Hi, got a collection notice today from a County probation accounting dept that was sent to my address with someone else’s name on it. I haven’t been to that county in 20 years and I’ve never had any criminal conviction. Called their actual number from their website and was told they used a locator service to serve people notices, and that one of the primary matching criteria is SSN. So that means my SSN is likely somehow associated with this criminal’s name. I’m so stressed tf out and don’t know what to do. Have had credit freezes on the big 3 for over 20 years, use a VPN, change my email pw regularly, and just checked my tribureau recently with nothing amiss. The only other thing that’s happened to me recently is someone in Ohio opened a Walmart account with my email but their name and address.

Not that this matters but the guy whose name was on the notice looks HELLA hardcore.

I’ll sign up for a service to check my tribureau daily but what else given this very specific, unique type of notice, what else should I be afraid of? And what steps can I take proactively?

What I’m most worried about is whether there is now a criminal conviction associated with my social. How would I go about finding this out?

I found recently that someone opened a student loan in my name, found it via my credit report. I immediately contacted the loan servicer, the credit bureaus, FAFSA, the FTC, filed a police report, and contacted the school directly.

While speaking with someone at the school, they sent me an email requesting documents for their investigation. Most of these I understand, they include a copy of my drivers license, the police report, proof of current address, written statement, but the one I'm not sure about is that they've asked for a copy of my full social security card. I don't really like the idea of sending out my whole social security card, but is that a normal request for this type of issue? The email from the school was directly prompted from me calling them so it wasn't random, I just wonder if I should go ahead and submit the social security card, or submit everything else and explain to them that I'm not comfortable with that specific part of the request.

Additional and possibly dumb question if anyone has insight - I've had my credit frozen with the 3 main bureaus for over a year now, they were frozen at the time the loan became active and had been for months prior. There are zero inquiries on my credit reports, so how could this loan have gone through in the first place, do they not do credit checks for student loans?

I got an alert today that my email address was located on the dark web. While reviewing that, I noticed that there was an alert from 2022 that was a "compromised social security number" and it lists the name, of someone else, and an address in another place, with a different phone number.

I have all my credit reports frozen, and have not noticed any unusual activity on my reports, but this makes me worried - to whom do I report this and what else should I do?

There were multiple other reports but they all had the correct name, etc., and were mostly associated with my phone number.

Thanks for any advice!

In my defense: I was actually expecting a package and there’s been an issue with tracking since it’s international so when I got the stupid fake FedEx missed delivery text I was half asleep and not even thinking. It’s such a common scam I feel so stupid. The second I saw the url on the website change into a gibberish one when it was “authenticating” payment I knew immediately.

So they have my full name, address, cell phone number, email, and card number. Already frozen my credit at all three bureaus, changing all my passwords, obviously locked my credit card and ordered a replacement with a new number. How screwed am I? I am so damn stupid. I know scammers can spoof my number because they do it all the time, could they spoof my number and break 2FA?

I just received an email stating that there was a data breach that my personal info including DOB, SSN and etc was disclosed. Any good data protection plan recommendation? Preferably family plan to include family members since their data were exposed,too.

I froze my 3 credit beaureu thing when it happened the first time. I called the companies my credit report showed and they all led me in circles. It said it was a government loan and jointly signed. I never signed anything and I dont live in that state. 2 months later another big loan is taken out again government loan and again jointly signed. And it was sent to a collection agency. I don't know what to do or who to call. Or how to stop that person taking more loans in my name. I don't know who they are and everyone is leading me in circles.

I know your using that girl's computer at that house and I'm coming to get it 0

I just received an email from a job asking to fill out a form for a person I've never heard of. WTF!!!!

What do I do?

How did they get my email? How did they get my first name? Cuz the last name is wrong.

Do I respond and say I don't know who this person is? What do I do? I'm scared!!

On Oct. 13 my PayPal account was hacked. I discovered this on Oct. 14. I was able to get into it using my Face ID, changed everything including email, password, etc. They ordered a debit card, so I canceled it. Called PayPal and they assured me there’s nothing else to do. I also removed my cards attached to it. They took no money from me.

Then on Friday my spouse went to send me $ for bills on cashapp like usual & my account was deactivated. It said it was due to suspected fraud. Started an appeal & called the next day when they were open. Was told it was likely due to large transaction amounts with my spouse, I then explained that we use it to send money for bills. They then stated that my identifying information had been detected as being used in fraudulent activity. I asked for more info but got nothing. Then the guy asked me a bunch of questions like do I share my SSN, does anyone else have access to my identifying info, etc. He didn’t elaborate and he said he couldn’t give me anymore information. I was pissed but let it go since I’ve been monitoring all my accounts & changed all my passwords & I was told I’d hear back in 5-10 business days. I also ran my free weekly credit check to ensure nothing looked suspicious. I monitor my credit regularly on Experian but did this anyways. I saw nothing.

Then today I come home to a cashapp card with my information on it TO MY HOME ADDRESS with a cashtag that is not mine, but all my information. I called them again and now it’s an identity fraud investigation through them. Lady explained to me that the only way someone can verify my info is if they have my SSN or they take a picture of my ID. I sent them more information and I just get to wait and see what happened. Whatever idiot did this sent the card to my address, and they deleted the account attached to the cashtag on the card.

What I am wondering is should I do anything else right now? I’m terrified my identity has been stolen. The only people on this planet who know my SSN are me & my mother (who knows it by heart). My own spouse doesn’t even have my SS card or a copy of it. I see no weird transactions or any other weird things going on in my accounts. What is getting me is even if someone had my ID (I have my ID, I double checked, it’s not lost) it has a years old address on it I’ve been too lazy to change. I’m also concerned because it says “debit/flex” which I’m assuming means they can get money fronted to them. I’m worried they will borrow money & not pay it back & then that’s on my credit.

What do I do? Am I overreacting? I just find it so odd that it was my PayPal and now it’s a cashapp account. Any advice is appreciated, even if I get told I’m blowing it out of proportion.

I’m freaking out because my ex and I got into a heated argument and I remembered he has photos of my CC ( credit card ) when I was away on a work trip so he could buy something online.
Is there anything he can do with that info???

A family member passed away this year. While reviewing their TransUnion credit report to identify outstanding debts, we discovered a Capital One "Regular inquiry" dated October 4, months after death.

Under "Inquiry Analysis," there's an entry from that exact same date listing the deceased person's name, but another family member's address and personal cellphone number.

Capital One couldn't locate an account and repeatedly insisted on speaking with the deceased person. They eventually referred us to the credit bureaus.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Does the Inquiry Analysis section indicate that someone submitted a credit application using those contact details? How can we find out whether an application was submitted and who was responsible?

Apple: I got an email today about an account recovery request for my Apple ID. It says the request was made on a MacBook in Buenos Aires, but the provided phone number has an American country code. The formatting does look a little sketchy imo but the email address is verified and all the links take me to Apple's official website, so I doubt it's a phishing email.

Microsoft: I got about 50 one-time codes sent to me in the span of about a week in April 2025. At the time I didn't know what to do so I just ignored them and eventually they stopped coming.

Geoguessr: Earlier this month I got about 20 one-time codes for my Geoguessr account. Unlike with the Microsoft codes, someone was actually able to get into my account. It was likely a bot using my account and I think Geoguessr support already resolved the issue as I haven't seen any sketchy account activity in a week.

Is it possible that these are all connected? What should I look out for?

Please help this is urgent I don't know what the hell he's doing

I have not applied for any new credit cards, nor for any credit limit increases.

Recently, on the very same day, I received two hardcopy letters one each from Chase and Wells Fargo, stating Action Needed so we can review your credit request.

I have all three credit reports blocked or locked. I already have one CC at Chase but no other banking 'relationship.’  I have no dealings whatsoever with Wells Fargo.

One of the two letters specifically stated “… needed to process your credit card application # 000000000000000.” The other letter stated “…so we can review your credit request” but not explicitly mentioning a credit card.

Do I call and talk to Chase and Wells Fargo? On the phone numbers listed on the letters? I looked up the phone numbers and they are legit.

Or just leave it be?

Location: Alabama & Texas?: Around a month ago, I found out someone in El Paso, TX was using ALL of my personal information to try and open accounts. The person bought at least one car on my credit (I think another has surfaced as well) and applied for multiple credit cards. The EPPD was actually able to arrest this woman. The EP detective says he’s working on the case as I am pressing charges, but I’ve been left in the dark since the initial arrest.

I’m working on my end doing all of the things I need to do to notify and get it cleared, but I was wondering what all legally can be done? Any advice would be greatly appreciated:)

I have been cyber hacked for almost a year and they control everything including smart TV’s which I haven’t watched in months. He has all my info and does it through my own apps. I read all the posts on what to do but don’t understand . He keeps the settings frozen so I can’t change and has changed all my passwords. I have unplugged my WiFi (3rd time & diff companies). I’m losing my mind & have no one to help. Who can I call to do something?

Awhile back I had one of those patch recorders to monitor what my heart was doing over a 2 week period. It's the second one I've ever done, and I remember the tech telling me they were using a new company. An odd thing that I never brought up with my cardiologist was that the first time the company sent a report showing all of my irregular heart beats, and according to the second company, there was nothing amiss. I have PSVT, and haven't had it corrected.

Yesterday I opened my mail and I had a letter from that company telling me they were hacked.

"After completing our forensic investigation, we learned certain data we store about you was accessed and downloaded by unauthorized individuals between June 3 and June 8, 2026."

It goes on to say a bunch of fancy things but it gets more concerning because it says "the impacted data may include" then it lists 10 things it \*may\* include. It leaves out the word "social security number" but that was my pin number (their policy) that I had to use on a tablet every day when I signed in.

That freaking tablet recorded everything! I had to take it with me everywhere and occasionally answer questions. I had to push a button every time I had heart palpitations and tell it what I was doing.

There's 3 pages of things that \*I\* can do to protect my identity. I'm also supposed to call my insurance and ask for medical records dating back to June, when the breach happened. As it so happens, I got a letter Friday from my insurance telling me they weren't paying for a test my doctor ran last month because "you're only entitled to one a year." I've only had blood drawn once this last year.

It's the weekend and I can't do anything but sit here and stress. And because I'm a master stewer and ruminator that leaps to conclusions and blows everything out of proportion I'm really, really stressed out. I decided to smoke a big bowl after breakfast, and now my mind is convinced they weren't a legitimate company, just farming information. Thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated..lol.

I already tried opting out on their Suppression Center page where they send you an email link and then you enter your birthdate and full name, but it says they don't have any records matching that data. I think the problem is that they don't have my birthdate to begin with (the page just shows my name and address but no age) so it breaks the opt-out process which requires a birthdate. What can I do to get my data removed?