was in the process of putting it away at home when this happened. There is only one other time in my life when I was as scared as I was last night and I always wondered what I would do if I were in that type of situation. As soon as they were gone and once I got on the phone with the 911 operator, I was definitely not calm.

I left most of the lights on in the house and finally fell asleep about 5:30 this morning for a few hours. This is the first time I have ever been afraid of being alone in my own home. I’ve tried to remember what all I had in the wallet and other than my license, I really don’t think anything else had my address on it; it just makes me uncomfortable knowing they have my things. I’ve also had time to think that maybe it wasn’t too smart taking the license out knowing he could have seen me.

As for the other two, I got the impression, as did the police, that they did not want them to be called which made me mad at the time. Once they arrived, they had a young kid they picked up on the corner and asked if we would identify him. I never looked at the second guy; as for the one who had the gun on me, as soon as I realized what was happening, I was afraid to look at him thinking he wouldn’t shoot/hurt us if we couldn’t identify him. As much as I wanted my wallet back and these two losers caught, I had to be honest and say I didn’t recognize him. Odds are they won’t be caught and will do it again.

Again, thanks for all the kind words and the help, it means a lot.

Sincerely,

Cindy

disneyjoe7

I still think you keep your cool, but it will take time to get over such of event.