My friend’s Mom basically committed identity theft using the friend’s name. What should my friend do?
The friend does not want to put her Mom to jail for identity theft, but is there a way to get authorization from the friend, instead of the Mom using her information?
Yes there is and it’s NOT fraud alerts. A credit freeze is a state mandated right to LOCK your credit reports. As long as your friend protects their secret code (provided by the credit reporting companies after you freeze), no one can get to their credit reports to open new accounts, get a phone, get a lease, or anything else that requires a credit check without your friend’s approval each and every time.
If your friend filed a police report or FTC complaint first, the freezes would be completely free. If they can’t do that, they’ll have to pay up to $10 for each freeze and $10 for each thaw (where they allow access), BUT they only pay when changing the status of the account, NOT monthly like those other scams.