WEBVTT - The Worst-Case Scenario After the Equifax Hack 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:04.040 About ten years ago, Louise Chew was a reporter at 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.720 the Associated Press. At work, she and her colleagues would 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:10.959 skim the district attorney's press releases every day to see 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.800 which court cases were coming up. It was just another 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.160 Saturday and Louise was enjoying her day off. That's when 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.120 she got an email from a coworker. And my colleague 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.200 at the time was doing the daily court checks and 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.400 he checked the press release for this district attorney's office 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:30.280 and saw a case with my name on it, and 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.440 he forwarded to me as a friendly joke, just kind 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.080 of going like, ha ha, what are you doing? After hours? 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:44.320 The charges against Louise's namesake included armed robbery, prostitution, and 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:48.479 drug possession. In any other situation, Louise would have just 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.600 laughed it off. But five months before, her wallet was 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.520 stolen in a San Francisco mall. The thief had gone 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.440 an open bank accounts and her name and was overdrawing them. 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:01.360 She was starting to receive collection notices. When I saw 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:03.800 the email in my inbox, I was like, Oh, my gosh, 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.480 is this related to that. I opened the email and 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:12.040 I checked the charges and it was my exact birthday, 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:16.760 So I knew immediately that something was wrong. Using some 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.360 of her reporter contacts, she got in touch with the 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.280 attorney in charge of the case. He told her it 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.759 was normal protocol to prosecute the defendant under the name 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:28.880 they were using when they got arrested. I continued to 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:32.840 get press releases with my name on it. Um. So 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:36.120 about two months went by with you know, first it 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.480 was the charges, then it was a court date, and 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.200 it was a plea, and I, you know, slowly getting updates. 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:46.480 When it got all the way to a plea and 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.760 a sentencing, I started getting really worried. UM. So I 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.440 decided to go down to the court myself and attend 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:56.640 the sentencing sentencing to make sure that it was not 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.960 going to be Louise Cho who was sentenced to these charges. 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.920 Is did the woman show up? She was. She was 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.760 in custody the entire time. Did you get to meet her? 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:09.960 I did not meet her, but I definitely I witnessed 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:14.560 my own sentencing, so to speak. I sat in the 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:16.840 peanut gallery while she stood up in front of the 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.480 court as Louise chew and you know, pleaded no contest 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:24.760 to the charges, watching her imposter gets sentenced to two 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.040 years in prison. Louise realized she really needed a hustle, 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.519 and she narrowly avoided becoming a convicted felon that day 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.919 by filling out some crucial paperwork something called a judicial 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.280 declaration of innocence before she left the courthouse. But it 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:42.480 took Louise seven years to fully reclaim her identity. She 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:46.160 continued to fight collection agency after collection agency as they 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.560 hounded her and even her relatives for the unpaid bills 0:02:50.040 --> 0:03:02.880 from all kinds of things that she never bought. I 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:06.639 am brad Stone and I'm Lazette Chapman, and this week Undercrypted, 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.960 we're talking about identity theft as we begin to understand 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.240 the potential fallout from a devastating cyber attack on the 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:18.480 credit bureau Equifax. The hackers still highly sensitive information on 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:22.960 one three million Americans. In the past, identity theft victims 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.720 had their credit cards, I d s, and Social Security 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.480 cards taken from them. Physically, Luise had her purse snatched 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:34.480 in a shopping mall. The Equifax hack stole all that information, 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:38.160 but on an epic scale. We probably won't understand the 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:41.640 full impact of the consequences for years to come. We'll 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:43.720 talk to experts about what you can do to protect 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.760 your identity, not just because of the breach at Equifax, 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.080 but the tons of other data heights that have left 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:52.600 so many Americans vulnerable over the years. Stay with us, 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:00.240 all right, Breaking news this morning one of the bigest 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.520 security breaches in history, and there's a very good chance 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:08.000 your personal information has been breached. Credit In September seven, 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:12.680 Equifax announced that it was hacked. Stens this morning about 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.120 a massive breach at the credit monitoring company Equifax, and 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.279 some experts are saying it could be the largest single 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.200 breach in US history. Equifax, of course, is one of 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.760 the three big consumer credit reporting agencies in the US. 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.760 That means Equifax is basically a vault full of most 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:31.880 American consumers most sensitive financial information. How big a deal 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.159 is this? I mean a hundred million people. That's pretty 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:41.800 much everybody in America, isn't it? Every day we're learning 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.120 more about what exactly happened, But we still don't know 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:49.120 two really important things. Who was behind the attack and 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:51.840 where that stolen data is now? Right, but the federal 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.200 authorities are working with the FBI and have opened a 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:59.919 criminal investigation. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.200 and at least thirty four state attorney generals have also 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:07.000 opened inquiries. Congress is due to question the CEO, Richard 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.800 Smith on October three. I doubt he's looking forward to 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:11.919 that day. Yeah, but you know, this is hardly the 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.560 first data breach. That's true. Hacks have increased in severity 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.080 and scope in recent years. Some of the names that 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:22.479 spring to mind home Depot, Target, Yahoo, Anthem all getting 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.760 targeted and compromised. Now, these other hacks, they stole email addresses, 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:31.080 credit card numbers, and phone numbers. But you know, Brad, 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:33.559 like we were talking about earlier, this this Equifax breach, 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.479 it was worth right because it touched so many people. 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:39.760 Equifax keeps records on everything from your credit card spending 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:42.760 to your mortgage free payments, and the company is your address, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:47.440 your birthday, driver's license number, and crucially your Social Security number, 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.240 all of which was compromised in this breach or potentially 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.720 breaches plural. The unfortunate reality is that the system we 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.400 have has really elevated the importance of the Social Security number. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:04.240 Is an identify fire to to the peak. That's Eva Velasquez. 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:08.040 She's the president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:12.440 a nonprofit that helps victims of identity theft. It is 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:17.880 the holy Grail of identifiers and it should not carry 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.479 as much weight as it does, but it does. So 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.000 it is what you can use to open lines of 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.039 credit and really establish an identity in a lot of areas. 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:32.640 So again, medical can provide it to law enforcement, and 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:36.040 if there's a criminal issue that's occurred, um you can 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.480 use it to apply for government benefits and file taxes. 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.200 So it's very very open. What can be done with 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.920 the social Security number. Louise choose story that you heard 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.480 about earlier is a good example of this, because our 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.040 social Security card was in the wallet that was stolen 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.560 from her. Access to that number was what allowed the 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:58.000 thieves to do so much damage. Eva says the Equifax 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:02.120 breach makes people even more unerable than a typical pickpocketing 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:09.720 because most people don't carry their Social Security card with them. 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.040 Identity theft isn't something we think about a lot, but 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.240 especially now that Equifax has been hacked, it's something we 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:20.240 all need to confront. Identity fraud of facts fifteen point 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:24.200 four million US consumers last year, which was a record 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:28.720 high and at increase just from two thousand and eleven. 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.280 That's according to a study from Javelin Strategy and Research. 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:36.560 So the Equifax breach is massive in comparison. It's huge. Now, 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.840 we're not saying that every person who's information was stolen 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.280 will suffer identity theft, but disturbingly, and this is the 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:46.640 part that freaked me out when we were reporting this out, 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:50.080 is that the fallout doesn't appear right away. Usually it 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.080 comes out in dribs and drabs over many months and years. 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:56.440 Right in some cases, it can take decades to finally 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.160 end a case of identity theft, giving the thief time 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:01.920 to commit o our idea of crimes. And that's part 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:07.240 of the torture. I would say about five years, after 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.760 about five years had passed, UM, the account started falling 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:14.040 away and my credit score came back at the lowest. 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.280 My FICO score was down into like the five range. 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:21.600 So luckily I didn't have to take out any loans 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:24.960 or I didn't need any of those pieces um at 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:29.000 the time, it would have been impossible. That was Louise 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:31.960 who we met earlier, but she's not the only one. 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.360 Here's Molly Leisure. Her wallet was stolen out of her 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.680 purse back in two thousand. Every time I think I 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:40.959 had had it solved, something else would pop up, or 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:42.840 I'd get a letter, or I'd get a you know, 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.880 a towing notice, or I'd get a another citation in 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.880 the mail. And I took a really long time, I 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.640 mean two years from the date of the of the 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.920 original theft, you know, for it to stop. And so 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:57.439 there was just that for a long time. I lived 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:01.360 with that feeling like waiting for the other shoe to drop. Um, 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.640 you know, when is this going to end? In Molly's case, 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:07.800 the thief was able to get a California driver's license 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.360 with all of Molly's information. When Molly visited the d 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.120 m V to resolve the matter, it was like a 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.960 punch to the gut there, you know, I'm I was 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:20.319 standing there at the d m B counter saying no, 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:22.719 I'm no, I'm Molly, and they said, well, this is 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.560 this is Molly, pointing to the picture of this woman. 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:29.520 And so for me to have to jump through all 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:33.359 these hoops to prove who I was was very disconcerting. 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:37.839 The thief used Molly's I D to open bank accounts 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.440 past thousands of dollars in bad checks, get a car 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:45.720 loan and rack up parking tickets, bridge toll evasions, and 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.480 generally just rereak havoc on Molly's life. Her credit score 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:54.440 and her peace of mind were ruined. I had definitely 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:57.880 moments of panic where what if I can't prove that 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:00.360 this isn't me? And you know what, A I can't 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.080 get this sort of out? What if this is going 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:11.319 to follow me forever? Ronnie Bogel's fight was much longer 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:15.440 and messier. When Ronnie was eighteen, his older brother, Gary 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:19.480 Wayne Bogel, stole the paper copies of his birth certificate 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:24.080 and Social Security card out of their grandmother's bible. Today, 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.640 Ronnie is forty six, so he's been dealing with the 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.440 fallout for decades. He couldn't get an apartment or a 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.600 cell phone, or buy a car in his own name. 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.200 It took a huge toll in his life and his health. 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:39.960 Just I mean, it's complete emotional collapse, um emotionally in 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.840 physical collapse at one point, I think. But when I 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:45.880 was twenty one, was around twenty one, I was so 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:50.640 emotionally drained, uh that I was hospitalized for such things 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:54.200 like dehydration from buying so much and being so depressed. 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:58.120 That sounds terrible, but it's not uncommon at all. People 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.560 talk a lot about the financial impact fraudsters have stolen 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.480 an estimated hundred and twelve billion dollars in the last 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:08.120 six years alone, but the emotional toll is equally or 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:13.120 possibly even more damaging. According to a survey conducted by 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:17.640 the Identity Theft Resource Center, at the end of seventeen 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:22.439 percent of the three people surveyed, seventeen percent reported it 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.120 ending a relationship with their significant other, and eight percent 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:31.000 of those people reported feeling suicidal. I liken the experience 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:35.040 to having a condition sort of like chronic pain. This 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:39.120 is Louise again. It was the the onslaught of these 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:45.040 collections notices and UM, the shame of not being able 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:49.600 to get a new credit card, having my credit cards declined. UM. 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:55.280 Collections agencies would come after me on a weekly basis UM, 0:11:55.400 --> 0:12:00.720 and some of the more unscrupulous ones would threaten me. UM. 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.920 They would call my relatives and threaten them. And these 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:07.640 are relatives that did not know what had happened. And 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:11.920 so I had relatives thinking that I was a deadbeat 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.199 or just not paying my bills. And trying to evade authorities. 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:19.040 Victims of identity theft, like Louise and Ronnie have to 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:21.520 live on just cash for many years because their credit 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.599 scores takes such a big hit, which is a tremendous 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:28.360 inconvenience on its own, But for some victims, identity fraud 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:33.120 can have scary social and medical implications too. Eva told 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.040 me about one woman who had her wallet stolen. The 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:39.280 thief who was addicted to metha and fetaments and pregnant, 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.400 presented the woman's I D to the hospital when she 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:46.160 gave birth and abandoned the baby. The identity theft victim 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.600 had to undergo a medical exam to prove she didn't 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.480 give birth. Her own children were yanked at of school, 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:55.360 interviewed by Child Protective Services, and she still gets contacted 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.720 regularly about back payment of child support and other issues. 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:00.480 Every time the child who was a and then by 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.360 a real mother moves to a new foster home, she'll 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:05.320 be dealing with this for the rest of her life. 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:10.680 In Ronnie's case, his brother started getting medical care using 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:16.480 Ronnie's name. I was severely deftly alerted to Kennicillen he 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:21.360 had not, so it was his constant fear that if 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.400 something has happened to me and I needed medical treatment 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:29.520 and all of my records are all mixed up, would 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:33.280 I be given tennessellen? Would I be suddenly, you know, 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:37.920 given treatment that I didn't move. Eventually, collection agencies came 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:42.280 after Ronnie, demanding seventy five thousand dollars in overdue bills. 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:47.240 It was horrifying to be faced with that. I mean 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:49.920 nothing that I was going to be able to do 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.400 at that point to get above and beyond what was 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.319 happening to me. How did you respond to them? I mean, 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:01.880 they're fine time begging, this isn't e And the response was, 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:04.680 you know a lot in a lot of cases, the 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:09.320 majority of the security is quick, quick, quick, wasting our time. Um. 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.400 The way that the alternetys and the creditors talked to 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:19.400 me on the phone was so abusive that not only 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:21.600 was I facing what I was going through and had 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:26.360 been for so many decades, I felt they're coming after me. 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.600 My way, ages are going to be garnished, the apartment 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:31.480 that I've co signed, it is going to affect that 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:35.960 person's credit. It was it was torture. How many phone 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:39.480 calls do you suppose you made probably and I am 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:49.560 unfortunately not exaggerating, probably ten thousand. You know, Harriet, that's 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:53.680 a lot of my life. Yeah, yeah, that's a lot 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:57.160 of my life. I spent making phone calls for something 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.600 I didn't do. I'm sorry, I'm on. You know, the 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.800 pain is still there, you know, in a lot of ways. 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:05.880 She don't get it back. You don't get your turn back, 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:19.360 not only of your commentcial abilities of your try As 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.640 we've been hearing, having your identity stolen can destroy your life. 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:25.760 And when it comes to the Equifax hack, we simply 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.240 don't know how much damage has been done. Sometimes after 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:31.880 a cyber attack, the data appears on the dark web, 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.120 the online black market if the attacker is trying to 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.520 make a quick buck, but those stolen identities have not 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:42.200 yet been found. That's making some experts worried that the 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.520 thieves have more complex ambitions that have yet to play out. 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:47.880 That also means this is the perfect time to make 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:50.760 sure you do what you can right now to protect yourself. 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:53.520 That the first thing you need to do is pull 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:57.560 your credit reports. That's eva our identity theft expert again. 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.480 Even if you aren't a victim of this, each if 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:03.400 you haven't pulled your credit report in a while or ever. 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:06.400 This is one of the first steps that you can 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:10.120 do to take control. Everyone is entitled to a free 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:13.360 credit report every twelve months from each of the three 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:17.200 major bureaus. You can request it from annual credit report 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.200 dot com. Once you do that, you need to review 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:25.360 it carefully. It's not complicated, it's just a little bit tedious, 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:27.800 and make sure that there's nothing on there that's unfamiliar 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.360 or that you don't recognize. And then if there is 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.840 fraudulent activity, you need to go directly to the source. 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.600 You need to report that to the issuer of the 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:40.760 credit and then to the credit reporting agency, whichever one 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:44.400 is on your whichever credit report it's on. Maybe it's one, 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:46.800 maybe it's two, maybe it's all three, so there is 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.960 some leg work involved there. Once it's accurate, you can 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.240 put a freeze on your credit This means no one 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.800 can open new accounts unless you unfreeze it. You can 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.640 also set a fraud alert, which requires the creditor to 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.560 verify your identity before issuing a credit card or opening 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:04.639 an account. This won't stop the thief like a credit 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.280 freeze would do, but it does require the lender to 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.280 take additional steps. Another step you can take is to 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.439 enroll in a free, year long credit monitoring service that 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:17.320 Equifax is offering as a way of apologizing to consumers. 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:20.520 You have until November twenty one to enroll, or you 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:24.199 could also pay for other credit monitoring services. This is 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:25.840 something that you will have to do for the rest 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.480 of your life. Good identity hygiene is just a part 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:31.639 of the world we live in. It's like brushing your teeth, 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:38.800 and a breach highlights that for us. Grad You've been 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:42.160 the victim of an identity theft too, haven't you. That's right, Losette. Yes, 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:45.280 my friend brad Stone up in Seattle. No, some fellow 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.440 with a bit of an online shopping addiction who obtained 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:51.480 my personal information some however ten years ago. I really 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.720 have no idea how, And I just started to get 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.679 notices that bills would do different accounts that I had 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.199 never opened. Would you do? Do? You know? It's a 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:01.560 real nightmare, and you know we don't want to scare 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.360 monger here, and you know the chances that your identity 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.240 will be stolen are small, but oh my god, like 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.359 I put fraud alerts on the three credit agencies. Then 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:14.160 I kept going, I put freezes on them. They give 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.320 you pin numbers. You gotta save the pins, and then 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.560 when you want to take out credit it's an ordeal. 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:20.360 But I will say this. At one point I got 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:24.600 frustrated and I called the guy in Seattle because I 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:27.440 had I I somehow had all of his information. Oh, 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.440 I had it because all the stuff that he was 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:32.080 ordering online was being delivered to his to a home. 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:34.439 So I called up and I said, you know, and 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:38.000 I just I said, uh, I think somebody's been impersonating 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:39.520 me here and I would really appreciate it if you 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.240 would stop, and they might stop. Well, uh they did. 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:45.879 It did stop when I put freezes on the accounts, 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.400 because that nobody can open up an account in your name. 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:50.840 I also had to wrangle with my credit card company 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:53.680 and all these different e commerce companies to go and 0:18:54.040 --> 0:19:03.320 reverse the charges. It was. It's a nightmare. Today Ronnie 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:06.119 is forty six. It's been almost thirty years since he 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:09.119 first realized that his brother stoles birth certificate and Social 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.280 Security card from him. His brother is serving seven years 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:15.639 in prison, the maximum sentence for stealing his identity, and 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:18.040 Ronnie today has a lease and a phone in his 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:21.600 own name for the first time. I'm no longer a victim. 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.760 I'm a survivor. Meanwhile, for Louise, it's been a decade 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:27.879 since that day she sat in the courthouse and watched 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.080 her imposter gets sentenced in her name. After years of 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.639 endless calls with collection agencies, she thinks she's finally cleaned 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:38.040 up the mess. But even for her, the psychological scars 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.639 from the criminal case and hearing herself be sentenced are 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.879 still there. Yeah. I mean, she still carries around the 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.400 paperwork that proves her innocence, signed by a judge ten 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:51.359 years ago, everywhere she goes. She also checks her credit 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.399 report every single month. I asked her if she has 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:57.680 any last parting tips for our listeners, to be really 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:01.159 honest with that that whole experience. Obviously, I do what's 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:07.960 logical and practical. Um, but I also learned that we 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.920 don't have control over our information a lot. This happened 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:16.600 so often, and you just have to be prepared for it. 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.960 You know, if you're going to be engaging in the Internet, 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:25.399 and you know, online shopping or online banking, there's really 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:30.040 no way you can fully protect against everything. So um, 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:34.359 my best advice is just to understand what information is 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:44.040 out there and be prepared if something happens. And that's 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:47.000 it for this week's episode of Decryptive. Thanks for listening. 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:49.840 If you've been affected by the Equifax breach and have 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:53.160 a story to share, get in touch at decrypted at 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:57.800 Bloomberg dot net or I'm on Twitter at Lizette, Underscore 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.080 Chapman and I'm at brad Stone. If you haven't already, 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:04.040 subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts, and 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:06.760 while you're there, please leave us a rating and review. 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:08.919 This goes a long way to get this show in 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:13.160 front of more listeners. This episode was produced by Pio Gakari, 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:18.240 hockey Ito, Liz Smith, and Magnus Henriksson of Very special 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.520 thanks to our reporter Natalie Wong who helped with today's show. 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:22.760 We'll see you next week.