Merry Christmas to Me! Someone Stole My Info; Might Wanna Check Your Credit Report

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Just a heads up: If you haven't checked your credit report in a while, you might want to do it now. A lot of people wonder where their bad credit comes from, and sometimes it genuinely isn't their fault; bad charges, and, in my case, credit card fraud.

I knew something was off because I've been consistently turned down by online vendors when I've applied for credit recently. So, I went to the bank today for a small loan to put towards some holiday gifts and the computer I planned on building. I've dealt with this bank for quite a while and assumed that taking out a fairly small loan would be no issue at all. I was turned down. The loan officer showed me my Equifax report that included an almost $3,000 credit card write-off in my name.

Considering I haven't even owned a credit card, I did some research. When trying to access your credit file on the Equifax website, they ask you for your full name, address, SS#, DOB, etc. That went fine. After that, they ask you four security questions, all of which have to do with information inside your account so you're the only one that knows the answer to them. Three different times I tried to get in, and all three different times came up with new questions and account info that absolutely did not belong to me. From what I can gather so far, someone that lives in SC and has changed their name slightly a couple different times has bought quite a few different things in my name and never paid them off. Apparently, they've also incorrectly guessed how to spell the name of my street several times.

I'm still trying to get to the bottom of this, and I wanted to give everyone a heads-up to protect themselves from this type of thing; don't wanna see your kids not get what they want for Christmas because someone stole your identity. I'm really not even sure what to do at this point.

 

[Shave A Buck]

It happens. You are soooo lucky and you dont even know it even though this is a terrible thing no matter how you slice it. When this started years back no one believed the people at first. Consider yourself lucky that there are steps in place to help you and clear this up a lot faster. I knew people who were on the hook for all these purchased things for many years before this became epedemic and handled differently by credit companies.

Good luck to you and you are correct, get your report three times a year. In N.J. at least we are entitled to three reports a year free which should be spaced out every four months. I pay for one a year too which gives me more info than the free ones. It's worth it.

 

[DC_MPA]

I hate to hear that. I wish you the best. I learned to check my reports every 3 months. If you use one of the three bureaus every 3 months you are getting a free credit report always every 90 days.

 

[Sullybob]

I'm really sorry to hear this. Credit card fraud and identity theft is just terrible. I hope you are able to get everything sorted out soon.

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Wow, I've spoken to several people about it and apparently A LOT of people have had it happen to them. It's happened to me once before a few years ago when someone stole my PayPal info, but that only resulted with them closing my account. Anyways, I called my banker back today and he said that it's absolutely epidemic and incredibly common. Most cases that are fairly obvious, like mine, seem to be easily resolved most of the time.

Question to those of you that have had this happen before: How long did it take for them to remove it from your credit report?

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

WOO HOO! Filed a dispute and had a security alert placed on my credit report almost a month ago. Equifax has just informed me that my dispute has been completed and the offending charge was removed from my credit report!

 

[Go West Young Man]

Be sure to keep checking all 3 bureaus, stuff you get taken off your credit has a habit of sneaking back on the next month!

 

[Gammon]

This is how I learned about Dubai 5 years ago. One day my credit card got declined, and when I called the bank they told me I went over my limit in Dubai. I honestly had never heard of the place until that day. When I told the bank this, they honestly tried to convince me I was lying to them to get out of paying my bill. It took me months of arguing with them and digging up evidence and answering questions just to prove to them I didn't go on a spending-spree-holiday to Dubai. My credit is still in the tank because of that. And, I get non-stop harassment from the banks about how I need to pay monthly fees for their credit monitoring service.

 

[Hammertime1]

Couple of things to remember.1) you are entitled to free reports every year 2) don't panic and sign up for some protection plan they are a joke and you will still have to do what I am going to tell you and the end result is the same 3) get your reports and find out as much as you can about the fraudulent charges if there are any 4) if they are any immediately go to your local police dept and file are report it may be called an info for police report m, identity theft etc, problem being if there were charges etc they more then likely did not occurr in your depts jurisdiction so it's not their crime but younwill
need a report and it's easiest way to do this for you (federal and most states have recent laws requiring em to take the report) hence why if it isn't a crime in their jurisdiction it may
have a different type of name to report not to skew their crime statistics for their town. Give them all the info and copies of stuff you can because they will should add this to report.
5)give police report number to credit agencies so they can document and investigate
their portion for removing wrong information and ask for a fraud alert in your account it's free and makes it harder for someone to use
6) call whoever has the bogus accounts ie credit card compaines, banks etc and let them know your were a victim of identity theft, stolen credit cards or whatever you figured out happened. I understand you said you didn't have cc but trying tone general for others in case some one else needs this info. Tell em you filed a police report with agency x, and here is the number
7) if your Ssn was involved call them and report it too
8) agencies like your state states attorney's office may have a reporting systmem for this as well. Ask your local pd if they have a copy of what victims of identy theft should and who they report it to. There should be a whole list of agencies depending on the circumstances
9) short time later things should start to clear up. Relax it's over and know you know how to handle it! If in a few months it doesn't happen your probably in clear. Every know and then someone gets whammied repeatedly and has to have their Ssn changes dl number etc.
If you find this helpful just help the next person
If you have any questions please ask and sorry to hear this happened to you

 

[Kevan]

Happened to me when I was in college, but I didn't have a credit card at the time. I tried to get some cash out of an ATM and the balance showed like -$773.00. Flabbergasted, I went inside the bank and they informed me that there was a massive charge to "Norwegian Telekom" in my name. Luckily they froze the card and gave me a new one within 1 hour.

 

[EL Alamein]

I would also advise having your credit locked with each of the Bureaus. Once locked no one, not even you, can get credit in your name. At least that is what I've been told. When you want credit you will need to go through an arduous process of lifting the lock for specific creditors. It will also cost a nominal fee for the temporary lift.

It's a bit extreme but if you don't need credit on a regular basis it provides peace of mind. Good luck!

Chris

 

[nickn]

Just happened to us here in Ireland only two weeks ago -589 euros taken from our account.The bank tell us there was another five people that it happened to in our local town.The bank were
ok about it-refunded us and gave us new identity cards.We paid a couple of bills over the net and this is where the bank reckon we were done.Just be careful who you are giving your details to over the net.

 

[Hammertime1]

I wouldn't bother with paying for anything. The fraud alert goes out to all three agencies. Usally they even make it easier for you to monitor so you are not stuck paying for extra credit checks. I have taken thousands of these reports. I have seen people with just about very time of credit/fraud protection including life lock. they all got taken the same and had to do the same exact things to clear their credit history and names weather or not they were paying for a service.
FYI there are so many new ways, plus the old ways it is scarry how easy it is to steal someone's identity
. You can buy the equipment off eBay or websites specializing in it identity they or credit skimming. It's pathetic. remember a bank, credit card, mortgage, card dealership, doctors office or hospital, a business that stores your CC info or has rewards cards
etc that employees all have access to your information
And can disseminate it for unlawful use. When they throw documents away people dumpster dive just for this information, sometimes break into places for it(rare one) or hack into a companies computer to gain access that's just the tip of the ice berg don't forget state and federal agencies have your data as well to some degree too. Just last year DSW got hacked, I know of several smaller banks and phone companies that it happen to too and people became the victims because of the businesses being breached.

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Thanks for the replies and advice, guys.

Hammertime1, my banker told me pretty much everything you just told me, especially about how ridiculously easy it is to steal someone's identity; really blew my mind. There are some that do it for a living. One of the first pieces of advice he gave me was to never throw anything in the trashcan that may POSSIBLY have my personal information within. Basically, anyone that knows your SS# can very easily live life as "you" until they're caught. You'd also be amazed (just reiterating what you said) how many people have access to myriad social security numbers they can use at their leisure if they so choose. These are normal people working normal jobs that just happen to be in a position where they can access people's personal information.

You know, as intrusive as it may seem, I think some countries like Iceland have the right idea: all forms of ID are exclusive to YOU and only YOU. Everyone can know who you are, what you look like, etc., but no one is you except for you and there's very minimal chance that someone can steal your information. I don't want to get into some political debate over that matter, just saying.

Again, thanks!

 

[Hammertime1]

No problems, I have seen the look an anguish of peoples frustration too many times not to want to help to facilitate their reduction in stress levels quickly. As easy as it is to become a victim, there are well known companies even your banks who prey on taking advantage of you and charging you monthly fees etc. supposedly to provide safeguards they should have done in beginning for free! When those safe guards they charge extra for fail and they do fail!!!! you are still stuck doing everything yourself. No matter what steps you take to protect yourself you can easily be the victim of identity theft 2-3 times in your lifetime
it's a world wide system preying on people. Remember ther are hundreds of Internet cafes in china, Nigeria etc solely for defrauding people in one form or another let alone the criminals in the United States doing it including former soviet block or South American ex military trained in disrupting a countries finances from within (they making a living in what they know)
Wheater it's attaching a skimmer to an ATM,gas station pump, a waitress/waiter skimming your credit in their apron to make duplicates later, to a hacker, to a criminal who specializes in identity theft, a highschool kid, drug addict or the avergae person who needs money and buys an online become an identity theft kit in one of the various forms even if they get caught they don't do any real jail time!!!! They have forums like this dedicated to teaching each other better forms of stealing, whose got the best simmers, hacking programs or whose looking for help in various countries to facilitate their form of crimin activity. and these are worldwide just like B&B,
I stumbled on a case a major identity theft operation! The only reason guy got caught, was he wanted to test a cop. He picked me as the test subject. I never forgot that interaction and new he was dirty. He went in the notebook as a top priority to find out what he was doing! He was a pro and good at what he did. I remembered that moment and waited for it to lead me to the truth of the matter. Low and behold it led to a multi million dollar identity theft organization. Not even a 5 year sentence! Let's see millions for what 2 1/2 years! Hell I spent 4 1/2 in the military just to be able to afford college and they used and abused me for chump change! Do the math on why people are doing it. Plus with technology people are finding ways to get your data at let's say your local bank (hypothetically) and then transferring that info to another state or country where that person acts on it sets up credit cards etc. same with skimming they are getting it at your local ATM, gas station pump, the ATM inside Walgreens and in real time transferring that data to someone sitting 10 states away in their car who is duplicating you ATM, credit card within seconds of getting info and using it. If need be that portable printer they are using makes identification cards better then most state DMV's ID's or driver license and yes they have all 50 states types of ID forms pre downloaded. So most don't do any real time, in other countries their is no consequences for doing it and it is considered socially acceptable. Also some countries are suspect of direct or indirect involvement. It's a source of revenue a big one and the rest of the world is ot standing up to those countries or have the guts to call them on it! It's not the compaines that sufferer it's us,they pass the losses onto us. Higher interest rates, increased fees, less services.
What I tell people is now I have given you the knowledge to go and protect yourself, that doesn't mean you will never have this happen again but if it does happen again don't stress this time. You have the tools to handle this correctly and not be bullied by a finical institution if they try( some do that). Also when using your debit/credit card in a machine give the card reader a tug if it comes off in you hand, leave quickly and call 911, you found yourself a skimmer. Bad guys are close by. don't make a scene so they don't know you realized. Keep yourself safe! Cover your hand while using your pin they can have camera watching. If you in a store and they have those security mirrors don't use it! They use the mirrors to see pin. Even the ATMs next to a register at your local drug store our popular. People let their guard down because its next to a cashier.they can also put a secondary keypad over the orginal to retrieve your pass code. Or fabircate an entire face replicating the ATM that comes on and off in seconds. At gas stations etc you know those brochure holders, those are popular for hiding the cameras. If you see it an a hole in bottom at an angle to allow a view of the keypad it's probably got a skimmer attached to slot where you put you card. FYI! I gave away the booklet I made on teaching people how not to be victims and how to be preapred, when I wasn't able to recover from my injuries to go back to full duty because I wanted to make sure someone was stil teaching what I put toghter. I shoud have made a copy but if you do an internet search of skimming, identity theft or whatever you have been the victim of it's readily avilable to learn about. Use the sites the criminals learn how to be bad to protect yourself, family and friends! The more of us educated the harder it is for them! Let's not make it easy! I even have a slightly different variation of my name I have sometimes used to sign up for let's say a companies promotional offering and don't use your real dob change it up. I can tell you I have caught at least 5 companies who sold my information or they got hacked because of emails even mail etc I have gotten with the variation and I am amble to track who did it because of variations I have used, I'm not naming names but you'd be supriseed and I am sure at least once it would have led to identity theft but since the name wasn't real they couldn't use the information successfully. I new email was a fake because of name and to not log into my account.
if you get an email from bank, best buy or whomever and its linked for you to enter your information and get your acount information balance etc or to call them be bery careful it could be a program to get that information sent by the bad guys or to trick you into calling them and not your bank. I heard all the time I got an email at 10pm saying my identity was stolen and I had to access my account immdietey to stop them from further damage to my account. Well that
accessing your account was the start of giving the bad guys access to it and they have from10pm to about 0900hrs when your bank calls you and ask you if you were Bangkok and bought 10grand in sex toys. Be very very careful with emails and the new text alerts even if they look real.
The last thing if you sell something on line, newspaper, Craig's list and the person emails you, calls you and says they will take it and send you a check,money order, cashiers check, Amex money for a lot more then
It's worth and they tell you to deposit it, keep an extra hundred and use the rest to send to their banker, pay for the transport of the vehicle you sold or whatever the excuse run and run fast! Even if you have the bank tell you it's legit tender if it isn't and they screw up they take the money out of your account and you find out the hard way!!!!!!! so you end up out item and minus lots of money, what bank is telling you is the routing numbers are legit (it doesn't mean the money is real) it can still take a week or more in today's day and age to determine if a check or anything I listed is fake! All and I mean all forms of paper bank or whatever can be doctored or forged and routing etc numbers can be manuilapted to look like there is money behind or backing that piece of paper. A lot of travelers checks and similiar
types of legal tender went missing in late 70's from little ma and pa places that lost the fight to the big stores. it has been surfacing and made to look like the current ones. Because there are so many transactions in a day and small banks in the middle of nowhere these badguys have found thee banks still operate like they are in the 1980's it can take a while for that bank to respond the account doesn't exists or is closed etc. what your bank wil then tell you is wel mr so and so you have been a good customer for x amount of years we trusted you and gave you the money in advance it turns out the check was bogus its your fault so we took every single bit of money you had from all of the accounts froze them too, we had to recoup the banks money on your dime and if that did not get them all of the banks money back they will sue you for it! Almost always they ask you to immidately western union money back or to wherever! If you hear anything like this please don't take chance! I know of hundreds of cases and not one person got their money back or whatever they sold. No one was arrested!!!!' usally the next person you wire money to is also a victim or claims to be a victim. Even person that send you momey could have been the 2nd,3rd or 4th victim and since they are victims thy never had the money either but bad guy needed the use of those bank account numbers etc to make deal look legit. Sometimes I have seen money wired 5-6 ttimes and then ends up in Europe or Nigeria with each person being fed a different scam. These are very complex and well formulated scams same as getting offered to be a buyer of electronics where you go to different stores buy an items and mail it elsewhere.

Sorry to be long winded have seen the same person or thier family member be the victim of more then one of these so I thought better mention everything. For those of you with kids getting their first checking account, credit card,or remember kids live by ATM cards nowadays. They are also trying to establish their credit and independence and these people specifically target them!!!! Share this with them!! Anyone has a kid who is getting Into selling Avon, nutrients or whatever or on line sales, some of these companies now let the sellers and junior sellers have an online account and will route buyer to them via the Internet the junior or new sellers are an easy spot and it start with an email like hey I line in the phillipines but come to your area for Xmas, I need 3 thousand in whatever as gifts. I'm wiring the money, I need you to immediately send you procurement order and have it shipped here ASAP! Keep an extra 50.00 and have
Merry Xmas. Company ships products on your kids behalf , send your kid a bill for product and money order bounces, bank closes your kids account for being overdrawn and repos their car who they have the title on to recoup their money. Also your kid spent the extra $50.00 they never had/got and probably wired money they never really had somewhere too in this deal as a favor to the crook. Here your kid thinks they are Guna be the new rockstar of the company this mont and get a bonus be moved up a tier in commission and that's not what happens. Company demands payment for products form your kid/whomever it's a racket where they are insulating themselves from loss!

 

[EL Alamein]

Mark D. Thanks for posting this, it's very informative especially at this time of year.

Chris