Everyone becareful as to how you dispose of your bills, etc...

I have repeatedly told my wife to becareful when doing so.

The phone company turned off my phone service and internet line due to two accounts which have my name attached to them.

Despite my number having been on for a few years, the others which seem to be fairly recent (one was on from January to May of THIS year).

No warning was given and they say they have the right to turn off my service for 48 hours without warning.... its been longer than 48 hours and it will take 7-10 business days for me to receive the "no knowledge" forms.

Afterwhich, who knows how long it may take to restore my service.


Additionally, my wife started receiving bills (in August) for a cellular phone. Neither of us has EVER had a cell phone.

What is really incredible is the Worldcom continued to allow this phone service to remain on for EIGHT months before sending a bill.

When we asked why, they said something about restructuring........    EIGHT months?????

My wife has spoken to them twice. They said she is not responsible for the bills but they continue to come. She has attempted to call them again on several occasions but has to wait in the cache of their phone system for AT LEAST an hour.....

In the meantime, the misuse of our names and credit continues...

Always something!!!! Becareful!!!!

BTW I am posting from work and won't be able to respond until I return to work on Wednesday night.

Sorry for all of the post but I thought I should add this since I won't have access for two days.

To rub salt in the wound, the phone company wanted a $10,000 deposit!

NO JOKE - $10,000 deposit for a bill which doesn't belong to me. Hopefully I can resolve this soon and get rid of that....

Buy a shredder, and anything with your name goes in it once you are fiunished with it. Bullshit offers from cardealers, credit cards, anything, including the old bills you have paid. Shred everything.  This little world we live in makes it too easy to steal someones identity.  Get a good shredder. I first bought a cheaper one but it tore up within a year. My new one is a monster with a 3 year warranty. It will shred even the creditcards all the refinance you home companies send you.  Be paranoid about your personal info.

[beer]

You may want to report it to law enforcement, identity theft is a BIG problem right now.  They could very well have a new driver's license and social security card with your name on them.  The credit issues are a MAJOR pain, but nothing like arrest warrants and outstanding traffic tickets with your name on them.

Contact the local law enforcement IMMEDIATELY!  They need to know someone has been stealing your identity.  Also, do not correspond with any of the organizations saying you owe money via telephone unless you keep very accurate records.  On whatever bill or correspondence I get from them I mark the following:

Date and time of phone call.
Person I talked to.
Resolution.
Direct call back number of person I talked to.

I do this normally because it's good business practice, but it works really well in situations like this.  However, phone conversations do not mean squat in instances where someone says you owe something.  The only thing that matters is certified mail with delivery receipt, and it's best to CC your state's Attorney General.  It's the only way you'll actually have legal recourse if someone continues to hound you.

I'd also request your credit reports from the big credit reporting services to make sure there aren't open accounts you are not aware of.  I do this annually to check my own credit accounts and status.  You probably want to call the DMV and Social Security Administration and make sure new ID/Driver's License and Social Security Card haven't been issued.  If they haven't make sure to tell them that someone has attempted to steal your identity and they should be on the lookout for someone trying to get these pieces of ID.

God Bless Texas

Identity theft sucks.  Someone stole mine and took out a high interest loan.  Needless to say, they didn't feel obliged to pay it back.  Now, I can't get even a small loan or refinance my car.  If I knew what to do, I'd do it.  

I have a shredder of which everything is shredded that has any personal information on it such as receipts, letters, etc. The shredder I have is a Fellows PS 60CC. This one shreds both ways into almost "sawdust". No "Iranian" going to put any receipts back together. My wife dumps it when full and turns the particles into her "Compost" pile. Yes, I am "Paranoid".
Most cheap shredders cut the paper in long strips.

Edited to show where I bought mine: "Office Depot"

Yup, agree with Bat21 - if your going to buy a shredder, buy one that cross-cuts.  Anything and everything that has personal information on it gets disposed via the shredder.

You have got to protect your SSN and driver's license numbers.  The competition is so fierce for opening new accounts, cell etc, that many organizations don't bother with checking a lot of security, as long as you kinda look like your picture, etc, those folks are good to go to sign whatever up for whatever..... Most of the big companies are running lean and mean, meaning that many things are done by machines, and you will rarely speak to a real human being.  It sounds that MCI/Worldcom's billing system is really screwed up.

I had a friend that used to go "dumpster diving" behind radio shack and used to get all sorts of nifty information.  Credit card numbers, SSN's, etc.  Fortunately he didn't do anything with them, as he was looking for specific information and not what he ended up with.  Still, it's amazing the kind of stuff even businesses throw away.

God Bless Texas

I had my identity stolen 2 months ago, and let me tell you, It sucks.  As a preventative measure, I urge all of you to call the three credit bureaus and put in a "fraud alert" If any body has questions or needs the phone numbers, just ask.

You're also racist.  What the hell does "Iranian" have to do with "identity theft"?

You asshole.

The only way to go is Fire.

Mine was stolen during my 3rd year at college back in 1983. Someone got hold of my SSN and my address and took out a student loan in the name of a woman, yet the coupon book was sent to my address and had my SSN on it. I don't know how in the hell CitiBank would grant a loan to someone using my SSN and address, but a different name? Anyway, it was for $10,000. It took 3 years to get CitiBank to remove me from their list. All the time I'm writing them 4-5 time a year and they keep sending coupon books with letters stating I better pay or else. Finally, my dad, who was still practicing law at that time, threatened to sue them if they didn't get off my back. He had written them 3 times before, but it wasn't until he was ready to serve that they admitted I was innocent and removed me from their list. Funny how it takes a lawyer to get people to take you seriously.

71-Hour_Achmed, I believe the "Iranian" comment has to do with the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979-1980. The Iranians were able to reconstruct classified US Embassy documents that were shredded, but not burned following shredding. They got some very sensitive information that way. This is why one must both shred and burn. Perhaps you don't remember that event.