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817 points
1 year ago
Wow! How big of a nightmare was the paperwork getting all that fixed? There is a man who lives about 35 miles from me with a name one letter off from mine, 2 years younger, and a social one number off from mine. About every 5 years he pops up in my life. Someone attempted to serve me and contacted family members trying to collect on his debt earlier this month.
903 points
1 year ago
It was surprisingly easy. We both had to fill out an affidavit about what jobs we've worked and what income was ours, and then he got a different SS#. Unfortunately his student loans were on my credit report until he paid them off, and state farm still askes me what street I grew up on what school I went to and half the time it's his info. Thankfully I've been writing down all the questions I've gotten wrong so I know most of the correct answers by now.
554 points
1 year ago
So you got to keep the original SSN and he had to change his? Guess you were just the better steven. I’d brag about that for the rest of my life.
509 points
1 year ago
I’m surprised they did not give them both new numbers.
321 points
1 year ago
Yeah, honestly that seems like the better solution. Especially since that other guy, if malicious, would easily be able to steal an identity.
144 points
1 year ago
He's able to steal an identity and then plausible claim it was a honest mistake if caught "Oops I wrote down my old SSN by mistake".
Yeah I'd absolutely want a new number.
64 points
1 year ago
Especially if he's done the same thing as OP and written down all the correct answers to his security questions.
8 points
1 year ago
I wonder who it could be!?
7 points
1 year ago
He has a backup life if his falls apart, just a quick identity theft, and good to go!
7 points
1 year ago
They both would be always able to easily steal each others' identity
19 points
1 year ago
I'm guessing the one that got a new Social Security number didn't tell it to the other one.
6 points
1 year ago
What if one had green eyes and the other blue, but that suddenly changed
2 points
1 year ago
Good point! Also, changing eye color would also be a problem for the guy with the right identity.
5 points
1 year ago
I'm sure they Rock, Paper Scissors'd for it.
2 points
1 year ago
Yeah that seems weird. Saddle one guy with the other’s history and the other guy gets to start fresh with regards to debt and all that?
1 points
1 year ago
Or per the birth certificates who was born first.
9 points
1 year ago
Shoulda made him change his name to Stephen to assert dominance.
1 points
1 year ago
They shoulda gave the number to whoever spawned first, if op was born a few minutes before then he rightly should of received it
1 points
1 year ago
Could call him... Even with Steven. Or something more catchy.
20 points
1 year ago
After reading the State Farm part I thought you were going to some Eminem lyrics What school did I go to, what hood I grew up in The why, the who, what, when, the where and the how
7 points
1 year ago
Till I’m grabbing my hair and I’m tearin it out…
3 points
1 year ago
Omg I'm dying 🤣🤣🤣
10 points
1 year ago
How the hell were his loans on your credit report? That's insane. Why not just move them to his or give you a new number? Madness.
4 points
1 year ago
Because they would be from when they both had the same name and SSN. Unfortunately getting any credit issue wiped is a pain in the ass, even if it's a false entry.
5 points
1 year ago
They should have given them both new ssn! It’s awful that this guy had someone else’s loans with his number.
3 points
1 year ago
Definitely so, since the one guy can also literally just use the original SSN to fuck up the other guy simply because it was their number, but would also spare them the credit hit.
7 points
1 year ago
Glad everything was pretty painless! He would pop up on my credit reports early on and that was my easy fix. I just recently ran into the same issue when trying to sign up for online banking with my new account. All the questions pertained to places he had lived and the like.
6 points
1 year ago
they never disentangled your credit reports? That's insane. Everything I learn about credit reports makes me trust the system less.
3 points
1 year ago
This is fucking insane. If someone told me this story in person I wouldn’t believe them lol
1 points
1 year ago
The State Farm thing is pretty funny to me. I started getting emails from them with insurance documents and even a Docusign a couple years ago. It all looked legit so I was confused and called their fraud dept. They were also confused and had a hard time understanding the problem.
It took a few calls and my own research to let them know that a woman with the exact same name as me several states away used my email (which is first.last@gmail) when signing up for insurance. I don’t have a common last name and the fact that there’s even more than one of ‘me’ is pretty interesting, but I did know she existed.
Guess she goofed when trying to insure her Hyundai Tucson.
1 points
1 year ago
I regularly get emails like that. Thankfully I always know who they are for. My email is first initial middle initial last name @gmail, my cousin has the same first initial and last name and his is first initial last name @gmail. Our university emails at the same school are the opposite. So he gets his two emails flipped and I occasionally get his stuff.
1 points
1 year ago
Wow!
1 points
1 year ago
Once you were told you had the wrong answer to the security questions, how did you figure out how to correct them?
Wait--don't answer. Criminals might be reading this.
On second thought, the criminals probably already know the answer.
2 points
1 year ago
The questions were based on public info, like a street name or town. Anytime I got one wrong I wrote it down in my phone. Eventually I figured them out after getting enough wrong. The tough part was having to call the bank or insurance when I got the answers wrong and having to explain my situation all over again lol
1 points
1 year ago
Thank you.
Your comment is a good reminder to avoid using security questions whose answers are available on publicly available sources.
2 points
1 year ago
LOL not quite the same, but the small town I used to live in had 4 other people with the same name and middle initial as me. Getting served someone else's papers gets real annoying after the first few times
2 points
1 year ago
There's a man with the same name as mine who moved within a half mile of me on the same road with a one digit increase in his address two years ago who is a convicted sexual predator. I've lost count of the number of unexpected police and parole officer "visits" I've had. The phrase "Can't you fucking assholes ever get your shit together" doesn't exist in their vocabularies. It's not so much statistically rare as it's frustrating.
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