Totally pi$$ed off...Identify Theft!!!!!
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| Mon, 12-06-2004 - 11:36am |
Ok, this is new...I logged onto my cc account online this morning and the balance seemed quite high right off the bat. Looked at the transactions, and there was one that I had not made (0.00?) to a long string of numbers (no company name), followed by another I hadn't made ($125) to some company in australia. Called the cc company only to find out a couple of other attempts had recently been made (one for a penny to a web based internet provider, another to an online home furnishings store to the tune of !!!!!!!!!!$1,200!!!!!!), but were denied for some reason. I used it last night to buy $5/worth of gas, so I wonder why it wasn't declined then, if they suspected there was a problem???? And I wonder why I wasn't contacted (since they obviously knew about the $1200 attempt???)
THe cc company is sending me an affadavit to sign and return. I cancelled the card and told them not to send me a new one until this has all been resolved by the fraud dept etc. Who knows who the thief is. And who knows if it's just that line of credit, or if someone has been going through the mail and has more on me than I'd like to think about...
THis KILLS me b/c I am always so careful to the point of neurosis (sp?). I shred all identifying mail that comes into the house, esp the credit line offers but I mean ANYTHING that has our name/address goes into the shredder; I have a locked mailbox; I physically guard my cards and shield my hand when I enter a pin number on a pad. WHile working retail the past 2 weeks, I've left my purse at home and carried my essentials in a tiny one that can go on my keyring and stay with me in my pocket.
So far I've spent 2+ hours and had no luck placing fraud alerts OR getting credit reports from any of the 3 credit reporting agencies. I've tried online and by phone but I keep getting denied for some reason and cannot get a hold of a real person to ask WHY. So I am going to have to send them all letters by registered mail. I need to file a report with the FTC, as well as file a police report which needs to be done first. I just don't know if it should be filed here (where I live), or wherever the business exists that accepted the $125 charge. Another problem--since I called the cc company, I now cannot log into my account online, and did not write the business name down.
UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My own debt is bad enough without "help" from someone else. I am looking for a job and will have a FIT if someone has trashed my credit (lots of employers check it, right???) Hopefully this is not complete identity theft and only one number of mine that someone skimmed or got online somewhere. Bad enough--SHAME ON THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOT A HAPPY CAMPER TODAY.
BK


(((Hugs)))
I somewhat know what you are going through - DBF just found out the other day that someone opened a cell phone account in his name back in FEBRUARY. He got a call from a collection agency last week looking for hundreds of dollars in unpaid bills. Ugh!!! He was not even notified... but apparantly it took this skip tracer (who BTW was a really nasty b*tch) so long to find him because the thief gave a fake address and phone number. The guy will probably never be caught.
The person DBF spoke to at the fraud department said that this will not even appear on his credit file. The correction will be made, and once everything is resolved, it'll be like this never happened. He was told to file an official report with the police (took about 20 minutes), and to get a fraud alert put on his credit report. He tried calling Equifax, and like you, couldn't get a "real" person either and now has to mail something in.
What a pain in the a**! These damn id thieves are the lowest of the low IMO. It's not like they pick $20 out of your wallet, never to be seen again, but they have to completely mess up your life for a while. I've been with my DBF for almost 3 years and I never in my life saw him so angry.
As for needing a good credit rating to get a job... that can't be true... it's none of their business what your credit score is, is it?
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Some employers do look at your credit report when going for a job.
I am anal about everything also. When I cut up my sears cards, I cut it up teeny tiny and put them in 2 seperate trashbags that went out at different times the trash was picked up. I need a shredder but for right now I just manually "shred" everything extremely small. I'm sorry this is happening to you. One of my biggest fears. I hope you get everything straigtened out.
I had a similar situation...Fortunately I had just happened to pull all 3 of my credit reports less then a month before it happened, and maybe that is why I was able to put in a fraud alert with all 3 credit bureaus immediately on the phone.
The FTC has a department that handles identity theft, and they will steer you in the right direction. They only took my information down however, and could not assist me in any way other then giving me suggestions and advice-but the advice they gave me was very valuable.
I first filed a "suspicious activities" report with my local police department,(believe it or not, when I called the station, they sent an officer to my home because I have very young children and going there with them would have been difficult) when the brazen individual who was trying to scam me actually had the nerve to call me with the bull**** story that she was with Dell computers, and needed some personal info *mine and dh's ss#, and my mothers maiden name* to update my file (no, I dont have a dell, and never have)....but I told her to give me her name and number "so I could get back to her with the information" ....the number she gave me was different then the one that came up on my caller ID...and neither number belonged to Dell. In fact, I called Dell and let them know what was going on as well, they had no record of myself or dh having any kind of account, and nobody worked in their credit department having the name of the slimeball that was calling me (of course my first thought had been someone had opened a fraudulant accound with Dell, thank goodness that wasnt the case)... the police filled out a regular police report when she had the audacity to call me back asking if I gathered the information for their records. There was a sergeant at the police dept who handles only identity theft. He did a full investigation, (suprisingly enough, they really took it seriously), and he couldnt trace the individual (they think she was in another country)...but the person/people stopped, and didnt get very far, Im guessing because that wonderful sergeant was calling around and asking questions...
I wish you all the luck in the world...I spent many nights waking up in a cold sweat wondering who was after my information, and wondering if I'd be able to stop it before it happened.
HTH
~Dawn
How awful!!
I can't give you any advice other than what you have been given.
Just wanted to let
Becky
CL of 4th, 5th & 6th grade Scoliosis
All good advice. I would also suggest that you change your user name and password for every account, website, bank, etc. that you use online. And if you don't already have it, you might want to install a firewall, anti-spyware and virus protection software on your computer. ID theft is becoming much easier with spyware, so please protect yourself against it. I have had my computer's home page change without my consent, and two months ago (due to either spyware or a hacker), my entire computer system crashed and I lost everything!
Luckily, I had backup disks! (Believe me, back up your files!!)
Good luck fighting this horrible crime!
Melanie
That is an excellent point about protecting your computer!
I did an online scan once and discovered that I have over 100 ad-ware programs on my computer. Ugh! Not only does that take up space, but it causes pop-ups and affects the speed of my system. I've noticed also now that my Internet Explorer doesn't work at all (I prefer Netscape anyway, so it's not a huge deal, just kind of annoying).
My MIL just bought an old used computer, and she already has an online stalker - he puts messages on her screen, screws around with her toolbars and settings, and even makes moves for her while she's playing games. That's pretty creepy, IMO! I didn't even know hackers could even do that kind of stuff. She doesn't do any online banking or anything, or even have a cc, but it's still unsettling.
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Thanks, everyone, for your support and advice. I (we) bit the bullet and PURCHASED both of our credit reports online last night (funny how fast it works when money is involved). This 'service' came with all the bells and whistles...the credit agencies will email you if anyone tries to obtain a line of credit, or attemps a change of info (address, phone, etc). And, you can look at your reports online as often as you want. There was no suspicious activity on either of our reports (whew).
Fortunately DH is a computer programmer, so we are well protected from spyware and such. But, I agree with all the posters who pointed this out--it is REALLY easy for outsiders to get into a computer that is not proctected. And, even if it is protected, you still need to be careful about who you 'invite' in every time you download something from an unknown/untrusted/"iffy" source on the internet.
I guess it could have been worse, and it is a good wake up call. I'm already careful with my information, but I'm going to start being ultra-careful now!!!