An Employment Scam and Identity Theft

If you are unemployed, finding a job in this currrent market can be a difficult thing to do. Let's add to that an employment scam that I heard about recently. It goes like this:

You put your resume on one of the national job search boards. You get contacted by a company that wants to interview you. Then they tell you that they need to run a background check, so they'll need you to supply some personal information, like your Social Security number. Well, unfortunately, you find out later that this wasn't a real company and now someone has used your information to steal your identity. This just makes your already unhappy situation worse. What can you do?

As always, I recommend that you don't give out your personal information unless you are sure that you have to. Do you need to give the clerk at the grocery store your Social Security number in order to write a check? Well, if they won't take a check without it, then you have two choices: give them the number or pay a different way.

One thing that you should do (and you have no excuse) is to get a copy of your credit report each year from each of the three credit bureaus. The great thing about this is that it used to cost $10 each, but a new law made it free once per year from each credit bureau. Here's the deal. Go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ to request your free report. You can get all three now, or space them out. You can get it online after answering a series of questions, by calling the toll-free number, or by mailing in the form that you can print from the website.

Now, many people ask about the companies that will give you a free credit report. If it's not the official one, listed above, it probably has strings attached, like a credit monitoring service that you sign up for and is not free after the first month. It's not that this is a bad service, but just be aware of what you are getting yourself into. And if you intend to cancel before they start charging your credit card, make sure to mark it on your calendar to do that.

Another question I get is about credit scores. Should you pay for one? That's entirely up to you, but it is not a requirement of the annual credit report program. They will offer to sell you one, but you can decline and still get your credit report for free. It can be useful to know what your credit score is, but don't count on the one they will sell you to be the one that a lender would use. They are two different things. Talk to your lender about your situation if you are concerned about the number or what they use to decide about credit. You can go to this website to see an estimate of your credit score: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/fico/calc.asp?lpid=BKRATE29.

There is someone waiting to scam you with the next big "news", so please be careful. And get a free copy of your credit report. Yes, in this case, there is such a thing as a free lunch!