Identity theft

So, two weeks ago, someone decided to borrow my identity and go on a shopping spree... for plywood.

I had put a change of address in on a bank account I rarely use, as it's in Pittsburgh, and I'm in DC. There's no maintenance charge on the account, so I've never closed it. The change of address never went through, but I have online billing, so I never noticed the problem. Forward to early June, when my debit card was about to expire, and they sent me a new one. To my old address.

Whomever received that debit card called pretty much immediately, claiming they were me and that they forgot their PIN. When that was mailed to them, they went on a quick shopping trip to the local hardware store. Again, and again, and again.

The quick way to respond to this:

1. Call the bank, and cancel the account. Be calm and friendly, they're there to help.
2. Call the State Police. They'll be glad to help. Local police departments don't handle this often enough to be all that pro-active at it, as I learned to my dismay.
3. Check your credit report, to confirm it's not identity theft. If you think it might be, Equifax has a feature that can "lock" all three of your credit reporting agency accounts to all new inquiries, effectively stopping you (or your doppelganger) from opening new accounts until you manually unlock the credit reports.

I've temporarily signed up for Equifax's 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring until this has blown over, as well. Being able to check the credit report weekly (or daily!) at no additional charge has given me some peace of mind on this one.