Identity Theft

[Perkins808]

After procrastinating for months - I finally met with the accountant last night to get my taxes done. I had put it off for so long because I knew that I would be itemizing medical expenses and I would need to sit down with my calendar for last year and really look at how many times we were back and forth to the hospitals for chemo and radiation....and I would be forced to go over in detail everything we went through last year. Well, I finally got it done, had the accountant file the returns electronically and walked out of the office with a sense of relief that at least THAT was done and over with - and the bonus, my tax return this year would ease some of the financial burden that comes with now managing a household with one income.

Well...my relief was short-lived. I got a call from the accountant today informing me that my return was rejected - someone has already filed a return with my deceased husbands social security number. Sigh. Why did I think anything was going to be easy??

So now I need to go back and meet with the accountant so that we can call the IRS and try to straighten this whole mess out. I have heard so many nightmare stories about fighting identity theft - so I'm not even going to fool myself into thinking that this is going to be an easy thing to fix.

Has anyone else had to deal with this??

[LostmyHoney]

I am just so very sorry your having to deal with this on top of everything else! I wish you the best of luck with this!

Rachel

[Den's Gail]

I am SO sorry you're having to go through this on top of everything else. I hope your accountant can get to the bottom of this for you. I've read horror stories also and it's one of my worst fears to have to go through something like that in the first place, yet alone by myself now. I recently found out you can do a Social Security Death Index Search and my husband's name came up with is social security number, date of birth, date of death and a few other details. At first it just hurt so much to see it in writing and then I was just appalled that all of that information is out there to steal and no one is protecting us from it.

I know it's too late now for you this time, but a few years ago I found out for about $10 I could have $25,000 worth of identity fraud put on my homeowner's insurance, justs for everyone's information.

Please keep us up on how things are going. You are in my prayers.

[kayc]

I'm sorry you're going through this added slap, it's a horrible violation and the fact that you're having to deal with it in conjunction with your deceased partner makes it all the harder.

I was the victim of Identity Theft...when my last (ex) husband John had an affair with a woman, she stole our identities and I had to be very proactive about watching activity on my accounts...I had to change my password on everything, signed up for Equifax ID Patrol, and will be on that for life, it cost me some money but is worth the peace of mind. I froze everything so people couldn't even get credit reports on me without my say so. It's an unfortunate part of our world nowadays.

It's appalling that anyone can just google your social security number, that should be highly guarded! I have a special credit watch on anything to do with my visas, bank accounts, and social security number so Equifax will send me an alert if they're used. Staying on top of it immediately is important.

I'm sure the accountant will be able to nip this in the bud and get it straightened out, I'm just sorry about the hassle and delay this will cause you.

[MartyT]

It's heartbreaking to think that, on top of everything else, another calamity awaiting some of us might be identity theft. For many of us, it's something we don't even think about unless and until it happens to us. Just now, while doing some other work online, I stumbled upon this Web site, which I'm hoping you may find helpful: Identity Theft Resource Center See this page especially: Victim Resources