Dad (80) fell for likely online passport renewal scam

[andrew_j]

So best case my dad paid $80 to enter his information and have it filled into (free) passport renewal form as pdf.

Worst case, they did above and they now have social security, birthdate, passport number, full address, credit card number etc.

What is next move? Have him freeze credit reports and cancel credit card? Anything else?

 

[Owen Lucas]

I think freezing everything and credit monitoring is ideal. Inform the credit co and bank ASAP, they know how to handle these situations, but time is of the essence. $80 is not so bad compared to other stories I have heard.

 

[Fla]

I think freezing everything and credit monitoring is ideal. Inform the credit co and bank know ASAP, they know how to handle these situations, but time is of the essence. $80 is not so bad compared to other stories I have heard.

The $80 is insignificant, the big worry is that now someone has all of the keys to his bank accounts, CC accounts, SS account and all the rest of his finances.

Someone (a competent someone!) will have to monitor his credit report, his credit card bills, and all of his financials for the rest of his life. Make a police report and contact all of his credit card companies and his banks and have them freeze everything and close his accounts and open new accounts, etc. Do it NOW! The SSA will not issue new SS numbers so he's going to be at-risk for credit fraud for the remainder of his life.

Someone got my CC number about 20 years ago and ran up thousands of dollars in bogus charges and I had an uphill battle with the CC company to get them removed (this before the Feds implemnted the new regulations), so after that I became a zealot about not letting out my SS number, drivers license numbers or any other personal information.