Financial information and ability to steal identity

[Alianza Terps 12]

Hello everyone. I think I'm becoming super paranoid because of all the documents and paperwork involved in the process. We recent had our visa approved (yay!) and I demonstrated my financial support by providing my bank statements, savings accounts and assets. I have a considerable amount of money in my savings and from assets. Now I'm just paranoid by the fact that the POE agent and any stranger who works at the USCIS could potentially look at our file and have all the information one would need to steal someone's identity and all my money (SSN, bank account #'s, etc).

I'm just being paranoid, right?

[sareliza22 1]

I have been practicing immigration law for a number of years now and I have yet to see any instances of identify theft at USCIS. While I don't want to rule out the possibility of it ever occuring in the future, I have not seen any misfeasance in my own practice to date.

[Pilar 1]

First of all, you have to relax. It is a stressful journey, but you need to be patient.

And why you give your personal password of all your accounts?

[Pilar 1]

Hello everyone. I think I'm becoming super paranoid because of all the documents and paperwork involved in the process. We recent had our visa approved (yay!) and I demonstrated my financial support by providing my bank statements, savings accounts and assets. I have a considerable amount of money in my savings and from assets. Now I'm just paranoid by the fact that the POE agent and any stranger who works at the USCIS could potentially look at our file and have all the information one would need to steal someone's identity and all my money (SSN, bank account #'s, etc).

I'm just being paranoid, right?

I've noticed than you and us, have joined VJ the same day...cool, ha?

[Alianza Terps 12]

First of all, you have to relax. It is a stressful journey, but you need to be patient.

And why you give your personal password of all your accounts?

Well, the account numbers are just on the bank statements. SSN is on the income tax returns and transcripts. I probably should have blacked them out but there is not much I can do now...

[baron555 934]

Hello everyone. I think I'm becoming super paranoid because of all the documents and paperwork involved in the process. We recent had our visa approved (yay!) and I demonstrated my financial support by providing my bank statements, savings accounts and assets. I have a considerable amount of money in my savings and from assets. Now I'm just paranoid by the fact that the POE agent and any stranger who works at the USCIS could potentially look at our file and have all the information one would need to steal someone's identity and all my money (SSN, bank account #'s, etc).

I'm just being paranoid, right?

You would be amazed at the information that they have access to besides your documents. Yes you are being paranoid. You have other choice but to supply the information that they require except not to follow the process at all or move out of the country. So, I guess three choices.

[B_J 2,752]

You would be amazed at the information that they have access to besides your documents. Yes you are being paranoid. You have other choice but to supply the information that they require except not to follow the process at all or move out of the country. So, I guess three choices.

True. They have access to a lot of information right now. If they wanted to steal an identity, they've already had thousands of chances. There's enough stress on this journey, don't create more for yourself.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

Well, the account numbers are just on the bank statements. SSN is on the income tax returns and transcripts. I probably should have blacked them out but there is not much I can do now...

Redacting the documents pretty much invalidates them anyway. If you remove any information that would allow confirmation of the documents then why bother to provide the documents in the first place?

[Ironman140 45]

Personal I'm more worried about mail service.. One reason to send everything certified

[Alianza Terps 12]

Okay thanks for the reassurance and those are good points! I woke up this morning thinking about it and I couldn't stop. I felt like I needed someone to give me a good slap in the face. I'm sure the government and their agencies have the ability to access whatever information they want to on people. I like my privacy but this process is so intrusive that I never know how much information is too much and what I am actually allowed to keep to myself...

[LonnieNCarmie 0]

They have access to everything so don't worry about your account but there are a few things to know consider getting a service

like life lock or a reliable credit monitoring service. Also know that your financial Institution will reimburse your accounts

against any fraud.

[rsn 135]

They have access to everything so don't worry about your account but there are a few things to know consider getting a service

like life lock or a reliable credit monitoring service. Also know that your financial Institution will reimburse your accounts

against any fraud.

Do NOT use LifeLock. The FTC has even called LifeLock a scam, and fined them $12m for deceptive practices, among other things, last year.

[Daniel&Theary 30]

You can always lock your credit info with the credit reporting agencies it is what company like lifelock do... and ask the bank to change account numbers if you are that worried about it.

[Otto 83]

** Topic isn't directly a K-1 Procedure related subject and may be more appropriate in General Immigration Discussion; moving thread there.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Well, the account numbers are just on the bank statements. SSN is on the income tax returns and transcripts. I probably should have blacked them out but there is not much I can do now...

I always blacked out everything except the last 4 digits on bank account information. I was fine with getting an RFE if they really wanted that information but they never did. I wasn't worried about USCIS having it, but after hearing that they sometimes store boxes of files in the back of semi truck trailers, who the heck knows who has access?