I am losing my mind.

This morning, I was woken up by the phone ringing. I let it go to voicemail. I got the voice message and called them back. I thought it was somebody from the family independence agency- food stamps. He said his name but I didn't recognize it. He said he was updating my file/account/whatever word he used. He asked a lot of info like my address and the last 4 of my social security number.

So after a little while I figured I was a victim of identity theft. So I set off changing all my passwords and calling my credit union too see if there had been anything "fishy" going on. They couldn't find anything but they suggested I call Experian or any other credit beauro. (however you spell that). Amidst all this activity, I called one of those personal information security protection companies. I set up and account and arranged to make payments monthly. That added up to $20 per month! I tried navigating my new account but there were too many emails with links in them and too many apps to download. It was all very confusing. Id seen an ad on tv for this company so I was pretty sure it was legit. And all of this took me FIVE hours! I put a "freeze" on my credit report so nobody can look at it. (I'm still not sure how to take it off!)

And FINALLY after 5+ hours I called my mom. Told her what was going on. She had me on speaker phone and her husband was giving his two cents. I gave my mom the number that called me this morning. She called it and talked with the same guy and after speaking to him for a bit he said he was from where I thought he was. Said he's been calling people all morning. Ok, so then he gave his name- so I looked at my paperwork that came to tell me how much my foodstamps had been reduced to and his name was there as my case worker. They change caseworkers so often that you could get someone different every time you call. He said he was calling from his own phone. So both my mom and her husband seemed satisfied that he wasn't a scammer. I feel better now but there's still the trauma of the day with a little bit of doubt. My mom said she didn't think there's a problem. The guy identified himself as from the place I get my food stamps when my mom contacted him. I think I skirted a real problem. Or maybe I just blew things into infinity and went berzerk??? Both?