3:07 PM Tue, Jul 11, 2006 | Permalink |
Opening up a credit card bill the other day, I noticed four charges that my wife and I did not make and could not make, considering the type of purchase and the fact that they were made in Florida. And checking the automated service for the card I discovered another $84 in purchases were made since the billing statement, purchases neither of us made.
I called my bank's credit card fraud division and the investigator noted right away the purchases in question. And when I told the investigator about the additional purchases beyond the statement she said, "Yeah, and the $35 they're charging right now at a gas station in south Florida."
Identity crooks work fast. And how they got my particular credit card number is a mystery, since the card was not stolen. Beware! Check your credit card accounts online, regularly. Make sure no one is using your good credit for their no good.
Welcome to the world of the ID theft victim (smile). My checking account was compromised in April 2005, but thanks to a check-clearing company employee in Portland I was able to shut it down before any of the copycat checks made it to my credit union.
I was lucky in that nobody ever created credit cards or other charge accounts in my name.
My story had a happy ending: A Sears store in Tacoma mailed me the fake drivers license he had been using (it had my address on it), and police were able to identify the suspect through that evidence. He was subsequently arrested at a casino attempting to use a stolen credit card, and had identification on him in twenty-seven different names.
My truck was broken into at a local park & ride a few months before the fraudulent checks started showing up, but then the suspect at one time lived only a couple miles from me .. so I'm not sure how I was compromised.
On a more recent note, Mervyn's and Macy's recently declined to accept my personal checks ... so I'm still struggling to get my good reputation restored with check-clearing companies.
I've heard several horror stories far worse than mine, so I feel blessed that is all that happened. I have taken significant measures to ensure it doesn't happen again.
John Farrow
Olympia, WA
I had my wallet stolen in May and took all steps in closing accounts, requesting fraud alerts, etc. Come late June I started receiving returned check notices from various merchants on a closed checking account. I went back to my bank and reported the activity and they helped me with the paperwork necessary to clear my name with the vendors and before they sent these checks to collections. Somehow the person was able to obtain my checking acct. number and printed up his/her own checks. The funny thing was, every check was the same number. The one disappointment was that the merchants didn't bother to check for ID with any of the checks. One of the checks had two different merchants written on it, with one being crossed out as well as the dollar amount. I guess he went to one store and they didn't take it, so he crossed it all out and went to another where they accepted it. It appears that the person was buying a minimal amount of items and then writing the checks over the amount for cash. It has been a real pain and time consuming in making sure I have covered all the bases, not too mention the stress in wondering if this is finally over.
ionolsen23 May we exchange links with your site?