Really good information we got in our email box recently -- in case of wallet theft. Print this out... ************************************************ Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of each license, credit card,
etc, you will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone
numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. A corporate attorney sent this out to the employees in
his company. We've all heard horror stories about the fraud that can be committed using your
name, address, SS#, credit, etc. Unfortunately I (the author of this piece who
happen to be an attorney) have first hand knowledge, because my wallet was stolen last month and within a
week the thieves) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a
credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving
record information online, and more. Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a
fraud alert on your name and SS#. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell
me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company
that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to
authorize new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost 2 weeks after the
theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves'
purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been
done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them in their
tracks. Courtesy of The Freeman Institute "Dealing
With People Who Drive You Crazy!"®
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