I am smoking angry

[OLDMDDEM]

My identification was stolen earlier this month. Someone opened a bank account in my name and withdrew $300.00. Late last week a statement come to us in the mail showing that "my" account at BB&T (Truist) Bank has a $300.00 deficit.

I have an appointment at BB&T Bank this morning to sign a statement that my identification was stolen, which gets me off the hook but it appears way too easy to be able to open an account in someone else's name and pull this kind of crap. Whoever did this committed a felony and needs to be prosecuted. However, I imagine because of the size of the transaction, nothing will happen.

My suggestion is to shred anything that has your name, address and social security number on it. We never give out our social security number, so it makes me wonder how this could happen. The bank must have a way to tie the person to a social security number before allowing the account to be opened. If it is done online, I would think the bank's computers would "search" the databases to see if the numbers match elsewhere. Who knows. Hopefully this is over with at 11:00 this morning.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Sorry this happened. Freeze all three of your credit bureau accounts. And you are right...

I NEVER give my SS#. No one needs it except SS and the IRS.

[OLDMDDEM]

2. Thank you

We never give out our identification. We're retired, in our mid to late 70s, and even report all the spam calls we get.

[CTyankee]

14. Once I angrily demanded "DO YOU THINK I'M CRAZY?" at a robocaller asking for my SS#.

That was years ago. I don't answer spam calls after trying to keep them weeded out...

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. If you have a mortgage highly likely you gave it to the mortgage company

I'd guess your bank has it somewhere too assuming you have a bank account.

If you have health insurance, they probably know your social as well.

Your past employers will also have it (or at least their payroll company does).

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. Kinda blown away that a bank would allow someone to overdraw

their account by that much money, esp. a brand-new customer.

Possible your SSN is on the dark web somewhere from some hack in the past. Like if your mortgage company or credit card company or some place like that was hacked. Or maybe this particular bank offers accounts w/o one needing to be provided?

How did your ID get stolen, btw? I've definitely lost mine once or twice when I was younger but never had it stolen outright.

Good luck getting it sorted in any case

[FalloutShelter]

5. So sorry.

It is a harrowing experience. I locked down my credit reports years ago after the Experian hack and never unlocked them .
We are exceedingly careful with our information, yet... when my husband went to apply for unemployment recently, he was repeatedly bounced out of the website because some information did not match his account. Turns out, after hours on the phone with several different agents and a pile of new paperwork, someone had opened a fraudulent account in his name and had been collecting illegally. The agent says it happens hundreds of thousands of times a year. What a mess.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. Not all banks require SSNs to open accounts.

[cyclonefence]

7. What an awful thing to happen to you

For a long time "never give anyone your social security number" were words to live by, but slowly over the past 20 years, it seems to me that more and more places require it. At first I objected but then gave in. The first place I remember it was the doctor's office--I suppose it was when they were beginning to digitize records and were using that number as a convenient (for them) identifier. Nowadays I don't even try to keep it secret--I remember being told not even to carry my SS card in my wallet but to keep it in a secure place at home or in the safe deposit box. No more, I guess.

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

8. I shred any offers I get from banks for loans, CC, all labels off with my name on them from packages

Paranoid? I guess

I really hesitate to give out my phone number too

[Johnny2X2X]

9. Your social security number is easy to get

There's a ton of ways people steal IDs, but getting their social security number is very easy.

There are data breaches at banks and online bill paying. There are dozens of other ways.

And some of it is very organized. There are Facebook memes that are nothing more than data gathering tools so hackers can guess peoples' passwords and security questions. I see them daily. "What was your 2nd grade teacher's name?" "Favorite color?" "First pet's name?" "What year..." "Date yourself by naming the first concert you went to?" People give out so much information willingly.

[Liberal In Texas]

10. Some medical providers ask for the SSN. I NEVER give it to them. They don't need it

to process claims. Even the Medicare number now is not tied to the SSN.

Sometimes I get, "It's required."

I ask them who is requiring it and it's usually just because it's some kind of office policy. I tell them that I'll bet their data security could probably be hacked by a teenager and I don't need to have unneeded information unnecessarily exposed. When pushed they'll just let it go and see you anyway.

[uponit7771]

11. You can get a pseudo SSN to use

[Wounded Bear]

12. I open my snail mail spam...

and shred any sheets with personal info on them and especially the sheets with the "special offer codes" on them.

[Baked Potato]

13. After the Equifax breach someone opened credit in my name,

same state, different city. I filed the whole fraud report online and it took almost 2 months to straighten out my credit reports. I had to prove I didn’t live at the address the fake account was opened with. I did put fraud alerts on all bureaus. It was $1000 plus it was in collection and I didn’t even know about it until I was applying for a home equity loan. Good luck.

[OLDMDDEM]

15. Update to smoking angry

The bank had paperwork for me to sign. I am off the hook. The banker stated that this has happened seven times in the past two months at his branch alone. He already had my mobile phone number from the fraudulent account. The social security number was made up and began with a 1. Mine doesn't. I told him I knew that T Mobile, my phone carrier, had been hacked last month.

Maybe that is where the information came from.

I thank all of you for your help on this.