On the final day of 2008, I got a phone call, but it wasn’t someone with good wishes for the new year. The call was from a woman at a collection agency. She was stern and to the point: She asked me to repay $279 for a bounced check I had written at a Wal-Mart in Pearland.

Only I have never been to Pearland, and I don’t write checks at Wal-Mart.

My first thought: scam.

I asked for her company name, and she told me. When I asked for her name and her employee ID number, she refused, saying, “You’ll get a letter.” She hung up.

I did an Internet search for the company name — TRS Recovery — and the words Wal-Mart and bounced check.

A slew of comments came up.

One person reported a similar situation: bounced check in a Wal-Mart he never visited, and he doesn’t write checks.

His bank representative, he wrote, looked up TRS on the Internet and discovered that the company “is a fraud!” He complained that letters from the company “looked very real” and worried about people who have been “scammed by this company.” He added that he intended to file a police report against the company and also a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

After reading that and similar comments on another Web site, I thought that was all there was to it, and I could return to prepping for our New Year’s Eve celebration.

But a voice in my head asked, “What would The Watchdog do next?”

An unexpected twist

Next I checked the company’s Better Business Bureau report online.

What I found was unexpected and further proof that a lot of people write a lot of nonsense in blog postings. A scam? Hardly.

Turns out TRS Recovery is an affiliate of TeleCheck, which operates an electronic check verification system for retailers.

The BBB report shows 677 complaints against the company. Half are for billing and collection issues. But another statistic is one not found in a scam company. Of those 677 complaints, the number resolved is also 677. A company that cleans up its messes.

The free report listed company officials with phone numbers. I picked the top name on the list and called her – Denise Hossler, director of compliance.

New Year’s Eve. I figured I’d never get anyone. But Hossler picked up her phone.

She offered to help, and no, I didn’t tell her I’m The Watchdog. I wanted to see how she treated customers. I got lucky. This is someone who cares. When I complimented her on the perfect BBB record, she said that was her personal goal for the year.

Hossler looked up my file, and we figured out what happened.

Someone had bought $279 worth of merchandise at a Wal-Mart in Pearland last month using a fake check with my name and address. The check purported to be from a Harlingen credit union.

I was the victim of identity theft.

Happy New Year.

A victim again.

What did Yogi Berra supposedly say? Deja vu all over again.

Thirteen years ago, I tried to pay at a Wal-Mart in North Richland Hills, and the store declined my check. Turns out someone had written a check at a Montgomery Ward store in my name. Later, I learned another check was written at a toy store.

Took two days to clean things up. For two weeks, I wasn’t permitted to write checks. A state trooper told me that my driver’s license number was probably “pulled out of the air” by a con man.

Very few people become the victim of ID theft twice, says Linda Foley of the Identity Theft Resource Center. “You’ve been hit twice.”

Better that than lightning.

According to one study, Americans have a 1 in 37 chance of becoming an ID theft victim.

In Texas, a new legislative study shows that although half of all Texas ID theft victims lose no money, they spend between four and 130 hours fixing problems related to the theft. For those who do lose money, losses average $500.

Texas has laws to protect people in my situation. A debt collection company can’t hold me responsible for a debt I didn’t incur. Lenders can’t penalize me if I apply for loans or credit.

But what concerns me is the ease with which someone can pull this off. Fake checks — called synthesized checks — can be printed on a home computer.

I wondered about Wal-Mart’s procedures for verifying checks. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Ashley Hardie told me that check writers at Wal-Mart stores are randomly checked for additional information such as a driver’s license or a phone number when a cashier is prompted to ask for more information by the TeleCheck system. But this means that not all customers’ checks are verified.

Mike Prusinski, a spokesman for LifeLock, which provides loss protection for consumers, said big retailers that don’t demand more rigorous check verification are a major contributor to identity theft.

“If Wal-Mart and all the other places, instead of doing it randomly, did it all the time,” ID thieves would face tougher obstacles, he said.

Foley, of the ID Theft Resource Center, says, “Thieves know which companies don’t check things carefully and which ones do. They’re not stupid. This is their profession.”

Next, I’ll show you how I’m digging out of this hole.

PART TWO: WHEN IDENTITY THEFT HAPPENS, KNOW HOW TO FIGHT BACK

A few hours before the end of 2008, I found out that I was the victim of identity theft. I got a call from a collection agency seeking payment for a $279 check in my name payable to a Wal-Mart store in Pearland.

Only I didn’t write the check and I’ve never been to Pearland. This is the second time this has happened to me in 13 years.

I didn’t let it ruin my fun. I wasn’t angry or upset. I didn’t panic. I figured that whatever happens, I can deal with it. Then I tried to make as many calls as I could to learn what happened and do what I was supposed to do before the clock struck midnight.

It doesn’t take long to lay the groundwork to protect yourself when something like this happens. I kept a diary of my experience, and I’ll share it so you’ll know what to do if this happens to you.

1. I check out the collection agency – TRS Recovery – on the Internet. I discover that others have received similar calls. Several write that the TRS/Wal-Mart/bounced check story is a scam and that the company is taking money from innocent victims. But that turns out not to be true.

2. At the Better Business Bureau Web site, I learn that TRS is an affiliate of TeleCheck, a large check-processing company. The company has a perfect BBB record. 667 complaints. All of them resolved.

3. The BBB report lists phone numbers for company officials. I call the first one on the list — the director of compliance. Even though it is New Year’s Eve day, Denise Hossler answers her phone. She walks me through the facts, and I learn that this is a case of identity theft.

4. At her urging, I call workers at TRS’ fraud unit to register a dispute. I get a reference number. They tell me to get a Federal Trade Commission ID theft affidavit form from www.ftc.gov, fill it out and fax it to them to wipe the slate clean.

5. After downloading the affidavit from the FTC Web site, I complete it and take it to a notary. Notary public Stephanie Silva hears what has happened and says of ID thieves, “If they spent as much time doing honest work, they’d be millionaires.”

6. I call the FTC ID theft hot line (1-877-438-4338) to register for a national list of victims. I get another reference number.

7. The credit union where the check supposedly originated tells me the account with my name doesn’t exist. Someone used the credit union’s name but printed the check on his or her own. The credit union e-mails me a letter stating that.

8. The FTC affidavit is faxed to the debt collectors, along with the required proof of address (my Fort Worth water bill). But I receive no verification that it arrives. So I call back and ask for the mailing address so I can send it certified, return-receipt requested. They say that’s not necessary. I do it anyway.

9. When I call the Wal-Mart store to report the theft, I’m placed on hold. Eventually, I hang up. Later, Wal-Mart’s media relations department puts me in touch with a Wal-Mart risk-assessment employee, who takes a formal report. (A Wal-Mart spokeswoman says that ID theft victims should report incidents to the store involved.)

10. I call the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Department, which covers that Wal-Mart, to file a complaint, but I’m told to contact my hometown police department. Fort Worth police take my complaint and give me a police report number, which I’m told is the most important reference number of all. I’ll file an open-records request with the city to get a copy of the actual report.

11. I call LifeLock (phone: 1-877-Lifelock), a company that provides me with limited ID theft protection for $10 a month. A representative tells me that if I lose any money, LifeLock will cover it and that if I ever have a problem clearing my credit report, the company will work on that, too.

12. At the Identity Theft Resource Center’s Web site (www.idtheftcenter.org), I read informative articles about ID theft. Then I call the center’s Victim Assistance Center (1-858-693-7935) and talk to an adviser. She reminds me that this is not going to ruin my life, hurt my credit score or take money out of my pocket.

Most people, she says, “are very upset. They don’t know what to do. They’ve never had this situation happen to them. They ask, “How dare anyone do this to me?”

13. I call Linda Foley, a leader at the ID Theft Center, to ask more questions. She recommends that I call the three major credit bureaus and put a fraud alert on my credit to prevent anyone from opening a line in my name. Anyone can get an alert for 90 days before renewing, but as an ID theft victim, I can get it for seven years. She also suggests that I ask the bureaus for a security freeze so no one can access my credit report without my permission. (TransUnion, 800-680-7289; Equifax, 800-525-6285; Experian, 888-397-3742).

Foley predicts that as credit tightens, thieves will turn to check fraud. Unlike a credit card account, which can be closed, a check writer can keep writing fake checks. Every time a fake check pops up somewhere with my name, I’ll have to answer it by sending that FTC affidavit to the merchant as my explanation.

When does this end for the thousands like me who endure this? Probably when stores put in check-processing systems that can show cashiers a photo of the rightful holder of a checking account, Foley says.

No photo match? Then no purchase.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep you posted.