Identity theft, now what?

I went to the gas station this morning, and pulled out a charge card I've used maybe 6 times in the past year. It was declined. Always paid entire balance on time. Never a problem. The station said there's something wrong with the magnetic strip. OK. Out of curiosity, I tried it a couple hours later at chinaMart. Declined. Called up the creditor. On the 17th someone tried to charge much more than the available credit limit. This is the card I've used for Paypal, and for buying from a couple of companies direct over the 'net. My fear is what other info of mine is out there, and what's in store of correcting this mess. Capital One froze the account, but what about my other info. And this is precisely why I hate "goinging paperless and pay over the internet" being pushed by so many companies and banks. So, educated group, do i need a police report, I'm trying to call my bank, and other accounts...has anyone else been through this? As is obvious, I'm a bit freaked by this. Info, please

It's a little odd they froze the account but never called to tell you about it. It happened to me once; someone got my credit card number and tried to buy something online, something in the purchase raised a flag, the CC company blocked the sale and they called me right away. The end result was they cancelled the card, gave me a new one and that was it - no problems since. Hopefully that's the case in your situation.

I think the number was stolen when I used the card to pay for dinner at a restaurant a few days earlier - since then I don't let the card out of my sight.

To be proactive, you may want to phone your other credit cards and review recent transactions.
On the card that was heisted, they will issue a new number and the bad guys will no longer be able to use the old card to charge anything. You will very likely come out of this with little to no issues and no cost to you.

Again, its funny the cc company didn't tell you. A friend of mine had his card taken from his locker at work, and they knew it was stolen before he did. Pattern of purchases or something.

On the other hand, I have a retired friend who had to pay cash for his gas all the way home from Arizona a couple of winters ago, after being there for 4 months, paying his card online from Az, buying gas and stuff for 4 months in Az.....They though it out of pattern that he might be driving north in the spring.

I wouldn't panic, because there is a very good reason why we pay 21% interest on credit cards- they are a magnet for fraud, and as long as you file a police report, any charges that you say are not yours get cancelled.

Go to your bank on Monday, and ask them what you need to do. At least, I would change all cards, passwords, pins, etc.

I've had mine frozen without them calling. I had two press cars in one week, they must be returnded clean and with a full tank. Dropped one off, went back and got the other then took 'em one after the other to wash, clean, fill and then park. When I took my own car to the station to put a bit of gas in for the drive home, the card was frozen. Apparently multiple fillups without a decent interval of time between tip off the companies that the card may be stolen. Luckily I had about eight bucks on me, enough for my beater to get me home.

I thought it was odd they didn't call me or give it a second thought when I asked them why didn't you call me? "We did.." No they didn't. I looked up where I've used this card. Only 5 times since Jan: TurboTax, Rock Auto, OC Inkjet Co, The Roadster Factory, and Home Depot. Seven days before the fraud, I got a legit email from TurboTax about federally mandated statements of internet security on their site. When asked, Capital One said, no, don't need a police report. That was as odd as not calling me, yes, no?

Yes, "odd" is a good word for it. It's beginning to sound like you should send them an email confirming your understanding that they (1) claim to have called you in advance about freezing your card but did not actually do so, and (2) do not feel that you need to involve the police.

Then keep a hard copy of the email somewhere handy.

From the level of "customer service" you're getting so far, I would say that you do NOT want to get into a "he said-she said" situation with these guys. Documentation rules.

triumph5 wrote: Identity theft. Now what?

Lots of CC companies will block a sale and immediately notify you if something out of the ordinary happens. This can be something like purchases out of your normal range of interest; for instance if you generally charge small amount car parts purchases and then suddenly you try to buy a $1000 computer online, they will block the purchase and call you at your home number. It's usually an automated acall and you have to answer your security questions.

Can't figure out why your CC company didn't immediately notify you of a huge attempted purchase. Time for a few phone calls.

They've likely tightened up on their "pattern" criteria of late.

Back in '96, I got an AX gold card, that I used mostly for business, and never outside Middle Georgia. Then I accompanied my father to South America on a trip, ran out of cash at a store, and tried to use it, knowing that it would send up red flags. After all, I was in Guyana.

It went right through. Never had much faith in them ever since.

I had a Capital One card for a while maybe 10 years ago or so. They always hassled me, I didn't like it, and no longer have a card with them.

I have a capital one card, and that is their normal way of operating. Once someone did steal the number and they e-mailed me and told me about it, but a couple of other times they froze the card just because they felt like it and didn't say anything until i called. Not that I have any more knowledge of this than it happening to me, but Im pretty sure you can just get a new card with a different number and you will be fine.

It sounds like your credit card number was stolen, not your full identity. To be safe get your current credit reports from the three main reporting firms, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Once you get the reports go over them carefully. Look for any accounts you do not remember opening. Look for cards you closed but are listed as open or worse active. Confirm your addresses (past and present) are correct.

I had my identity stolen in December '05 when I bought my truck. My credit report was taken and used unlawfully. The credit report has everything about you. It's the ID theft gold mine. SSN, mother's maiden name, all previous residences, full credit history, etc.

They hijacked existing cards and had the statements sent to different addresses. Opened new accounts under my name. Created a fake drivers license with my information on it. Attempted to cosign a used car loan under my name. It keeps going on. Had a car rental statement coming to my house but with another guys name on it. His ID was stolen around the same time mine was at the same place.

It's a roller coaster ride you don't want to be on. I have to give props to Citibank's fraud department. The night they discovered my ID was stolen and used to open a card at one of their accounts they spend 3 hours on the phone with me looking up my credit report and finding anything that was fishy. Including that used car cosigning. And I didn't even have a legitimate account with them at the time.

The roller coaster ride went on for months and months. It would get quiet then E36 M3 would start showing up in the mail again.

A couple years later I did get a call form the Secret Service informing me about the fake driver's license found on a computer they were doing the forensics thing on. The agent was going to inform me that my identity was stolen. She was relived to know that I already knew. After discussing my case some and providing her with the local police detective's contact info she did inform me the guy they had in custody was convicted on other felonies and would be a guest of theirs for some time. He did match the description of the guy opening accounts under my name. However the person or persons who pinched my credit report at the dealership was not found.

In reply to Rob_Mopar: Thanks for all the info. Another credit card company called me this morning, and my bank, checking account almost depleated. . Oh, amd some idiot who lives in this apt bldg backed into my Mazda and broke the mounts for the rear bumper last night. Oh well, such is life, and the realization of the crap I'll have to go through to get everything straightened out.

Had a similar thing happen to me last year, except my email was hacked and forwarded to another address, then they sent a pw reminder for my paypal, and purchased a $4000 computer from hp. I only found out about this because I found the mail forwarding after wondering why I didn't get any new emails for three days. Finally when I sent emails to myself that didn't show up, I found the mail forwarding, and then got a shipping confirmation from hp.

Called them and try seemed to have a hard time comprehending how I didn't place the order, similar, but a little better response from paypal. I ended up not having to pay any of it and it think hp managed to recall the package.

As for the email, remember when google said the Chinese were trying to hack them? Well seine got through. I think if google knows about it, they aren't letting anyone know.

triumph5 wrote: In reply to Rob_Mopar: Thanks for all the info. Another credit card company called me this morning, and my bank, checking account almost depleated. . Oh, amd some idiot who lives in this apt bldg backed into my Mazda and broke the mounts for the rear bumper last night. Oh well, such is life, and the realization of the crap I'll have to go through to get everything straightened out.

Sorry that really sucks. If you don't have a fraud alert on your credit report get one on there now. Seriously, don't wait get it on there now. That will slow any new fraud.

I was lucky in that they didn't get my bank accounts. It was easier for them to just keep opening new credit accounts. Good luck.

Give me your SS#, the CC# of the card and your paypal password. I'll look into it for you. For security purposes email me the info... this board is full of ethugs who might take advantage of you if you post it here.

This isn't quite the same thing, but my bank stopped payment on a check I wrote AFTER I informed them the previously check I wrote to pay rent was "lost/stolen" and please stop payment on THAT check. When I discovered my "replacement"check had been stop payment as well (nearly 4 weeks later, I have nice, but strange landlords) the bank's reponse was "we stopped the second check too because the amounts were the same and we thought it MIGHT also have been stolen. When I asked if they called to tell me of the problem, they said FEDERAL law requires them to call customers within 2 or 3 hours....but if you aren't home to answer the phone call......

As has happened to others here, I once bought 5 baby cribs in one day for charity....my credit card issuer called the same day to ask if I had indeed made those purchases myself.

In reply to integraguy: I thank you very much for the Federal Law note. The only phone number given to banks, CC companies is my cell phone, which is always with me and turned on. I think it's time to call Ct attorney general's office. Again, thanks for that info.

Stealthtercel wrote: Yes, "odd" is a good word for it. It's beginning to sound like you should send them an email confirming your understanding that they (1) claim to have called you in advance about freezing your card but did not actually do so, and (2) do not feel that you need to involve the police. Then keep a hard copy of the email somewhere handy. From the level of "customer service" you're getting so far, I would say that you do NOT want to get into a "he said-she said" situation with these guys. Documentation rules.

Double check that the bad guys didn't change your phone number. I had my CC call me and ask, "Did you just call us?" Uh Oh. No I didn't. They said that "I" had just called and told them "I" had moved to Texas, supplying a new address and phone number... Fortunately they f**ked up on the security questions.

kb58 wrote: Double check that the bad guys didn't change your phone number. I had my CC call me and ask, "Did you just call us?" Uh Oh. No I didn't. They said that "I" had just called and told them "I" had moved to Texas, supplying a new address and phone number... Fortunately they f**ked up on the security questions.

I went through some of that too. Since all the basics were in my credit report the usual questions like mother's maiden name, age, address, etc. were all known to the criminals I changed the security confirmation passwords with the credit card companies to old license plate numbers.