Veteran ID Theft

May 24, 2006

Because I wrote a few articles on credit freezing back a few months ago, several veterans who suspect their info was among the 26 million names on a stolen VA official's laptop have contacted me asking what their next steps should be.

The VA has set up a special call center and hotline for veterans, as well as an FAQ page: http://www.firstgov.gov/veteransinfo. I hope they have staffed it sufficiently. The potential for 26 million phone calls is very high.

It's my fervent hope that the U.S. government will allow all these affected veterans to freeze their credit free of charge, regardless of whether the victims' state laws allow them to. The only other option is paid credit monitoring from the big three credit agencies, but I personally find it repulsive that there's the potential for TransUnion, Experian and Equifax to experience sudden windfall profits from their paid monitoring packages, all at the expense of U.S. veterans.

TES