Our company name was used by a thief who created checks and used them at Home Depot, O'Reilly's, PEP Boys and CDW during the month of January.

I had signed up for Life Lock a few years ago. It was a relief to talk to someone who knew exactly what I needed to do. I now have an Identity Restoration Specialist named Ty. He helped me fill out the forms about the fraud, followed up with each collection agency. He calls them every week to check on the status of each fraud case and calls me with the results.

To date one collection agency has completed its fraud process and has sent me a letter stating they have reinvestigated and found that the information provided to them is associated with fraud, forgery theft or another criminal act. The others are working on it.

I have not had any new bad check notices. I assume the thief has moved on to his next victim.

I've heard that 1 in 8 people will be the victim of identity theft and small businesses are especially vulnerable. The Illinois Attorney General has directions on what to do if you are a victim of identity theft and how to repair credit. www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/publications/pdf/victim.pdf

Based on the personal service I have received, I would also recommend Life Lock and CSIdentity.