Identity Theft?

[Lilac]

While I was sleeping this morning, my husband was checking our credit card accounts before leaving for work (he likes to do this every few days to make sure everything is normal and there aren''t any strange charges to our accounts) and he saw a $600 charge in California at an auto shop yesterday. We live in NY and haven''t made any purchases or charges in California since we were there on vacation a month ago. He called the credit card company to dispute this and report a stolen credit card number and he''s been on the phone with them for about 45 minutes now trying to sort this all out. He woke me up in the middle of it to ask if I had my credit card in my wallet (which I did). We''re not sure how this happened, but it definitely was not a fun morning so far (and it''s not even 8 in the morning!)

I really hope DH can sort this out with the credit card company before they actually charge us the $600 we didn''t spend

. I don''t understand how this happened, but I guess I should be grateful it wasn''t more than $600 and that the credit card company so far seems to be understanding about it.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 6/19/2009 8:00:38 AM
Author:Lilac
While I was sleeping this morning, my husband was checking our credit card accounts before leaving for work (he likes to do this every few days to make sure everything is normal and there aren't any strange charges to our accounts) and he saw a $600 charge in California at an auto shop yesterday. We live in NY and haven't made any purchases or charges in California since we were there on vacation a month ago. He called the credit card company to dispute this and report a stolen credit card number and he's been on the phone with them for about 45 minutes now trying to sort this all out. He woke me up in the middle of it to ask if I had my credit card in my wallet (which I did). We're not sure how this happened, but it definitely was not a fun morning so far (and it's not even 8 in the morning!)

I really hope DH can sort this out with the credit card company before they actually charge us the $600 we didn't spend

. I don't understand how this happened, but I guess I should be grateful it wasn't more than $600 and that the credit card company so far seems to be understanding about it.

Sorry to hear this Lilac.

There are various ways this can happen, a question for you, have you made purchases online using the card and also do you have a good anti virus defender program installed on your computer? Malware such as trojan viruses can get on your computer from even innocent sites sometimes and if you do financial transactions the crooks can get your details that way. Not saying this is what happened but it is one of the ways it can. Or it is possible someone got hold of your details while you were in California, various ways this can happen too. Definitely check your computer security as soon as you can. Also always delete temporary internet files/ cache after you have used sensitive information.

 

[LilyKat]

That happened to me once, after I (stupidly) made an online purchase from a computer at an airport (even though it was a secure website). My card company were great, they credited the money back to me within 6 weeks, cancelled the old card and sent me a new one, and investigated the fraud.

It''s happened to so many people I know, card companies are well aware of it, and as long as you haven''t given your PIN out or something, there shouldn''t be a problem getting it back.

But yes, I second the advice on getting your anti-virus and computer protection software up to date, and only use trusted computers and trusted sites for online purchasing.

 

[D&T]

oh so sorry that happened to you, I too had the something happen similar. But my CC card notified me instead, and within 48 hours was credited back my funds over $500. They knew my spending habit, weird. but You''ll get it all worked out.

 

[Lilac]

I haven''t bought anything online any time recently (and I actually don''t remember ever using this card for an online purchase). I have a Mac so I thought those were pretty good at protecting against viruses and things like that (although I could be wrong about that - but like I said, I haven''t made any online purchases anyway).

I assume it must have happened when we were in California last month, I just wish I knew when/where because as far as I can remember, we only used the card for big places like hotels and parks (such as Disneyland, Universal Studios, etc). We didn''t use it for any internet purchases or any shady places.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Wow!!! I think you guys will be OK. Clearly this isn''t a charge you made. CC companies are pretty good about this stuff as it''s unfortunately so common these days. Ugh, I''m so sorry you had to deal with this. Not something you want to wake up to. I bet your husband is glad he checked!

 

[LilyKat]

Date: 6/19/2009 8:27:58 AM
Author: Lilac
I haven''t bought anything online any time recently (and I actually don''t remember ever using this card for an online purchase). I have a Mac so I thought those were pretty good at protecting against viruses and things like that (although I could be wrong about that - but like I said, I haven''t made any online purchases anyway).


I assume it must have happened when we were in California last month, I just wish I knew when/where because as far as I can remember, we only used the card for big places like hotels and parks (such as Disneyland, Universal Studios, etc). We didn''t use it for any internet purchases or any shady places.

That''s pretty scary - I''d heard about card details being swiped (even in restaurants etc) but wouldn''t have thought it would happen in places like Disneyworld. I''m sorry you''re going through this, I know how it feels

 

[gemgirl]

This unfortunately happened to us today

. I came home from the grocery store to my husband asking me if I bought anything from a particular retailer recently and had the purchase shipped to Thailand. Then he smiled and joked, but we were both pretty upset about it. I called our credit card company and explained that the charge was not ours and then they told us that these people (whoever they are) also used our card yesterday. They''re not holding us responsible for the two charges and I asked them to close the account permanently and allow me to just pay it off.

What REALLY scares me is that these people had my correct name, address, phone number, credit card number and expiration date. The credit card company said that these thieves usually have most the info correct, but not all. Now I''m really worried about where they may have gotten that information and perhaps what else they may know or can get a hold of (financially speaking).

Can I say crap on our board? CRAP!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I was pickpocketed once, and they took my wallet. They weren''t the smartest people though, the first purchase they tried to make was a <20$ buy from Walmart, the bank sent me an email immediately to confirm, and I had them reset my card numbers.

Scary story though: one of my friends had her identity stolen when she was changing her name after her marriage. Somebody apparently got her hands on her papers, so not only did they have name, address, number. But they also had her social security number, birthday, drivers license number, etc. They opened a ton of credit cards in her name and trashed her credit score, and she had a really hard time getting everything in order and proving it wasn''t her.

 

[Munchkin]

I''ve had to deal with a similar issue 3 times.

1. My bank notified me that my debit card number was in a batch that had been breached and they were closing it and sending me a new one.

2. A few weeks after I returned home from a trip to Europe my bank notified me of unusual purchases on my credit card. They were understanding and credited me the money, but it was still a pain in the butt. I had the card in my wallet, but I suspect the number had been swiped on my trip. I didn''t make any purchases with it, but I had it with me in case of emergency.

3. The most annoying one was when I got a letter from my doctor''s office saying that the local police had notified them that a member of their billing staff had my social, my address, my debit card number and my DOB. They paid for a year of identity theft protection, but I still had to do all the leg work of closing accounts, closing my checking, changing my direct deposit, etc.

At first I felt creepy, like I had been taken advantage of. Eventually it was replaced with feelings of anger and annoyance. I''m sorry you''re going through this.

 

[deegee]

Sorry you''re going through this. It''s nerveracking, to say the least.

Last year we had 6 separate charges somewhere in Panama totalling $23,000 on our Visa bill, all on the same day. Of course I freaked out, but the credit card company was incredibly easy to deal with. They closed the account and overnighted us new cards for a new account. Later in the week there was a story on the news that about 30 people who had eaten at a local restaurant had discovered enormous charges on their credit cards. The FBI got involved and discovered that an employee at the credit card processing center had stolen the numbers. We haven''t had any problems since, but I''m still paranoid.

Hopefully you can get everything straightened out quickly!

 

[trillionaire]

about 2 or 3 years ago, I got a call from Dell Computers confirming information about my laptop purchase. I listened to the message, but for some reason, decided to call them back to let them know that they had the wrong number (as opposed to ignoring the call as a wrong number). They proceeded to confirm all of my personal information, and that I was purchasing TWO laptops, and a Dell Credit Account for business. They had listed my apartment address as a business! So I called my bank, just in case, and they had flagged my account for suspicious activity... there were all kinds of crazy charges, including 6 hotmail plus accounts (???) And donations to UNICEF! *scratches head*

I was able to get my money back fairly easily, thank goodness! A month later, they had hacked my online banking, and transferred 2 or 3K that I didn''t have... that was cleared up too, as it was a monetray transfer. I changed all my account info after that, but it had to be a Trojan or insidious proigram of some sort, because NO ONE knows my log in info, and it is totally random!

Sheesh!

And my wallet was stolen this past March, but without incident except inconvenience!

 

[Lilac]

My husband was able to get them to agree not to even post the charge to the account (they had said they needed to wait for the charge to go from "pending" to posted, but he argued that if it wasn''t our charge then we shouldn''t have to wait for that). So they took the charge off, canceled the card, and they''re sending new cards to us.

Based on some of all your stories, we''re pretty lucky that it was only $600! Dealing with this hasn''t been as bad as I thought - just a hassle. I told my dad yesterday and he said he once had an employee in his office use his credit card information to charge $100,000 worth of stuff to him before anyone realized (including clothing/stuff from Victoria''s secret, cruises, dinners, etc.) Certainly compared to that I''m happy this was discovered and taken care of before it got out of hand!

 

[Pandora II]

I had this happen last week.

They used my details to buy stuff from i-tunes (to test the card apparently). It triggered a computer at my bank, they blocked my card and phoned me within 10 minutes to see if it was my transaction.

The bank then sent me a new credit card two days later and recredited my account with the whole $2 that these people had managed to spend!

I LOVE my bank (First Direct), but they are so hot on security that I have to remember to call them in advance if I''m going abroad or they block my card after the first foreign transaction!

My mother had her card cloned a couple of years ago and they took over $4k out. Her bank didn''t spot it, she did on a Friday night from her statement and her bank doesn''t have telephone banking so no chance of speaking to anyone till Monday. She was freaking out, so I called my bank to find out the usual protocols. They spent 20 minutes on the phone calming her down and explaining what was likely to happen and that she''d get the money back - and this was for someone who wasn''t even a customer! Her own bank took SIX WEEKS to re-credit her account - she now banks with my bank!

It is so common, and I''ve never known banks or credit card companies not pay you back the money.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Pandora-thanks for the reminder about calling your bank before traveling out of the country. I don''t know if this is standard with most banks but it seems like such a good idea. FI and I are going to Belize in two weeks and we plan to use our respective cards there so I''m going to make a point to do this before we go.

 

[soocool]

This happened to me almost 2 months ago. The cc company called me on Mother''s Day as there were numerous fraudulent online charges. First thing Monday we called Equifax and they contacted the other credit bureaus to put a fraud alert on my DH''s account. We then notified the police and when you submit a copy of the police report to the credit bureau, they will place a 7 year fraud alert for free.

 

[Mara]

to second what others have said, make sure your antivirus has identity protection on it, most simple AV products won't. try to get as comprehensive of a coverage as possible..and even if you have to pay for it, it's worth it.

one tip i read elsewhere was to use one card with a low limit ONLY for online purchases. don't use any of your other cards for online. then it might be easier to pinpoint where it might have happened.

thing is, even if you don't shop online, sometimes cards you use at restaurants or similar can be stolen by waiters etc. i know it doesn't happen all the time but i read an article on how offline thefts like that are becoming more prevalent. they will rack up the #'s and then sell them to fraud rings. my parents are paranoid about shopping online but offline is not 'safe' either.

 

[soocool]

Also, now for any online purchases I use only "virtual" cc numbers for an added safety.

 

[chrono]

This is very scary and to see it happening to quite a few Pricescopers makes it even more frightening.