i found the old post I was looking for... Karen's

sending this down lol

Because of a federal law, there's a place you can get free credit reports from all three bureaus (Experian,Equifax and TransUnion) once a year. Yes, absolutely free, no charge. The only hitch is you can get them only once a year. The site is called Annualcreditreport (all one word). You don't have to join anything or pay, but you must know your Social Security number.By the way, if you lose your Social Security card or someone else uses your number, you can get a replacement Social Security card from the Social Security Administration for free. The only thing you cannot do is get a different new Social Security Number. Your number is assigned once for life.

I think that if your SS card is stolen or your CC you can check it more often due to identity theft. I'd check with your son's bank. They may have some experience with this.

There is information on the internet, from your credit cards etc what to do. Just some of the things I remember, is to make a police report, and if you do not have any kind of identy theft program, you might have to notify each credit card co. etc. Also I don't think any of the credit bureau's charge for reporting this. If you get the free report, it also tells you what to do. I hope this helps.

identity theft

What To Do If Your Personal Information Has Been Compromised

of course call the bank asap to cancel the debit card that is most important then cancel other cards and do the above.

thanks everyone. last night on the equifax site that
rajun posted in SamKaren's post, DS did the 90 day alert.
And it was sent to the other two credit companies.

He won't be able to get a replacement DL until Tuesday.
He has his old license that expired in 2005 in his
new wallet. He had the spare key to his truck in his
wallet also. Thank goodness the bad guys didn't find that
and steal his truck. He drove my car to work this morn.

The bad guys charged a redbox dvd. They tried to get a
$100 cash advance that was declined, but they DID charge
a little over $102 at a (as the chg card co. says..)
convenience ret... I'm assuming that is convenience retail, lol
So they are doing a fraud report.
He spoke with the police department. I'm guessing the
bad guys bought gas, what else could you buy for that
much money at a convenience store? Beer and gas maybe?
DS is soooo angry. Not too many people will match his
pic and description on his drivers license! 6'6" 280 lbs.
big BALD white guy! scary looking! lol

he was in Hayden Lake, Idaho (the home of many neo=nazis)
with his summer baseball team a few years ago. And
the owner of a little convenience store confronted him
and told him to get out, he didn't serve people like him.
DS was like, "Ummmm, baseball players?" lol It took the
coach and other team mates to talk the guy down and
let DS buy dome food for lunch.

Sounds like what happened to me. When my wallet was stolen, they tryed a few small purchases first--to make sure I hadn't cancelled the card, then a larger one (which was turned down), then a smaller one again, to check to see if the refusal was because I had a limit on transactions.

These things are done by organized theft rings--your husband's fits the pattern. On the upside, they tend to take the credit cards and cash and toss the rest of the stuff in the dumpster. You do have to be on your toes for the next several years, but luckily, I've had no further problems. And it was fortunate, at the time, that since my bank's computer was aware that I don't use my card for day-to-day purchases, the unusual activity kicked it right out as something unusual and the card was immediately frozen after the second suspicious purchase.

I know how he feels, and hope he can relax a bit, and get past this--it's horrible when someone does that.

Oh, keep track of all the losses this involves for you--it may be possible to use them as a deduction on your taxes next year--ask your accountant.

Azzalea, it was my son, he had forty dollars, and the cards. He thinks it's some younger guys. He uses redbox and when a video is checked out, it sends him an email. Well, he got
an email about 2 or 3 video games being checked out. He
said those particular videos are ones that teen boys tend
to use. what a pain. I hope they threw out the wallet,
and didn't keep his dl or extra truck key!