I''ve been a victim of identity theft!!!

[iceprincess]

The scoundrel(s) stole my mail from my mailbox (unsecured), got my statements from my credit card companies and took cash advances out against them.
The next part makes me feel embarrassed and like an idiot, but I''m sharing it to help prevent this from happening to anyone here:
I get an email from amazon.com saying that they need to verify my personal info. Apparently this was a sham website link that it directed me to. This is apparently called "phishing." http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/p/phishing.html

I was stupid enough to give enough personal info so the thief was able to open up new credit card accounts under my name.
I spent all day on the phone with the social security office and the credit bureaus putting a fraud alert on my name and social security number.

Today, I check on the link I was sent for amazon.com and guess what, yep site could not be found.
Be very very careful folks, this is a total nightmare.
What a disaster!!!

 

[littlelysser]

I''m so sorry to hear that happened to you. That is awful...hopefully by posting here at least a few people might be saved from going through the same thing...

 

[iceprincess]

Thanks Littlelysser, that was my intention in posting this.

 

[FireGoddess]

I''m sorry - I can imagine it truly is a nightmare. It is good of you to remind people to be vigilant - because these jerks are everywhere!!! One of my cc numbers was stolen (along with thousands of other peoples'') from a 3rd party processor...so it can come in many forms. Luckily my cc company made me aware of the situation and cancelled my card before anything bad happened.

I hope this gets resolved as quickly as possible for you...

But a lesson for sure - never follow a link to enter personal info! I got a phishing email allegedly from ''paypal'' that for once actually looked valid - and I had just done a paypal transaction and didn''t receive any email confirmation so I thought hmph - maybe this is real. Nevertheless I did not follow the link - I went to paypal directly, and sure enough, nothing was wrong. Phishers.

 

[Mara]

sorry to hear about this iceprincess!!! good luck fixing it, i hope it will be all resolved soon!

in general (not directed to you cuz now you know!), DON'T EVER click on links in emails that have to do with protected information, even a link to a simple 'request for login' link for say a nordstrom.com or something is bad because if you use the same login on various sites then once they have your info from a seemingly harmless site, they can try it on banking sites and ebay etc and then they get access to more than just a shopping site login!

it's better to go directly to the site and login from there...i get so many phishing emails from ebay and paypal, at least 2-3 a WEEK. and sometimes from chase and citibank about 'your account, urgent' and i don't even have those credit cards! ridiculous.

eta this is one reason we are glad our mailboxes are secure at our complex, sure we don't have a cute little mailbox in front of our place like i sometimes wish we do BUT we know that people aren't able to pull things out of our mailbox either! my mom had someone pull a macys card out of her mailbox YEARS ago and it was such a nightmare to get that handled.

oh and one more thing, pull your credit report every 3-6 months...you have to pay $7 for it or whatever but by checking it every so often you will know what is yours and what is not so if people do have new cards opened you will spot it. one other comment is that some people suggest to have ONE cc you use online that is only for online purchases so that you will more quickly be able to spot something fishy rather than having to search for it amongst gas purchases and dinners out and stuff like that. also ask for a lower limit on the internet card so that if the # is stolen then there isn't a $10k limit on it!

i had one of my card #'s stolen somewhere along the way a year or so ago, and i had AOL and compuserve charges on my card for 6 months before i noticed!! now i try to be way more vigilant, but you just never know.

 

[strmrdr]

ouch :{
sorry to hear that :{
I know a couple people it happened too and its a nightmare getting things put right.
Make sure that all the credit reporting agencies were notified.
Id check with the big 3 at the min.
With someone I know the credit card company said they notified them but they didn't notify all 3 and the crook was able to use his identity even after he thought it was safe.

 

[iceprincess]

Thanks for all the good advice FireGoddess, Mara, and Stmr. Mara, you''re totally right on about not clicking onto any links. I know my DH told me this before, but I just wasn''t thinking this time. DH is furious, like Strm, he was in network security and is sooo hypervigilant about these things and for good reason!
I feel so bad and guillible

My husband is also a victim, too. He has noticed numerous cash advances against his ccs and now there is another new cc opened under his correct name and ss#. I feel like I compromised our security.
I will be checking my credit report more frequently now that this has happened.
I notified the social security admin. and spoke with someone from their 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-433 hotline and put a fraud alert on my ss#.
I don''t even want to begin thinking about what this thief/jerk can do with my info.

 

[marvel]

Iceprncess, this happened to me too...with PayPal. It could have been a lot worse for me, but luckily my bank caught a transaction coming through from Argentia, or somewhere, and it was suspicious. I also posted on here to try so this wouldn't happen to other people. Make sure to contact the credit bureau's and place a fraud alert. This way you will be notified if anybody tries to open an account in your name.

Edit to add...sorry, just read your post completely and notice you went through the nightmare of reporting this to the credit bureau's...

 

[iceprincess]

Marvel, sorry to hear about this. In the end, did everything get straightened out okay? Identity theft leaves a long ugly mark on the victim long after it''s been flagged. I guess the only positive thing to come of this is that we all become wiser net-users, huh?

 

[marvel]

Iceprincess, Mine was caught early enough that all I had to do was canel my ATM. Nothing else has become of it...so, yes, in the end everything worked out okay. And I''m definately wiser!! Ashame we have to be so guarded.

 

[Honeyfly]

The ratbags!!! Thanks for the heads-up, will definately be more cautious when responding to emails!

 

[ChargerGrrl]

So sorry to hear about this!

My FI was a victim of identity theft too. He found out when they tried to open a cellphone account using his info. Luckly that was all that happened.

I highly recommend going "paperless". I get all my credit card and bank statements via email. It's just so much easier that way, and it provides me with piece of mind!

 

[iceprincess]

Thanks ChargerGrrrl, you know that one of my husband''s cc that had the cash advances taken out against it, doesn''t offer paperless. This company is THAT primitive. We have closed that account completely.

 

[AChiOAlumna]

So sorry to hear about your dilemma...hopefully it''ll get resolved quickly.

We had mail stolen from our mailbox as well. I have several hundred dollars worth of bills that needed to be paid were stolen & we didn''t know this until we got the second notices! Since then, we''ve bought a secure mailbox that allows the postman to drop mail in be can only be opened with a key. All outgoing mail is driven to our local PO and bills are paid online with automatic billpay.

I also get the "phishing" expeditions especially from PayPal.. Every single phish emails I get for PayPal are forwarded to [email protected]. This month, I got an official email from PayPal stating the security of my account had been compromised and I had to reset my account! It was a legit email as I was told to login at the PayPal site and follow the prompts upon signing in....

It can happen to anyone.....good luck!

 

[moon river]

Fortunatly the laws are changing concerning Identity theft. It is a little less of a nightmare to deal with these days. Still a pain in the A$$. I hope everything works out for you in a timely manner.

 

[Blenheim]

I''m sorry that you''re going through this. My mom went through a similar experience a few years ago when her credit card was about to expire and someone stole the new one from the mail. It took her some effort to get everything sorted out. I wish you the best of luck in dealing with all of this.

I got a couple emails today wanting me to verify my account information at banks I don''t belong to.

AChiOAlumna mentioned [email protected], but I think that a lot of companies have similar ways to report possible phishing. They''ll tell you if you really need to verify information with them, or if it''s someone trying to scam you. Everything I''ve sent so far to places I actually have accounts has been phishing, but as someone said, sometimes it is legit.

Good luck sorting all of this out.

 

[Arnel_Regina]

I am so sorry this happened! I don''t usually post but this happened to me from an ebay user. The email looked so legit. At first I was like, wait, this isn''t right. But I was worried about my account so I went ahead and entered my info. Next thing I knew the password was changed and I was actually selling something! I never sell anything. And it was a honkin trailer! I contacted ebay and they informed me about this "phishing" policy.they took care of the situation.

What i"m worried about are the older folks out there. They aren''t too internet savy and are easy targets. Please please let your parents and everyone know about this. It can prevent a lot of headaches.

take care and hope this never happens again!

 

[koko]

So sorry this happened, IcePrincess....thanks for the helpful ph#, I jotted it down for future reference. Here in GA., the State computer files have been hacked into, so all State and County workers have been notified that the hackers had access to their bank acct. #''s (from direct deposit), SS#''s, etc. A letter went out to my co-workers husband last week that he needs to watch their accounts closely. I know Allstate offers Identity Theft insurance.....wonder if it''s worth looking into? I have also been "phished" by Washington Mutual, Paypal, etc., but luckily I had read about the practice in Reader''s Digest. I still have an old fashioned mail box at the road, so you never know......Good luck getting this mess straightened out!

 

[moon river]

We just had this happen in my little home town. Or newspaper just did a story about it for their Sunday edition.