He typed in the typical personal information required for such transactions, and a password that he used for all of his accounts. Helmer never did receive that tool he thought he had purchased.

Instead, he began to receive calls from creditors he didn’t know he had, and bills for things he hadn’t purchased. Things went downhill so quickly, it took Helmer by complete surprise.

He remembered that when he had purchased his homeowners insurance, his agent had talked him into an identity theft endorsement.

His agent had dealt with so many customers who encountered some type of identity theft, it was something he strongly encouraged everyone to add to their renters and homeowners policies.

Helmer contacted his agent and quickly received helpful advice on how to proceed. The insurance didn’t cover the actual purchases that happened as a result of identity theft, but it did pay for a fraud specialist who worked on getting to the root of the problem.

It also took care of replacing government-issued IDs, the cost of any criminal charges or lawsuits up to the policy’s limits, attorney’s fees, etc.

Helmer spent many hours trying to recover most of the money he had lost by calling the creditors and explaining his dilemma. The insurance coverage helped with much of the extra costs involved, for which he was grateful.

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