Identity theft

[Bryan330i]

Wow, what a day today has been. I have been cleaned out of cash and I don’t know what to do to stop the person that has taken over my identity. This is unbelievable because I thought that I had this under control. Now I don’t know when or if this is ever going to end.

Unfortunately I don’t have identity theft insurance to cover legal expenses and I would sure suggest that everyone seriously look at getting this ASAP. I shred everything and thought I was being extra suspicious and careful buy apparently that is not good enough.

Anyone else ever been through this. What do you do, how do you stop it, when does it end?

 

[xLibelle]

yeah, it stopped me in my cars project tracks at the beginning of this year.

the culprit got my number, somehow, made a replica card and used it in Mexico Ciy.

What you do to stop them, is to cut your card in half including the account! i hope you did this instead of put out a fraud alert on your card. request an affidavit from the company to get your money back. sometimes they will charge you a flat rate of $50... they didnt me.

lastly, and this goes to everyone, NEVER USE A CHECK CARD ON LINE. use only a credit card. It is easier to get credit back than it is your hard earned money.

fraud insurance is like appartment renters insurance in a nice neighborhood, depending on how good you are about your card usage. bs to me. just sign that affidavit and keep in close contact with the fraud department of your credit card company.

 

[Big Daddy]

If you have been the victim of credit card fraud you are only responsible for the first $50.00 is you notify your credit card company, but like xlibelle said, you need to complete an affidavit of frogery. Then notify all your account holders and request new account numbers. Change all your passwords and PIN numbers. Sorry to hear this Bryan, good luck!

 

[Tom]

Wow Bryan I'm sorry to hear. When you say cleaned out of cash, you mean they actually got into your bank account?

 

[codex57]

Get a 3-in-1 credit report to see what else is going on. Put a fraud alert with all 3 credit agencies. Call Social Security and talk to their fraud dept. if you think they got ahold of your SS#.

Check periodically to make sure no new accounts are opened in your name.

 

[Bryan330i]

Yes, my bank account was cleaned out with checks. The scary part is that this is an account I seldom use. I have never used a debit card on the account and I have only written one check this year to a local law firm and I am still on my first book of checks. I deposited 5,000.00 in cash from the sale of my motorcycle in April and the teller acted strange and I was suspicious at the time. He did not call another customer after I left the window and when I looked back (I looked back because I had a bad feeling about the guy) he was writing something down.

About two weeks later I discovered that someone was establishing new credit accounts in my name. I caught this early because a mortgage company asked me about 33 lines of credit that I had. I was like 33-no way! So that day I proceeded to close the fraudulent accounts and get them removed from my reports. I did everything required, I went to the police department, motor vehicle department (they were using my drivers license that they had obtained to open accounts) and I put fraud alerts on all credit reports.

I thought I was in the clear but this was hardly the case. They made checks and with another drivers license with my information (probably fake) they cleaned out my account. The police just tell me how the investigators each have hundreds of cases and they will get to is as they can. I am not sure what to do at this point to stop them.

 

[gizzy]

Sounds to me that the teller is the key. What has the bank said about this? Just as a guess, I'll bet the teller quit his job and is now nowhere to be found.

 

[tool fan]

Great.....now I am paranoid. Tom, I have bought a few things from the Die cast Muscle store.....with a check/credit card. Are these pretty upstanding peoples?

 

[Tom]

Yeah Tool Fan...Mark has been our sponsor for a long time and he is safe.

 

[Ghost]

Also when you go into a store, make sure that when the cashier swipes the credit card the information comes up on the register. A scam that used is to have a separate card reader that stores names, numbers and expiration dates. They will swipe the card, then say “Oh the machine must not be working right and manually punch in the information, after storing it on their card reader.

 

[aNoodle]

Wow...that is bad news Bryan. Sorry to hear about this.

As for the debit cards, I've never understood why people use them. USAA tried to send me a cash card and I sent it back to them and asked for only an ATM card. Why do I want to pay for something and have the money come immediately out of my account? With a credit card you can at least review the expenses and reject those that you did not sign for. I used to work in finance for a small company, and you wouldn't believe the number of employees that came to me crying that someone had gotten ahold of their account number, had cleared out their money, and it was going to take the bank several weeks to reinstate the money after reviewing who had withdrawn the funds (and yeah after police reports were filed). They caused me a real headache because I'd have to reroute their direct deposit...ugggh. Just say no to debit cards!!!!!

Of course, people who clear fake checks are an entirely different matter. Not much you can do about that...except to change the bank account number. You are of course responsible for not even $50 if you didn't sign the check so long as you don't fail to report the charges within the reaonsable amount of time.

On the credit history front, note that you are entitled to at least 1 free report a year from each of the three big credit report companies (more often if you are a victim of credit fraud). Don't fall for the 3-in-one paid for services. When you go to the credit companies websites, they will do everything to get you to pay for their services...wanting to give you their "score." This is nonsense, you just want to review the actual history and alert them to incorrect information not pertaining to you. If you're interested I have the information on getting the truly free reports (some of them make you call them and won't let you do it on the web...they'll do anything to collect some money for something they are required to do for free under the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act).

 

[Bryan330i]

My situation keeps getting worse. I just got a letter from an attorney representing Teleckeck verification service for writing bad checks. The account number listed is an account I have never had so the person is apparently opening checking accounts in my name and writing bad checks.

I have called the major check services and told them to not honor any checks with my information. The bad part is I will then need to get this all cleared off when I get to the bottom of this of I will not be able to write a check or open an account.

Reports here show a 1 in 3 chance of becoming a victim here in Las Vegas, much higher than the national average-surprise surprise-just another reason to get the h@ll out of here.

 

[vlad]

Man! I feel for you!

I had no idea that this could happen to this extent. Thanks for opening my eyes and good luck to you!