Victim of Identity Theft

[Keim]

I got a call about a week ago from the Small Business Administration. "Hi. I'm calling about an Economic Injury Disaster Loan your name is on." I told them I was unaware my name was on any such loan application. A bit of back and forth quickly determined they were looking at a falsified version of my drivers license with correct number and address, and incorrect physical characteristics. (I don't have a fu manchu beard, and haven't weighed 215lbs since I was a freshman in high school)

Further talk indicated the application was taken out to benefit a nonprofit in a town where I and my company have previously been involved in suspected fraud (Details here for the curious that want a REALLY good story:
https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/best-walk-off-the-job-story-112567-3.html#post2722576)

I do not know in what way my name was on the application. In support? Listed as an officer? Etc.

I have taken the following pre-cautions-am I missing anything?
1. Fraud alert with all major credit companies. (Experian, etc)
2. Contacted other potential fraud victims that were involved in previous incident.
3. Notified both my personal and my insurance companies insurance agencies.
4. Notified the board of my company.
5. I have not notified my bank, but check my accounts several times a week anyhow. Should I?
6. Cussed. A lot.
7. Verified call was actually from the SBA.
8. Made police report.
9. Hired a lawyer. Lawyer is trying to get SBA to release a copy of the loan application to us. Will see where we go from there.

Thoughts?

 

[RunningBum]

Probably done as part of #1, but I'd put on a credit freeze, and get my credit report from all 3 agencies and look for any activity that I didn't initiate.

I'd also do more of #6. Sorry you are going through this.

 

[Keim]

Probably done as part of #1, but I'd put on a credit freeze, and get my credit report from all 3 agencies and look for any activity that I didn't initiate.

I'd also do more of #6. Sorry you are going through this.

Yep, did the credit freeze.

Forgot to mention: Also made a police report.

 

[pacergal]

My worst nightmare and fear. Sorry you are going through this.

 

[Scrapr]

If the non profit is local I'd go down there and ask WTF.

*going over to look at your other interaction with them

 

[Keim]

If the non profit is local I'd go down there and ask WTF.

*going over to look at your other interaction with them

It's a 6 hour drive away, or I'd already have knocked on their door. Still considering calling them-getting my lawyers advice.

 

[Chuckanut]

Probably done as part of #1, but I'd put on a credit freeze, and get my credit report from all 3 agencies and look for any activity that I didn't initiate.

I'd also do more of #6. Sorry you are going through this.

Before you Freeze you credit reports, I recommend joining Credit Karma. Then Freeze. But, do both without delay. Credit Karma will let you see what is happening with two of the three big credit bureaus without having to thaw your freezes.

IMHO, using the credit bureau options to "lock" your account and get periodic reports is a waste of money. A Freeze is free and and the best defense by far.

 

[Winemaker]

DSister's boss called her back in September and asked why she applied for jobless benefits when she was still employed. She had not applied ever in her life, but someone did in her behalf. Three checks came to the house; state police department won't take any information to file a police report. No local office to return checks, received a W-2 or 1099 for the 3 checks. She asked for her state representative to help resolve the mess.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

As I mentioned in another thread, I w*rked for the SBA for a short period of time doing legal reviews of PPP and EIDL loans. There were A LOT of the applications that were flagged as possible fraud, so you are not alone...very, very far from it.

If I was a betting man, the non-profit probably had nothing to do with it. If there is a record out there with your name on it (as an officer/etc.) and it's online then it's a cake walk for the scammers to try and get a loan. Most of the loans that I approved had between 3 and 5 fraudulent applications that went with them...it was/is that rampant.

I can tell you that the review is through enough that the odds of a loan being funded with you on the hook is nearly 0%. Yes, it is a government program but the fraud detection is pretty good...and it doesn't hurt that every single application goes through several levels of review.

I don't think an attorney is needed for this, but I suppose it can't hurt. Nonetheless, the SBA is very, VERY busy, so I wouldn't expect to hear anything else from them for a while. AND...if there is an attorney's name attached to any request, it gets to go to legal...which means more delays.

 

[Keim]

As I mentioned in another thread, I w*rked for the SBA for a short period of time doing legal reviews of PPP and EIDL loans. There were A LOT of the applications that were flagged as possible fraud, so you are not alone...very, very far from it.

If I was a betting man, the non-profit probably had nothing to do with it. If there is a record out there with your name on it (as an officer/etc.) and it's online then it's a cake walk for the scammers to try and get a loan. Most of the loans that I approved had between 3 and 5 fraudulent applications that went with them...it was/is that rampant.

I can tell you that the review is through enough that the odds of a loan being funded with you on the hook is nearly 0%. Yes, it is a government program but the fraud detection is pretty good...and it doesn't hurt that every single application goes through several levels of review.

I don't think an attorney is needed for this, but I suppose it can't hurt. Nonetheless, the SBA is very, VERY busy, so I wouldn't expect to hear anything else from them for a while. AND...if there is an attorney's name attached to any request, it gets to go to legal...which means more delays.

I involved the attorney due to the prior incident I linked-I think I know who the fraudster is. They have a history of nonprofit fraud. I'm actually HOPING the attorney note gets things routed to legal. And, I am asking them to release a copy of the application to me so I can look for any link to the fraudster I suspect. Does the SBA prosecute the frauds very often? Or do they simply turn down the application and move on?

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I involved the attorney due to the prior incident I linked-I think I know who the fraudster is. They have a history of nonprofit fraud. I'm actually HOPING the attorney note gets things routed to legal. And, I am asking them to release a copy of the application to me so I can look for any link to the fraudster I suspect. Does the SBA prosecute the frauds very often? Or do they simply turn down the application and move on?

I can't speak as to the investigative arm of the SBA and all the prosecutions go through the respective US Attorney's Office. Yes, they have prosecuted a number of people...but I am sure it's a very small fraction of the fraud flags that come up. In a given day, I would do legal review on at least 50 application packages and almost ALL of them had a fraud flag (usually from duplicate applications some of which would be fraudulent, others not so much). And I was one of hundreds of attorneys so it would be almost impossible to prosecute ALL the fraudsters.

Edit: Here is a fraud tracker that might be of interest: https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/general/cares-act-fraud-tracker

 

[Dean56]

I went thru this just last year. Somebody was opening cable TV accounts in my name in various parts of the country (places & states I never lived in).
I would pull credit reports from all 3 companies and verify they only contain your actual information. I noticed some out of state addresses which were added to my credit reports. I disputed these with each credit agency. You mentioned you already did a credit freeze...that's good.

Also, has a credit collection company contacted you? If so, they will pester you and make life miserable until this issue is straightened out. Good luck.

 

[Dash man]

I got a call about a week ago from the Small Business Administration. "Hi. I'm calling about an Economic Injury Disaster Loan your name is on." I told them I was unaware my name was on any such loan application. A bit of back and forth quickly determined they were looking at a falsified version of my drivers license with correct number and address, and incorrect physical characteristics. (I don't have a fu manchu beard, and haven't weighed 215lbs since I was a freshman in high school)

Further talk indicated the application was taken out to benefit a nonprofit in a town where I and my company have previously been involved in suspected fraud (Details here for the curious that want a REALLY good story:
https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/best-walk-off-the-job-story-112567-3.html#post2722576)

I do not know in what way my name was on the application. In support? Listed as an officer? Etc.

I have taken the following pre-cautions-am I missing anything?
1. Fraud alert with all major credit companies. (Experian, etc)
2. Contacted other potential fraud victims that were involved in previous incident.
3. Notified both my personal and my insurance companies insurance agencies.
4. Notified the board of my company.
5. I have not notified my bank, but check my accounts several times a week anyhow. Should I?
6. Cussed. A lot.
7. Verified call was actually from the SBA.
8. Made police report.
9. Hired a lawyer. Lawyer is trying to get SBA to release a copy of the loan application to us. Will see where we go from there.

Thoughts?

We’ve recently gone through identity theft with my wife. They forwarded our mail to another address, which we were told was cancelled by the post office. Then we intentionally forwarded our mail while we spend the winter in Florida, but haven’t seen any after a month. We contacted the post office and they say our forwarding address is set up properly, but will put all of our mail in a special USPS envelope to send directly to our address until we call back. Waiting to see if it works, but missing some important mail.

I suggest you change all of your passwords for your financial accounts as an added safety precaution.

 

[rk911]

We’ve recently gone through identity theft with my wife. They forwarded our mail to another address, which we were told was cancelled by the post office. Then we intentionally forwarded our mail while we spend the winter in Florida, but haven’t seen any after a month. We contacted the post office and they say our forwarding address is set up properly, but will put all of our mail in a special USPS envelope to send directly to our address until we call back. Waiting to see if it works, but missing some important mail.

I suggest you change all of your passwords for your financial accounts as an added safety precaution.

you might consider signing up for the USPS Informed Delivery service...a daily e-mail containing scanned images of mail being processed for delivery.

 

[Dash man]

you might consider signing up for the USPS Informed Delivery service...a daily e-mail containing scanned images of mail being processed for delivery.

Yes, we’ve been doing that for years. It’s how we know we’ve missed some tax 1099s and checks from our Jersey Shore rental realtor. Unfortunately it doesn’t help us actually get our forwarded mail. [emoji53]

 

[Souschef]

I had a strange thing happen. I was checking my website, and a strange website appeared instead of mine. It was from some travel agent in the Bay Area. I have attached a screenshot. I am still fighting to get my website restored.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I had a strange thing happen. I was checking my website, and a strange website appeared instead of mine. It was from some travel agent in the Bay Area. I have attached a screenshot. I am still fighting to get my website restored.

Oh, that is odd. Did you contact the travel agent? I tried to see your site, but it's down.

 

[Turbo29]

I had a strange thing happen. I was checking my website, and a strange website appeared instead of mine. It was from some travel agent in the Bay Area. I have attached a screenshot. I am still fighting to get my website restored.

That's strange. Just a few days ago I tried to access a site that provides the etymology of Spanish words and an Indonesian gambling site came up under the same url (not redirected, same url is at the top of the page). I have had this site bookmarked for years and it was always a good resource (for Spanish etymology, not for gambling).