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Termyn8or -> RE: "Taxpayers, Beware: Identity Theft Threat at the IRS" (4/16/2007 1:53:57 PM)
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HA, nobody bit eh ? People think it's a friggin joke, wait until it happens to them.
Friend of mine had his identity stolen, BY HIS OWN FATHER. Same name, just used "the other" SSN to get a credit card. I swear that family was more sociopathic than mine ! Here's the cool thing, he wrecked his own credit, now he can claim a bunch of that was not him. His Father is dead, so go get it from him.
Tell you this much, I have my reasons for a long time. I have cetain rules for finances.
1. I do not allow any automatic transfer in checking. I pay for internet with a credit card and the phone bill.
2. I have no holographic logo on my ATM card, the PIN is required to get money, no matter what.
3. I will not write a personal check to a government agency, a lawyer, or hospital.
4. Filing taxes is done the old fashioned way, back then anyway. As far as they're concerned I don't have the money for one of those newfangled tely-phones or com-puters.
5. If I want to check my credit, I want it mailed to me in a sealed envelope.
6. I will not tell anyone except friends and family exactly where I work.
I mean all of that. I mean stopped by the cops back in 04, "Where do you work ?", I said "I don't give that out". I said it as politely as possible, but that is my position.
I also found out that if you get your W2s in a timely fashion and file right away you get your refund fast enough that you don't need a loan.
Now of course the IRS gets your bank account number when you cash the check, but at least you bank account and routing numbers are not sitting out in plain sight on someone's desk.
When anything is purported to be simple, easy and/or free it is an anethma to me. When I hear that something is a pain in the ass, costs and is very complicated, I get to thinking, then why are people doing it ? Are they all wrong ?
A tertiary example, get your cable, internet, and phone all on one bill. OK, but it also comes through one cable. If something happens to that, you can't even call to tell them it's not working. Didn't I hear something in my younger days about putting all of one's eggs in the same basket ?
In other words, just an SSN makes for a hard time for an identity thief, but having the name, address, SSN, routing numbers and all of that, along with where they work and how much they make, it is just too easy.
Also, there are many other avenues than the IRS. With call takers in India, which has different privacy laws than us, many things can happen. Personal, even medical information gets sold. In fact if you have medical insurance at all your records are not private anymore.
From the book 'The Occult' : Knowledge is power, knowledge shared is power lost.
Seems to apply don't ya think ?
T
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