One person shared a disturbing story about their old company hiring a repeat offender convicted of identity theft as the head of human resources.
“Hey, my old company hired someone for head of HR without performing a background check,” the person wrote on Reddit.
“Turns out they had been in jail multiple times for identity theft. The company found out recently and fired her, but I’m worried because I had given her access to my SSN and all other info when I was hired.”
The incident, posted to r/personalfinance, set off a wave of advice, outrage, and warnings from people who were stunned that such a hiring decision could be made without even a basic background screening.
But more importantly, the situation served as a wake-up call for anyone who hasn’t taken steps to protect their credit and identity.
Freeze Your Credit. Seriously.
The top comment was straightforward: “Freeze your credit at the 3 ratings agencies.”
“Not only is this the best answer, I strongly believe everyone in America should do this as a matter of daily habit,” another person advised.
“Credit monitoring is close to worthless because it notifies the consumer after fraud has taken place. Freezing your credit report makes it extremely difficult for fraud to take place.”
The process of freezing credit is free and can be done in under 10 minutes per bureau.
Once frozen, no one can open a new line of credit in your name unless you temporarily “thaw” the report using a secure PIN.
“Even when you freeze, and you put fraud protection on, remember they are separate,” another commenter warned.
“I learned the frustrating way when buying a car recently. Unfroze my credit with the 3 agencies and thought I was squared away. The loan officer had a difficult time apparently since I still had the fraud protection part on.”
It’s Not Just the Big Three
While most people are aware of Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, the thread pointed out that other bureaus like Innovis and ChexSystems also store data that can be exploited.
“You need to at a minimum be doing more than just this,” one commenter wrote. “Freeze ChexSystems, sign up for the IRS identity theft pin, and create an ID.me account.”
ID.me helps prevent someone from using your information to get a job in your name. Meanwhile, the IRS PIN stops criminals from filing a fake tax return with your Social Security number.
Don’t Pay for What You Can Do for Free
Several users emphasized that credit bureaus often try to trick users into signing up for paid services during the freeze process.
“They all try to trick you into paying for a ‘premium’ service,” one person warned.
“They present it almost as if it’s necessary to do the freeze, but it’s not. At no point freezing or thawing your credit do you need to pay or give any form of payment info.”
Another added, “Their websites intentionally try to inconvenience you into buying into their protection racket, which is only possible because of how vulnerable they’ve made us. Disgusting lack of accountability.”
Yes, Freeze Your Kid’s Credit Too
Some users pointed out that identity theft isn’t limited to adults. Children are often targeted because their credit histories are clean and untouched.
“First thing people should do when they get home from the hospital with a new baby should be: freeze their credit,” someone said.
What If You Forget It’s Frozen?
A few Redditors shared stories about forgetting their credit was frozen when applying for loans. But the consensus was that it’s no big deal.
“I’ve done that before,” one commenter said.
“The lender just called me and said, ‘We weren’t able to get a copy of your credit report. Is it possible you have the accounts frozen?’ To which I said, oh sh*t yeah, let me fix that. They pulled my report the next day and the rest of the process went on as normal.”
Another summarized it best: “It’s a tiny amount of extra ‘paperwork’ added to tasks that are already a bunch of ‘paperwork’ to begin with, so the inconvenience to my life is approximately zero.”
Could the Company Be Sued? Maybe, But Don’t Count on It
Some commenters speculated that the company could be legally liable.
“I’d get a lawyer,” one wrote. “They have liability if they failed to perform proper background checks before exposing your information to someone with a history of identity theft.”
But others disagreed, saying it would be hard to prove damages unless identity theft actually occurred.
“This was an idiotic hire, but she could have gone straight,” one user commented. “There is nothing to sue for—yet.”
Another pointed out how difficult such a case would be:
“OP has to prove that it was her, that she got the info through the company during her time as head of HR, and that the company acted recklessly which resulted in this direct damage. All of these are very far-reaching.”
The Company Didn’t Even Inform Staff
Perhaps the most unsettling part? The company didn’t notify employees.
“Nope, they’re trying to keep it undercover and have not told anyone,” the OP replied when asked if the company had offered any help or made a public statement.
“I only found out through a coworker who works in IT and saw the emails going around between the higher ups.”
Despite recognizing the company was behaving unethically, the OP admitted they hadn’t reported it out of concern for coworkers.
“The company does a lot of shady/illegal things and I could easily report them, but I know my coworkers will be out of jobs so I’m just not saying anything.”
One commenter shot back: “Well that’s pretty selfish while calling it selfless. Find a way to report them anonymously.”
Final Advice: Stay Alert, Act Fast
“Your SSN has been out in the wild for many years. Security breaches are nearly a weekly event between banks, lenders, credit bureaus,” one person noted. “Just keep your credit frozen with all three bureaus.”
And finally, one commenter offered a calm but serious reminder to the OP: “You’re doing the right thing by acting fast. Stay alert, but you’ve got options to protect yourself.”
Freezing your credit, setting up fraud alerts, requesting your credit reports regularly, and filing for an IRS PIN are all low-hassle steps that can prevent a major personal and financial disaster, especially when companies put your data at risk without telling you.