Over the last few months, almost every major Post Office in the Morongo Basin has experienced a break-in or burglary, and the brazen theft of things like blue post office boxes or residential mail is always a problem in rural areas. There are many ways to mitigate the amount of personal info that is sent to your mailbox – going paperless with your bank statements or bills is a good start. But that isn’t helpful for folks who have already had their mail stolen.
On top of mail theft – credit card skimmers have been found at several local businesses – these number stealing devices are secretly installed by thieves who then return to grab the device and extract the credit card numbers they have illegally collected.
Both of these types of theft can lead to lost mail or money in the short term, but if the thieves get a hold of personal identifying information like your social security number it can lead to even larger problems if they do something more nefarious like opening a line of credit in your name.
So what can you do? A credit freeze is a free service from the three credit reporting bureaus Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. It restricts access to your credit report, which means you — or others — won’t be able to open a new credit account while the freeze is in place. The credit freeze can be temporarily lifted if you need to apply for new credit, and while the freeze is in place, you will still be able to do things like apply for a job, rent an apartment, or buy insurance without lifting or removing it.
After I had a wallet stolen, I put a freeze on my credit with the three credit bureaus above. It was relatively easy. However – even though these official bureaus are recommended by the FTC and – by law – must provide these services for free to consumers, they will still try to get you to purchase additional services like any business will. You can safely deny any additional offers for their services that cost money, and you should always use links directly from Government websites like the FTC to ensure you are being directed to the right agencies.
Links:
What to Know About Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts (FTC.gov)
Previously Repoted:
