Victim Location 60601
Total money lost $107
Type of a scam Travel/Vacations
I was in a rush and had never renewed my passport before (a very bad combo). Easy USA Passport was the FIRST website listed on Google when I searched "how to renew USA passport". (Remind you I have never had to renew my passport). The website looks legitimate and well put together. Again, since I was in a rush, I did not check to make sure the website was a ".org" (huge mistake). I unfortunately did not take a minute to think about what I was doing and entered in all my information and paid them. I know this was a dumb mistake and people always think it won’t happen to me, but I had a dumb moment that I am now spending a lot of time and effort fixing. RIGHT after I paid them and got the email confirmation, I had a horrible gut feeling I had done something bad, and my gut was right. I immediately called my fiance and we took the necessary steps to make sure I remained safe considering they had my SSN. I cancelled both my debit and credit card, I froze my credit on the three major sites, I added an initial one-year fraud alert to my Equifax credit report, and I signed up for Premium LifeLock. I pray that all the steps I have taken are enough to not cause distress or issues for myself or my family down the road. Although my identity has not been stolen, I took precautions and I suggest everyone does the same.