MY MIL AND BIL MOVED IN TO JOB HUNT. ONE DAY, I CAME HOME TO FIND MY FRIDGE LOCKED. SHE SAID, ‘TO EAT, YOU MUST ASK PERMISSION.’ I GRABBED A HAMMER, SMASHED THE PADLOCK, AND SAID, ‘THIS IS MY NOTICE!’

The loan application was clumsy.

My Social Security number was correct.

My salary was almost accurate.

The applicant used an old phone number and listed “home renovation” as the purpose.

Then I found the more important clue.

Two weeks earlier, someone had attempted to reset my credit-monitoring password at 2:13 a.m.

The device was an Android phone connected to our router.

Trevor owned the only Android in the house.

I called the lender’s fraud department, froze my credit, filed an identity-theft report, and preserved every email and timestamp.