Back a few years when I first heard of the term, ID theft, I thought that was something that would only happen to a very rich person. Sort of like kidnapping a rich person's family member or dog and holding them for a huge ransom. Guess I have seen too many movies because reality proves me wrong. I am not so wealthy that I would even consider myself a candidate but when Lowe's Home Improvement called us Monday morning to see if we had a step-son in Michigan we wanted added to our charge account, reality set in! First of all, we are still in our first marriage of 33 years, and secondly neither of us knows anyone in Michigan we are related to in any way. We do have a few relatives that may be capable of something like this but none in Dearborn, that either of us know about.
Thought I would throw in a pic of my new sister-in-law and her step-son just to say congrats! There are stepson's in our family but we do not have any.
Anyway, after calling the credit reporting services bureau and getting a fraud alert started we began the notification of the credit card companies, banks, dept. stores, utility and cell phone services, etc. and spent two days and nights on the phone getting information together to file reports. First the FTC report has to be filed then the local law enforcement report has to be filed in person so they can sign off on the FTC report. That is required so the proper interstate authorities can pursue the criminals. Do you have any idea what a pain this is!!!
Once we started talking to our creditors, we found out there were at least two people involved because when JC Penny credit called and said they had a call from one of them and they asked to speak to my wife's name and they put another man on, (she has a gender nuetral name) they knew it was fraud and called us. The name they used was the same one that had convinced Capital One card to issue an authorized user card for already and send it to them in Michigan, we found out a few hours later. This had obviously been going on for a few days when a couple of sharp people working in credit departments smelled a rat. Thank goodness they found it before it got any worse than it already has.
It is still too soon to tell how much damage has been done or will come about from all their criminal activities but I wanted to give you a picture of what all is involved in this process so you will protect your identity more than you think you need to. It is kind of like health and disability insurance, you can't afford to buy it but you sure can't afford not to have it when you need it! Here is where I started:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
Stephen Mattison, ABR e-Pro
Souvenir Realty, Inc.
Office: (417)357-8326
Cell: (417) 350-9743
That's terrible Steve. We can't be too careful these days, can we? Hopefully you caught the SOB's before they did too much damage.
Oh gosh... what a mess. Don't people have anything better to do??
Morning Steve,
I have heard many a war stories relative to this situation. Companies have become more alert to fraud and check with he card holders much faster these days. We have been called to verify a purchase and in ine case the purchase couldn't be authorized until we called and verified our security codes.
While it may have been a little inconvenient at the time, it sure was reassuring to know we are being protected.
Steve- I had a similar headache just this past October... someone used my name and address to order stuff... all kinds of bill me later stuff... magazine subscriptions, book clubs, fruit of the month crap.
I have a feeling it will be a head ache for some time to come.
Jesse, Debi, Hal, & Tammy, thanks for your comments, we got another call this morning from Lowe's GE Bank Credit Dept. and someone got our fraud alert removed and charged up $3000.00 on our charge account yesterday, we have to refile our fraud alert and a new police report, etc. and the story goes on and on, unbelieveable. According to the Bank Rep. this is a huge Ann Arbor/Detroit Michigan Fraud ring that does this for huge amounts of money year-round! Beware my friends and I hope you don't have to go through what Tammy and I know of as the biggest headache ever!
Oh Steve- I am so sorry it's gotten that huge. What a pain. I hope your local police are nicer than mine. I swear to you that they seemed ticked off to have to deal with such a trival matter as Tammy's identify theft. I ended up changed all my accounts. Checking, all credit cards (some store cards with balance I just canceled)
What a bummer here at Christmas. I wish you the best in getting this all worked out. I hope someone has some video of them shopping at Lowe's they can provide the police with. Put their butts on the news.
Tammy, you bet, according to the Bank Rep they have a video of the purchase, gift cards and tools. Stuff they could sell quickly they seemed to think. Makes you sick, hope it nails them for a long time in the learning center!
Steve - what a story! Identity theft is so prevelent and it seems as though we are helpless. I hope everything gets straightened out.
Robin thanks, just got new Lowe's cards in the mail yesterday, one for my wife and one in the name of our fraud perpetrator! It never ends, now we find out they are opening new accounts with companies we do not do business with in our names, unbelieveable!
Hi Steve. Awww.....I'm sorry. I had identity theft happen a few years ago and its still an issue that pops up sometimes. Such a headache!!
Steve - I'm sorry to hear about this, but I'm glad you caught it when you did! Thanks for the warning... Merry Christmas! :)
Pamela, I just got another user card for one of my credit cards in some persons name in the mail yesterday, it just goes on and on, sad:(
Debi, yes, thank God it hasn't been any worse! Thanks for your comments, Merry Christmas back at cha!
Steve, I hope you can get controll of this quickly and salvage your credit. My thoughts and prayers go out to you. Keep us posted.I am truly sorry to hear this about any one and even sadder to know someone nice like you.
That is so kind of you Endre, prayer and the police are the only hope in this mess, mostly prayer, thanks and hope you have a prosperous new year in 2009!
Steve - I'm so sorry this has happened to you. It's seriously a pain in the "arss". I've had identity theft happen to me twice. Both times I was living down in Los Angeles at the time. It was a huge headache and it took many hours on the phone, writing letters to clear up the issue. So I feel for ya.
Jessica, once is enough for me, can't imagine going through it twice, hope we never have to do it again nor you! Happy New Year, have a great 2009!
Thanks Steve - Happy New Year to you too. I'll tell ya it makes you keep track of your credit report on a rather regular basis. I don't check it as often, but a few years ago, I was checking at least every year, if not 6 months. That would be my advice to you for the next couple of years is check your credit score twice this next year and then the following couple of years you should be ok with checking it just once a year.
Jessica, thanks for the advise, will do that for sure, Happy New Year too!