[Novalug] Totally OT: Identify Theft

[Jay Hart]

I was made aware this evening that I have been a victim of identity theft. 
Someone(s) opened an account at Best Buy using all my identification,
including my SSN, and rang up $15,000 worth of stuff.  Basically walked in,
opened account, bought $15K of stuff, loaded it up, and off they went.

I found out about it when the account information arrived at my house, along
with the new Best Buy Store credit account card. I received two separate items
in the mail, had they not arrived same day, I might have shredded both.

I've called the credit reporting agencies, the FTC, my bank, and a Maryland
Private Investigator.  Tomorrow I plan to take a little trip to the store to
see what I can learn, maybe get the PI to help me out.

If you have been the victim of identity theft, what other stuff should I know,
and what kinds of problems did you encounter that would be good stuff to know?

I'm hoping the store is going to want to work with me since they are out $15K
of stuff.  The FTC uses your data to search for patterns, so I figure they
will not be of much help to me.  Equifax will help me out, by putting blocks
on my account, but most of their services will cost me money.  My best shot is
either video footage at the store, and/or fingerprints on the credit
application.

Jay Hart