Credit Reporting Agency Wants Access To Your Facebook, LinkedIn, And Twitter Information

The leading credit reporting agency in Germany wants access to your personal data at popular social networking websites. Spiegel Online reported that business documents leaked to the news media describe the interest by Schufa to access and data-mine consumers' profile, messages/posts, and connections information at Facebook.com, LinkedIn.com, and Twitter.com data to evaluate consumers' creditworthiness.

Schufa's interest seems to focus on both the relationships between consumers (e.g., who you know), residential addresses, and address changes. Reportedly, there are about 20 million Facebook users in Germany, and Schufa has credit files on about 66 million consumers.

Comments

[Christian J]

hi,
I was also a victim of identity theft and I want to thank you for your thoughts. I am considering following your advice of freezing my credit with all three credit bureaus. I have not acted because I spoke to lifelock and they say that insurance companies and credit card companies will time to time check my credit and if they see it is frozen then I will not get a good discount.
I also spoke to ID Analytics, now lifelock and they state that for $25/month they can monitor if anyone gets a payday loan with your name. They state that a criminal only needs your SS $# and a fake id and they get a loan. The only way you find out is when the payday loan sharks come asking for their money. Can you give us a step by step instruction on how to protect yourself.
I mean I read your blog in that you do it yourself without relying on the Lifelock,Experian, etc... but I just need guidance... thanks

[George]

Christian:
Thanks for sharing your experience. I am reluctant to give advice, as I don't know the details of your situation.

I assume that when you say you are an identity victim, that criminals stole your identity data (theft) and then used it (fraud) to open new loans. Obviously, if they stolen your bank account sign-in credentials, you want to change them immediately and notify your bank. If they have your actual bank account numbers, then you'll want to demand that your bank change your account.

If they stole you driver's license and credit cards, then you'll need to notify the banks and the Registry of Motor Vehicles where you live; and get replacements. Regardless, you'll need to file a police report with local law enforcement, and with the FTC (assuming you live in the USA).

The Identity Theft Resource Center ( http://www.idtheftcenter.org/ ) has specific materials for specific types of situations. You might browse their website and see what they suggest.

Should you decide to subscribe to a credit monitoring service, look for one that provides the details of all 3 major credit reports (monitoring), and helps with fixing any damage done by the criminals (resolution services). It seems that you may need both.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

George
Editor
http://ivebeenmugged.typepad.com