[US] Free credit freezes are here

[Daniel E.]

I just did it this morning in less than a half hour (for all three credit bureaus):

Free credit freezes are here
September 21, 2018
by Andrew Smith, Federal Trade Commission, Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection
Gail Hillebrand, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Associate Director, Division of Consumer Education and Engagement

Free credit freezes and year-long fraud alerts are here, starting September 21st, thanks to a new federal law. Here’s what you should know:

Security freezes, also known as credit freezes, restrict access to your credit file, making it harder for identity thieves to open new accounts in your name. Starting September 21, 2018, you can freeze and unfreeze your credit file for free. You also can get a free freeze for your children who are under 16. And if you are someone’s guardian, conservator or have a valid power of attorney, you can get a free freeze for that person, too.

How will these freezes work? Contact all three of the nationwide credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. If you request a freeze online or by phone, the agency must place the freeze within one business day. If you request a lift of the freeze, the agency must lift it within one hour. If you make your request by mail, the agency must place or lift the freeze within three business days after it gets your request. You also can lift the freeze temporarily without a fee.

Don’t confuse freezes with locks. They work in a similar way, but locks may have monthly fees. If you want a free freeze guaranteed by federal law, then opt for a freeze, not a lock...

More info

 

[GaryQ]

Another Failsafe way to prevent identity theft for financial gain.

Get a credit card put a small transaction on it and forget about paying it. Your credit score will drop in its own and stealing your identity would be futile. They could never get any account opened for anything in your name.

Small caveat could be seen as it also affecting your ability to borrow money which isn’t that bad since it protects you from getting further into debt

The potential financial gains are immeasurable :
write a book on how you got rid of all your debt by mastering the art of frugal living.

Then... you can write a second book on how you became a multimillionaire by writing the first book

Then start marketing your new how to get rich seminars to teach others all your secrets to success. “It all started when I got this credit card and refused to pay the 2$ Balance off” and become a billionaire...

prompting book 3 “how I became a billionaire... (repeat above process)

then book 4 “How to become filthy rich just like me”

I love blowing a silly idea out of proportion

 

[Daniel E.]

I'm glad my husband has horrible credit since just this morning he gave out his date of birth to a stranger/scammer over the phone who has called him repeatedly. (My husband called them back and believed their story that they needed his date of birth to look into why they were calling him.)

With his permission, I froze his credit anyway just in case it gets better over time.

 

[Daniel E.]

Scam Calls Are 'Epidemic' — and Getting Worse
by Sarah Elizabeth Adler, AARP
September 14, 2018

A new report says nearly half of mobile calls will be fraudulent by next year

Scam calls are getting more frequent — and quickly. By next year, nearly half of all calls to mobile phones will be fraudulent, according to a new report from telecommunications firm First Orion. The company analyzed data from more than 50 billion calls over 18 months to get a snapshot of what they call the scam-call “epidemic.” Here’s what they found:

Mobile phone scam calls are increasing: In 2017, only 3.7 percent of calls to cell phones were fraudulent. This year, that number reached 29.2 percent — and it’s expected to climb to 44.6 percent in 2019.

Fraudulent landline calls are declining: Scam calls originating from landlines are decreasing. In 2019, only a projected 24.8 percent of scam calls will come from landlines, a decrease from 56 percent in 2017. This is in part because fewer people use landlines in the first place, but it’s also a sign of just how technologically sophisticated — and successful — mobile scammers have become.

Beware the area code: “Neighborhood spoofing” is a tactic in which fraudsters show up as a local number on your caller ID by matching the first six digits of your number. The report estimates that 9 in 10 scam calls will come from a familiar area code next year.

The increasing numbers of scam calls mean it's harder to determine what calls are legitimate — on either a mobile or landline.

"People just don’t answer their phones anymore,” says Gavin Macomber, First Orion’s senior vice president of marketing and strategic business development.

 

[GaryQ]

My husband called them back and believed their story that they needed his date of birth to look into why they were calling him.

They are getting better and better at it. Some can actually speak English clearly.
I remember getting a call lately and they were supposedly calling "officially on behalf of so and so company" that I deal with. Then he asks me for my mailing address. I almost choked laughing. Messed with him for a bit then said "Have a nice day!"

In the peak of the scam calls from India when a number would pop up as unknown or blocked I would answer "Thank you for calling Air India, how I may redirect you call?" Imitating Apu's accent from the Simpsons. If it was a valid call they would get a good laugh out of it, if it was a call from a scammer they would get all confused. I have to lookup this "Computer has a virus call Microsoft Tech Supoort at 1-xxx-xxx-xxxx immediately" video Where some radio guy drove the poor scammer bonkers. If I find it I'll post it in Humor-NOS Going to look for it now.

EDIT: Due to some "bad" words in the video I was looking for it will definitely not be posted!