ID Theft

Yesterday I received an odd phone call from a woman stating she was calling regarding our federal taxes on behalf of "Rapid Refund." At the time she called I was getting the Mustangs settled down & started on puzzles, trying to go over longitude & latitude with Momma's Boy, & listening to Big Daddy install the sink (btw - it is "in"; however, it is NOT "working" yet). To say the least it was bad timing & I really should not have answered the phone. The number on our caller id showed up as "Toll Free = 866-499-1271." I answered it thinking I would hang up with a dead line on the other end & that would get rid of one more noise in the house. Once I answered the woman asked for my husband, using his first & last name. I informed her I was his wife & could help her (he was installing my sink & I was trying to avoid any distractions from that!). She told me it was about our taxes & I would need to verify his social security number. This was alarming to me, but all the commotion in the house threw me off. I asked her if she could verify who she was & she said, "There is a problem with one of your dependents social security numbers." I asked where she was calling from & she said, "Rapid Refunds." I assumed this was a company contracted out with the company we used for filing our taxes online. So, I asked her to verify the number she had for him & she did, but was one number off. I corrected her & that was the end of our phone call. Once I hung up, I had a horrible feeling so I immediately called the company we used to verify this phone call. I was then informed that the phone call I received was a fraud. So, what do you do when your ID as been compromised? What do you do when it involves your tax return? YIKES!!

1. Call your local police department & file a report. *You will need several copies of the report asap.

2. If it involves your taxes call the IRS Fraud Hotline 1-800-908-4490 & inform them of your situation.
To put an alter/flag on your taxes you will need to download Form 14026:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f14026.pdf

3. ID Theft Hotline:
FTC 1-877-438-4338
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt04.shtm

4.Contact a credit bureau
Equifax is the one I used:
http://www.equifax.com/home/
1-888-766-0080

5. Call your credit cards & banks
*Have account numbers ready
- You will need to order new cards & go to the bank to close & open new accounts.

This has been a horrible process & very scarry, but the majority of the people I have delt with have been very helpful. I feel so stupid for giving the information our & we are completely lost as to how someone gained the initial information they had to begin with. It is sad that our world has come to this.