Saturday, August 14, 2010

Second Step: File Police Report

     The second step as instructed by Sandy from Discover was to file a police report. I was hoping that this step would leave me with a more positive feeling than calling TransUnion, as that did nothing much except prepare me for the blatant profiteering in the identity theft prevention industry. Not to spoil the rest of step two, but lets just say it didn't or it hasn't.
    
     Feeling utterly disgusted from my call to TransUnion I needed to have that address or some way to start tracking the unsub (Criminal Minds) so I started by calling my local police department. I looked up the directory and while they have tons of tips on how to prevent identity theft there is no, "Call this number to file a report" which would be a nice to have in all that information, but maybe I just missed it. I called the main number and told them what Discover told me to do. The operator asked me where did the identity theft take place? I understand that that is a standard question, but I had just told her that someone applied for a credit card in my name so how in the world would I know where it happened. Discover would not give me any address so as far as I know it could have happened anywhere. Fortunately my need for information trumped my ever present sarcasm and I played along and ended up being transferred to the local zone where I live.
    
     Like shampoo (wash, rinse, repeat) I am replaying the story to be asked the same question about where it happened, only to be put on hold for a few minutes while I am assuming they were trying to figure out what to do with me. The operator returned and informed me that I would be contact by an officer over the phone to take a report within the next 24 to 48 hrs. Not wanting to argue with someone that obviously had little to do with that decision, I gave them my contact information.
    
     We are approaching 24hrs and I have not heard from anyone nor from my further research do I expect to get a great deal of information or even have them investigate it. I will update post when I hear back from them....

Task Completed:
  1. Placed Fraud Alert on my TransUnion credit report
  2. Called local police to start the process of filing a police report

1 comment:

  1. I never heard from the police so my wife had to go to the station and file a report.. They were having computer trouble so she is not sure if they even have all the informaiton... This is awful..

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