((((((((((((DE))))))))))))))),

Unfortunately, I have been there done that with my Mother when she was dying of cancer, & it was the home care RN that I caught on the phone applying for a credit card as my Mother with all the necessary information that she had gotten my mother to tell her. After I caught her & tried to get the information from the lady on the phone, the RN cut the phone cord. Several checks were filled out from the ones my mother had filled out ledgelably, & then a few weeks later, fraud from the credit card company caught someone using my Mothers credit card (that had been stolen & I hadn't caught that). She did that the day I went into the police & filled the report against her. My fear was so horrible since she had OD'ed my Mother on morphine, I had no idea what she might do to me to keep me silent......the fear is somewhat under control now, since she hasn't showed up in my life since then, but for some reason even realizing that nothing will happen since the DA dropped the case due to lack of evidence, fear doesn't go away that easily. To top that off, she stole all of my Mothers valuable jewelry....things that would have been handed down, with a lot of meaning behind them.

I know it is a horrible to realize that someone can have that kind of access to our personal information....I find it very scarry & not really sure how to protect ourselves. We can go to extreames, which at times I feel that I would rather be safe than sorry again, but then I feel like I am over reacting.

I wouldn't ask for more horror in your life......it seems like that is all to close to reality too. I hope you can get everything straightened out, & able to protect yourself...but when you don't know what you did to have that problem, it isn't that easy to know what to do to protect yourself. There is alot of information on ID theft on the internet, I ways to protect yourself by checking balances on line. I just went to our counselmans meeting at the senior center last week about ID theft & elderly abuse....telling everyone ideas on how to protect yourself against these things. Unfortuntely, it seems like there is some new way they come up with to successfully pull off ID theft, that someone hasn't come up with.

The worst part is that I feel like I have to think like a criminal in order to keep 1 step ahead of the people who are attacking us. I hope that you are able to get through all of this & it is great that the credit card companies are aware of typical usage that indicates theft. I know when they caught my mothers card theft, they told me that one usual pattern is for the person to purchase gas at the pump to see if the card is still valid. Then they immediately go & make a huge purchase, then they go back & purchase something like gas again to make sure it wasn't caught. They have been able to notice some patterns that are used.

Hope you will be ok & hopefully nothing more has been stolen from you, it is good to get your 3 credit reports also after this & see if there is anything else that shows up.

Good luck,
Debbie