Ask The Money Coach

Posts Tagged ‘Identity Theft’

Q: I filed for my taxes on Turbo Tax I got a message saying that my social security number has been used and one of my dependents. Can I ever find out who did it? What if their using numbers in other places? Will I get my refund?

A: If someone has used your Social Security number (or your children’s social security numbers) to file an income tax return, you need to alert the authorities as soon as possible and advise them that you have been the victim of identity theft.

Start by filling out IRS Form 14039, an Identity Theft Affidavit, which tells the the IRS that someone has already fraudulently used your Social Security number – or that you suspect you may be a potential victim of fraud. This Form 14039 lets you advise the IRS of any incidents that are currently impacting your taxes, as well as any incidents that could impact your taxes in the future.

To prove that you are who you say you are, you’ll have to submit to the IRS documentation such as a passport, driver’s license, social security card, or another federal or state-issued government ID card.

Send these documents via mail or fax:

Mailing address:
Internal Revenue Service
P.O. Box 9039
Andover, MA 01810-0939

FAX: (Not toll-free)
1-978-247-9965

Since the IRS is accustomed to seeing these kinds of scams, the IRS actually has a dedicated division to dealing with cases where someone has stolen another person’s social security number and used it to file an income tax return.  The IRS department to call for help is the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit, toll free at 800-908-4490.

To deal with this issue of someone stealing your social security number or falsely filing taxes in your name, you should also put a credit freeze and a credit alert on your credit reports.

Lastly, if your purse or wallet was stolen or someone seems to have misappropriated your personal data – such as your social security card/number, or driver’s license, etc. – you need to immediately file a police report with your local police department.

Hopefully, who ever did this will be caught. If you know who did it, and it was a family member or a friend, I would confront that person and issue this ultimatum. This is especially helpful advice for anyone whose credit has been wrecked by a relative who committed identity theft.

Unfortunately, most people are mostly in the dark — at least at first — about their social security being misused. The way most people ultimately find out about someone else using their social security number is when an individual files his or her taxes, and gets a notice or letter from the IRS indicating that a tax return has already been filed or stating that you received wages from some employer that you never had. Any such letter is a big red flag that you’ve probably been the victim of identity theft.

Do take the steps outlined above because someone fraudulently using your social security number could get a tax refund check, block you from getting your own taxes filed in a timely manner (potentially holding up or preventing you from getting a legitimate refund). Additionally, the identity thief could get anything from credit and loans to a job or government benefits using your name and/or social security number. So shut down that fraud ASAP!

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If you’re like me and you’ve got kids who are getting ready to go back to school, the last thing on your mind is worrying about your children become the victims of identity theft.

But federal authorities are warning parents that back-to-school season is actually a risky time of year when it comes to the potential for young people to become targeted by identity thieves.

Think about it: You’re filling out a slew of paperwork, emergency contact forms, healthcare documents and other required registration forms. If some of that information lands in the hands of an identity thief, someone could perpetrate fraud in your child’s name.

Crooks have been known to steal children’s Social Security numbers to do everything from opening credit card accounts to applying for jobs and loans to renting apartments.

Now the Federal Trade Commission is helping consumers to fight back against these kind of scams.

The FTC has just unveiled a new publication, Protecting Your Child’s Personal Information at School, which advises parents how to limit the risks of identity theft.

The publication also explains the federal Family Educational Rights Privacy Act. That’s the law that protects the privacy of student records and gives parents of school-age children the right to opt out of sharing contact information with third parties.

If you don’t want to wind up on a bunch of random mailing lists from people and organizations trying to sell you or your kids something, I highly recommend that you “opt out” and tell your child’s school that you don’t want your contact information shared with third parties.

Finally, if you’ve got a complaint about fraud or deceptive, unfair business practices, you can file a complaint in English or Spanish by going to the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).

If you register a complaint, the FTC will enter it into its secure online database, called Consumer Sentinel, which is made available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

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Have you recently discovered that someone has taken out a student loan in your name? If someone has used your name and social security number to obtain a loan, and has also forged your signature on a loan application, you have been the victim of identity theft and will need to take several steps to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. If you can prove that you are a victim of identity theft, the U.S. Department of Education can discharge your loan and it will eventually be removed from your credit report. You will also need to contact your loan provider and file a specific form that indicates you are requesting a loan discharge.

Here are the key steps to take when you have become a victim of identity theft:

1. Follow instructions listed on the Federal Student Aid Certification/Agreement of Cooperation of Identity Theft form. This form can be downloaded here and you will need to sign and date the letter to certify that you are going to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice in the investigation of your allegation of identity theft.
2. Gather relevant documents. You will need to provide specific information to support your certification letter. This includes a court judgment that finds you were a victim of identity theft, and a written statement by you that describes how the identity theft is applicable to your student loan. You will also need to provide a clear copy of a valid government-issued photo identification card, such as a driver’s license, a state-issue ID card, or a passport, and a clear copy of your Social Security Card.
3. Have the letter notarized. Your letter and your written statement need to be notarized by a Notary Public.
4. Include attachments. If you have received a demand letter or any type of bill for the loan, you can make a copy of it and add this to the letter as supporting documentation. Remember that you need to provide as much proof as possible that you are receiving information that there is an outstanding student loan in your name, but it’s one that you did not apply for or sign for.
5. Send your information to the U.S. Department of Education. You will need to submit all of these documents to the following address:

U.S. Department of Education
Loan Discharge Applications
P.O. Box 422037
San Francisco, CA 94142

Once everything’s been submitted, you will need to wait for a decision from the U.S. Department of Education. If the decision is made to discharge your loan, you will receive an official confirmation letter which you can make a copy of and send to the credit bureaus to have the loan removed from your account.

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When somebody uses your name and/or your social security number to apply for a student loan, there’s a good chance that they forged your signature in order to have the application go through. Many people don’t even find out that a student loan has been taken out in their name until they look at their credit report or receive a notice from the student loan lender that payments are now due. If you find out that someone has obtained a student loan in your name and signed a promissory note for it on your behalf, you need to know what action steps to take to resolve the issue.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Gather documents that show the loan is in your name. Gather all documents that indicate a student loan has been taken out in your name and make a copy of everything. You will need to prepare this information to share with the U.S. Department of Education.
2. Prepare identifying information. You will need to prove that you did not sign a promissory note for your student loan by showing the U.S. Department of Education you are not the same person who applied for the loan. The Department will need to see samples of your signature. The signature that appears on your Social Security Card, your driver’s license, on a government-issued ID card, a passport, or even on your birth certificate are all valid forms of identifying documents for your signature.
3. Gather documents with your signature around the time the loan application was submitted. Another way to prove that you are not the person who signed for a promissory note on a student loan is by collecting documents dated for around the time that the student loan application was submitted. These documents will need to have your signatures on them, and may be more valuable than just submitting examples of signatures on your driver’s license or on a social security card.
4. Provide information about your activities around the time the loan application was submitted. You can also prove that there is now way you could have applied for a loan and signed a promissory note based on what you were doing at that time of year. You could show proof of employment, for example, or provide proof of where you were living when the loan was issued to a school that is nowhere near you.
5. Provide a report from a handwriting expert. If there is no other reasonable way to prove that you did not sign the promissory note, you can have a professional handwriting expert review your signature and make a statement that your signature does not match those that are on the promissory note.

Be sure to carefully check your credit reports from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion to see if there are any other signs that someone has stolen your identity and obtained credit in your name.

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