My identity--a hot commodity

My identity must be a hot commodity, b/c someone keeps wanting it. This is the *second* time that it has been unwittingly taken from me. I'm failing to comprehend why the heck someone keeps wanting it, but it's really annoying. Well, ok, it's probably all of that money I have in my bank that my identity gives these people free access to.

Right on the heels of--well, almost right on the heels of--heading out of town, I get a call from my bank asking me if I've authorized a second wire to China. Um, excuse me. Did you say second? I never remember authorizing a first one, and certainly not for half of my savings amount. I won't bore you with the details of what transpired afterwards, but let's just say that a)someone out there has all of my information (or enough to manage to fool the bank to wire large sums of money) including how to forge my signature; b)I had to close out all of my accounts w/ my bank and completely reopen everything, which means new checks, new ATM card, re-setting up automatic deposits and payments, etc.--all of which I cannot do instantaneously, and much to my grave annoyance, c) I cannot use my debit card, withdraw money, pay bills or write checks for a short while. Grr.

I am really quite flummoxed about how this happened. A second time. No, not the second wire to China that I authorized, but the second time someone tried to pass as me and take out money from my account. I thought I became more vigilant about guarding my data, shredding stuff, being careful, etc., but evidently, not enough. I wish I had more time to devote my full attention to this matter.

Next time, I hope to write about something much more interesting.