My identity theft saga continues. This will be my third column in a year, journaling the trials of protecting my identity and credit standing against a really determined white-color criminal in Miami, Florida. (Miami Police, please take note and return my phone calls!)

In the world of real estate finance, you can't let your credit take a hit because of some idiot, using your credit to illicitly line his pockets with your cash and fill his house with consumer goods bought on your good name. When you're looking at buying a house, you don't want to find out during your credit check (just a few weeks before you want to settle on your new home) that your credit is in horrible condition because of the dastardly deeds of someone else.

Thankfully, for me, this ID Burglar has continued the same modus operandi -- he likes cell phones. I can only imagine what he's doing … opening new accounts in my name with my social security number and home phone number, then sub-letting them out to his buddies. I'm sure they're either drug dealing or carrying out some other illegal activity. I really hope they're not terrorists.

I found out about this latest attack on my credit when I received a phone call from Cingular Wireless. The collection agent wanted me to make a payment on my $1,000-plus phone bill. Since I've never had a Cingular Wireless account, I knew immediately that Tony down in Miami, was at it again.

Supposedly, when certain vendors open new accounts, they are supposed to check a person's credit. These folks said they had checked my credit and there was no fraud warning on my credit report. That was mistake number one on my part -- letting the fraud alert expire.

When all of this began, I checked through the credit agencies to find out what to do -- generally, you can immediately place a fraud alert on your account which lasts for 90 days. The next step is to file a fraud statement on the account which stays with the report for seven years. However, it's not as simple as just getting on the phone and calling it in. First, you have to have a credit report in your hand from them -- that means going to each of their sites or calling in to order the credit report, then calling the customer service number.

Keep in mind, you need to go to each agency separately (listed below) -- even though they all offer the new three-in-one report where you can get all reports from the three major agencies in one order. The problem I found, was that when you're looking to place a fraud alert on the account for seven years -- they each want you to give them the individualized report number found on the report, thus you're going to have to go to each site or call each toll-free number to order a report, then get back on the phone with each agency to file the seven-year statement.

What this is supposed to do is to alert credit-providing companies (credit card companies, retail stores, utilities, etc.) with a note on the report that they must call you at a phone number on the credit file to verify the requested credit.

I found out that my ID Burglar even tried to have the phone number changed on my credit report so that he could change information on my report. Thankfully, the operator on the phone followed procedure and said she would call him back on my home number to verify that he was who he said he was.

In checking my reports this time around (versus the ones I saw six months ago) I found several pieces of incorrect information -- including three home addresses in Boston, Mass., (though I've never lived north of the Mason-Dixon Line) a Miami-based phone number, and two employers for whom I never worked.

By NOT checking my credit report, I would never have discovered that this person was starting to integrate his own personal (or at least fabricated) credit and work history into my bona-fide credit report. Now, it's all been taken off of my report, the incorrect information has been deleted and I'm safe for a while longer.

Keeping up with your credit doesn't mean looking in your wallet to see which credit cards you possess -- it takes a determined effort to insure you are who you think you are.

Credit Reporting Resources:

Equifax - 800/525-6285
Experian - 888/397-3742
Trans Union - 800/680-7289