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It was a perfect warm and sunny summer afternoon. I took my daughter to go swimming at the community pool. She has been so enthusiastic getting into the water to practice her newly acquired skills from her beginner’s swimming lessons.

Fifteen minutes or so in the water, I heard a car alarm blaring. As I listened closely, I knew it was the van and got uneasy feeling because the alarm system only goes off at the sound of broken glass or the door being forcefully being opened. When I went to check on it, the passenger window was shattered and my bag that I hid under my driver’s seat was gone(obviously not hidden enough).

I ran back to the pool to ask one of the lifeguards to call 911 and went to get my daughter who was sitting innocently on a lounger. I asked one of the lady lifeguards to watch my daughter while I waited for the police to come. Then called my husband at work and I asked him to call the credit companies and the bank to cancel all my cards.
I was shivering from the water left on my clothes and from the whole episode that was unfolding.

The police came and I gave my statement(They broke the window and took my bag). He gave me numbers to call and instructions to file additional report.
1-877-IDTHEFT

EQUIFAX 1-800-525-6285

Being in-shock and all, I didn’t know what to prioritize. I was calling the automated Equifax system and I kept being kicked out because I forgot the 3rd number of my SSN and the street number of my last address. And because it was automated, I couldn’t get to talk to a human.

My husband came to get us and we went home then got on a calling barrage to the credit card companies and our bank.  From this experience I learned:

In the event that your purse gets stolen and after you have reported to the police,

1. Breath and don’t get into hysterics! Get yourself together.
2. Call your credit companies and bank to report that your cards have been stolen. The theives were already charging up the credit cards at the gasoline stations and other stores that do not check ID for purchase while I was reporting the incident.
3. If your cellphone was stolen as well, the cellphone company to block the cellphone.
4. Call any of the fraud departments of any one of the three consumer reporting companies to place a fraud alert on your credit report.

   Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

   Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013

   TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

5. Go to DMV(Department of Motor Vehicles) to report the stolen card as soon as you can to get a replacement, they will indicate that the DL that you have is the current one and not the one stolen.
6. If for some reason that you also have your SSN card in your stolen purse, go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/onlineservices/, you can block your online and telephone access to your account. How about taking out your SSN card from your purse now and put it in a secure place.
7. This is the time when you allow yourself to cry over your stuff that you lost that can’t be replaced.
8. Educate your self about Identity Theft(that’s another post).

I am just thankful that my daughter and I are safe because it could have been worse.