Credit Card Identity Theft
Author: IveBeenSkimmed
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 3
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 10:43 am
Post subject: Credit Card Skimmed? -> Identity Theft?
recently took a trip out of town and stayed in a motel in Tennessee. I used my credit card to pay for the room for one night. A couple of days later I received a phone call from the credit card company inquiring about some suspicious purchasing that had occurred. Someone had made $1500 worth of purchases on my credit card in only 30 minutes! Additionally, these purchases were made in actual PHYSICAL stores, and I still have the credit card in my possession. The woman from the credit card company mentioned that someone could have made a copy of the card somehow. Over the past few days I have read something online about credit card skimming, where a crook uses a small card reader to copy the data from your credit card, and then later copies that data onto another card. This supposedly most often occurs in restaurants and other places where the card leaves your sight... but I didn't really pay much attention to what the attendant at the motel did with my card. I'm not even completely certain that this is what happened (skimming), but it is what best explains it so far. I am happy that they deactivated my account soon after the spending occurred (actual limit was much higher than $1500), and they are getting into investigating the case and finding out who did it. However, I am now worrying about potential identity fraud. When I checked into the motel I had to write down my address, phone number, and also provide my signature. And I know it isn't hard to obtain someones Social Security number... and whoever it is has some kind of copy of my credit card. Seems to me that it wouldn't be hard for them to make a fake ID and use that and the credit card to apply for credit/loans/employment and who knows what else in my name. I am a 20 year old college student with an excellent credit rating and I want to do all I can to protect this. The thought of some crook actually benefitting from the credit rating I have worked hard to keep sickens me. I signed up for a service that allows me to check my credit report from all 3 bureaus at any time. However, I have seen that any new accounts made in your name will take 3 months to even show up on the credit report! Does it really take this long for things so show up? And if it does, is there really any point in paying for a service that allows you to monitor your credit report on a daily basis?? One thing I have thought about doing is to issue a Fraud Alert onto my credit report. I have read on several web sites that all I need to do it contact one of the 3 credit reporting bureaus, ask them to issue this alert, and when they do it will be transferred to the other bureaus as well. Is it really that easy to do? The sites say that when the Fraud Alert is in place, creditors will contact me by phone before opening any accounts in my name. HOWEVER I also see that sometimes creditors just ignore this alert.. they aren't even required by law to acknowledge it... what is the point of even doing it if this is the case? Say that I need to apply for insurance within the next few months and they see this "fraud alert" on my credit report... could that give them an excuse to give me a higher rate? Could this be looked at unfavorably in the future by potential employers?? Overall I just want to know what you think about the potential for identity theft at this point... and whether or not a fraud alert would do me more harm than good. Thank you!!
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:22 pm
If you have not done so there are a few things you want to do to cover all bases.
1. File police report, obtain copy of the report, or obtain the phone number to the police station and the file number of the report.
2. Go here: consumer.gov/idtheft/ Complete an ID Theft Affidavit and have a few copies noterized.
3. Contact the credit reporting agency, (you can call one, and have them take care of the other 2 agencies for you) Experian 888-397-3742, activate fraud alert - they will mail you out a free copy of your credit report immediately "also you are entitled to another free credit report from each agency within the next 12 months".
4. When you receive the credit reports, forward dispute to the credit reporting agency - including a copy of the police report, and ID Theft Affidavit. Let them know which account was the result of ID Theft and they will remove the listing for 30 days while the creditor investigates, if they find it to be result of ID Theft - they will remove the item for good.
5. Along with the Fraud Alert, best to request a victims statement being added, to do this, forward a copy of your phone bill (showing your name and address portion to them, don't hve to be the details of the billing. They should add a remark direct to the report better then just fraud alert, this can remain on the credit report for 7 years or until you write in sooner to request to be removed. They should add your phone number to the credit report so that new creditors can call you to verbally verify your identity before extending new credit.
6. Forward copy of the police report and noterized ID Theft Affidavit to the creditor, know that you have already talk to them in person over the phone, but to be legally binding, it is best to send them documentation and keep copies for your records as well. Follow up with all directions, keeping notes of who you talk to, when and what resulted, this can be a timely matter, and you are right, that there are more then just one form of ID Theft, recommend that you read the pdf file at the FTC site called When bad things happen to your good name also you can report the theft to the FTC help line, number should be at their site, if you can't find it let me know and I will hunt it down.
Yes it is true that it can take up to 30 / 60 days for new accounts to show up to a credit report, so be a good idea to periodically check your credit report, the monitoring services are just after your money, you don't need a day by day access to the credit report, things update monthly when ID theft is involved, least 3 / 6 reports per year is a good enough job to monitor. 3 at the lest, spread out, get in the habit though from here on out to check your credit report yearly - the credit reporting agencies will offer one free credit report per year so you would not have to pay for at least one. Also you can visit idtheftcenter.com for more information. If you invest the little bit of work now, and hit them hard, then they should not have a leg to stand on later should they try to collect on fraudulant activity as long as you have the police report and id theft affidavit. The credit card company can technically hold you accountable for the first $50 related to the fraud, so be sure to follow up with them to see what they are going to do
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Author: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 444
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 6:35 pm
You're not a victim of identity theft yet, and the fact that your credit card number was used without your permission doesn't mean you have to panic right now. The fact that someone has your credit card number doesn't make you any more vulnerable to identity theft than anyone else. Until you see some sign of identity theft, don't worry about it. The credit card has been cancelled already. I know you're concerned because you were told that your card was used in a real store. Could be--but I wouldn't believe that until I saw a card receipt from an actual store supposedly signed by you. Most crooks aren't capable of duplicating an actual card. One technique to do what you're describing is to imprint blank forms with your actual card while it's available, and then to have a store compadre later run that form through the store's imprinter for the charge. Such schemes usually get found out fairly fast. More often, it's a mail/phone order run through the system not properly identified as such; the person who responded to your question over the phone doesn't have access to anything more than what the computer says. Information about your credit card accounts, social security number, and telephone/address/name are easily available from a thousand sources on and off the Internet. One stolen credit card number does not make an identity theft.
Polonius
"Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend"
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:32 pm
ID Theft or not, that is why the system is there to log time of occurance, the longer you wait, the less credable your claim becomes, you want to establish time with the police department and get the report filed. It does no hard to activate a fraud alert, the only thing it does is slow down approval rate for new credit, you can always call and cancel both the victim statement and the fraud alert at any time. Better to be safe then sorry.
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 10:54 pm
Polonius is correct. The credit card issuer cancelled the card and will no doubt issue a new card with a new account number. It's over. You're not being charged for the apparently fradulent use of the card and the card is now of no value to the perp. Thieves know this. If they gain access to a credit card they have at the most a few hours to use it. Whether it was used in a store or on line is meaningless to you. There's no need to go crazy writing dozens of letters, filing reports, etc, etc. Just get on with your life. You're in no danger.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:04 pm
I disagree with you on this, the op says he does not know how they got the credit card information, or if they got more information then just that, there are many forms of ID theft, not just focused on credit cards. He gets the police report and he will have his bases covered.
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Author: IveBeenSkimmed
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 3
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:44 am
If the credit card company already filed a police report, should I file one myself as well? Or just obtain a copy of the report they filed?
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Author: IveBeenSkimmed
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 3
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:24 pm
Also, I heard that it is easy to make a fake ID/driver's licence. Can someone use that fake credit card along with this as an ID to open credit accounts in my name? Would one be able to easily tell that it was a counterfeit card or can they make them well enough to look legitimate? In particular I heard that store credit accounts would be very easy to open like this. One other thing, I got a call from the credit card company saying that someone tried to use the card again in another state, and this was 5 days after the card was cancelled. If they spent all that money in one day, why would they come along so much later and try to use it again? Maybe more than one person got a copy? Thanks so much for your advice so far
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:58 pm
Obtain a copy of the report which the creditor filed, that is a first time I have heard of a creditor filing a police report - but be sure to get a copy for your record. Being that the card was hit again on trying to be used, makes me wonder if it was just the group of numbers sold, meaning that yours might have been one out of many sold to multiple groups trying to use them, and one didn't know that another already tried using that number. Sometimes the credit card company has a breach in their system resulting in a lot of their customer numbers being compromised. There have been a few that made the news that lost customer account numbers from their system, and not that the consumer lost it! That might explain why the company filed the police report then, if the breach was on their end. I would not think that they could use the credit card to get a drivers license, but I don't think it is hard for people to make false drivers licenses either. If you can imagine it, then someone has likely already done it is how I think of it, I have spoke to many ID Theft victims personally myself and I have heard some stories that just blew the mind. Just to give you idea: One I heard that 3 guys jumped a postal worker and stole his mail back, and got their hands on check being mailed out to consumers from banks - so they wrote up a bunch of bad checks before the consumer was aware that the checks were missing. That one was a federal offense and that individual was getting a little more help on that end then most people are lucky to get for help. I have heard of people using other people's social security numbers to file bankruptcy, have heard of people taking out mortgage loans on other people's property... heard of employees at nursing homes stealing residents personal identification, and credit card accounts... one time had the state call trying to get a warrant against a nursing home for diverting residents income to their use. Heard of people having purses stolen while at the hospital, or worse one lady had purse stolen while she was at church... more common I hear of children having their identity used by parents to open up utility accounts and cable, or medical bills being billed direct to children instead of parents, when they were not old enough to be responsible for the billing... There are plenty more I have heard, but these few stuck out, or were the most common ones I would get calls on. I don't know how all the scams out there work, how fake drivers license are done, but I know it is common for people to make them
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 7:59 pm
Sorry, but the credit card company wouldn't file a police report. Their own internal security handles such matters. The only time they would get law enforcement involved would be if they caught the perp in the act. At that time it would be more than just a police report; criminal charges would be filed. With regard to the consumer filing a police report, that's almost impossible in a case like this. Where would you file it? I can tell you from personal experience in a similar incident, your home town police won't want to know about it because the incident didn't happen within their jurisdiction. Where were the fraudlent purchases made? Do you even know? You'd probably have to go to a local police department in that city to file a report. Do you really want to travel hundreds of miles just to file a report which doubtless will have no impact on anything? You've not been harmed, you've suffered no monetary loss, the stolen credit card has been cancelled and I assume that nothing else has been stolen. Just get on with your life and be thankful for the vigilance of your credit card issuer.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 444
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:28 pm
As far as checks go, I use a program called VersaCheck which works with 3-check forms available at any office supply store. I can print my own checks from my laser printer--checks with bank logos and any account name or number I like. It's easy to get names and checking account numbers--techniques range from fishing out paper from waste baskets in bank lobbies (often there are deposit slips and checks there that had errors on them) to just copying checks received. Can you imagine how many different checks a supermarket cashier could copy each week? Criminals don't have to rob mailboxes and use blank checks--the technology has gone way past such crude methods. Plus no one cares how a check is signed any longer. Signatures aren't checked.
Polonius
"Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend"
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:47 pm
They say to file where the crime took place, if the local police won't file a theft report, you can request that a miscellaneous report be filed. You can also contact county or state police to file the report, here that is always what I have recommended when local police departments didn't handle theft reports. But that should be changing with the new FACT Act, it is specifically calling on consumers to utilize the police departments now when theft is involved. Wether they like it or not, they are going to be more obligated then before to handle these cases. On the checks, I had just remembered a warning sometime back about people taking mail directly to the post office when checks were enclosed. Because people were stealing them out of the mail box, and washing the checks to be reused. The techology is definitely there now
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:07 pm
Quote:
They say to file where the crime took place, if the local police won't file a theft report, you can request that a miscellaneous report be filed. You can also contact county or state police to file the report, here that is always what I have recommended when local police departments didn't handle theft reports.Toward what end? What exactly is the filing of what would amounts to nothing more than a memorandum going to accomplish? The first question the police would ask would be, "How much did you lose?" The answer would be, "Nothing." The next question would be, "Then what are you reporting?" How would you answer that?
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:18 am
This is important, from my understanding people file police reports for ID Theft all the time, where no actual theft resulted, but a breach resulted that could of led to Theft. In that case after a period of time if nothing resulted, then they would just close the case. But it is important to establish the time and details of what happen for the record on the off chance that something later did happen. Also very important to note is that not all the time are accounts closed when the creditor informs the consumer the account has been closed. I have an example for you on that part - over to CIC site they have a member that had that happen to him, he wrote the company to close the account out, then moved after that point, was the victim of ID Theft, someone had stole his mail, successfully re-opened the account and charged it up. Weird twist was that he never found out and eventually the company went out of business and sold the account to another creditor, in fact it was sold a few times before he was contacted. The only thing that helps him in the end was the fact that the debt was out of SOL, and he did have the letter originally sent to the creditor requesting the account to be closed. So just on that, I would say to file the police report, and get documentation in writing from the creditor to cover bases. With my luck if that was me no matter the odds, I would be the one to end up with that kind of problem
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 9:58 am
Quote:
But it is important to establish the time and details of what happen for the record on the off chance that something later did happen. Even if you could file it, which I still doubt, a police report would not establish what you want. Since the police weren't there all it would establish is that you said it happened that way. Since you weren't there for much of the incident a lawyer would have a wonderful time trashing the credibility of such a report as hearsay. You would be far better off if you could get a copy of the investigative report from the credit card issuer's security department. That would show the results of a professional investigation with names, dates, places, procedures, etc.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 444
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 10:54 am
Quote:
he did have the letter originally sent to the creditor requesting the account to be closed. I don't understand how that would help. Anyone can type up any letter and put any date on it--and claim it was sent.
Polonius
"Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend"
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 1:58 pm
I am not talking about the time of the theft, I am talking about time of reporting on the theft, there is a statute of limitations on reporting such things, it use to be like two years, but think with the new FACT Act that has been extended to five years. You establish the time that you did something about reporting the theft, unfortunately most people don't discover the theft in a timely matter to report it, I think it is like 2 years from discovery, and five years from time of theft is how they worked out the numbers. Creditors have been fighting that one for sometime, that they should not be held accountable to maintain records for that long, every few years the companies would rather purge their records, but these days with technology they can archive records either computer or micro fishe. I was at the hospital with my mother yesterday and seen a first, they needed her to sign papers and needed to see her insurance card, everything she give them, they put on a scanner and copied into the computer. Our local hospital I know does not do that, so when we went to a bigger hospital that suprised me they were doing that. Creditors can do the same thing, they don't have the mass influx of people that hospitals do, that should not be too much for them. And as far as the letter saved, I am sure if you had a good layer, you could carbon date the letter
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 12:13 pm
Nightstar, with regards to hospitals scanning insurance cards, etc., as (unfortunately) a frequent user of both inpatient and outpatient services at my local hospital over the past few years I can tell you that the scanning of and by itself is meaningless and in reality tends to waste and not save time. You still have to show proof of insurance each and every time you're there and each and every time they scan your card, driver's license, etc. I have asked them why they waste time doing the same thing over and over again. Their answer was a good one; they don't know if what you submitted yesterday is still valid today. Things like insurance coverage change very rapidly in today's world. Hence they scan and rescan every visit.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 12:26 pm
Quote:
You establish the time that you did something about reporting the theft, Nope. All it establishes is that you SAID that a theft occurred. You can go to your police station right now, today, and claim that you are a victim of identity theft. They might even take the report, but the police will not investigate it. Tomorrow you can file a similar report at another police station, and the next day a third., etc. So what? POLICE REPORTS PROVE NOTHING! To truly establish your claim, you need to report any incidents of fraud, lost, or stolen cards to the card issuer. They are the only ones who can help. They will immediately investigate all such incidents, will send you the proper forms to establish your claim, will immediately cancel your existing card(s), and will immediately issue new cards with new account numbers. The police cannot do that.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 3
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 10:43 am
Post subject: Credit Card Skimmed? -> Identity Theft?
recently took a trip out of town and stayed in a motel in Tennessee. I used my credit card to pay for the room for one night. A couple of days later I received a phone call from the credit card company inquiring about some suspicious purchasing that had occurred. Someone had made $1500 worth of purchases on my credit card in only 30 minutes! Additionally, these purchases were made in actual PHYSICAL stores, and I still have the credit card in my possession. The woman from the credit card company mentioned that someone could have made a copy of the card somehow. Over the past few days I have read something online about credit card skimming, where a crook uses a small card reader to copy the data from your credit card, and then later copies that data onto another card. This supposedly most often occurs in restaurants and other places where the card leaves your sight... but I didn't really pay much attention to what the attendant at the motel did with my card. I'm not even completely certain that this is what happened (skimming), but it is what best explains it so far. I am happy that they deactivated my account soon after the spending occurred (actual limit was much higher than $1500), and they are getting into investigating the case and finding out who did it. However, I am now worrying about potential identity fraud. When I checked into the motel I had to write down my address, phone number, and also provide my signature. And I know it isn't hard to obtain someones Social Security number... and whoever it is has some kind of copy of my credit card. Seems to me that it wouldn't be hard for them to make a fake ID and use that and the credit card to apply for credit/loans/employment and who knows what else in my name. I am a 20 year old college student with an excellent credit rating and I want to do all I can to protect this. The thought of some crook actually benefitting from the credit rating I have worked hard to keep sickens me. I signed up for a service that allows me to check my credit report from all 3 bureaus at any time. However, I have seen that any new accounts made in your name will take 3 months to even show up on the credit report! Does it really take this long for things so show up? And if it does, is there really any point in paying for a service that allows you to monitor your credit report on a daily basis?? One thing I have thought about doing is to issue a Fraud Alert onto my credit report. I have read on several web sites that all I need to do it contact one of the 3 credit reporting bureaus, ask them to issue this alert, and when they do it will be transferred to the other bureaus as well. Is it really that easy to do? The sites say that when the Fraud Alert is in place, creditors will contact me by phone before opening any accounts in my name. HOWEVER I also see that sometimes creditors just ignore this alert.. they aren't even required by law to acknowledge it... what is the point of even doing it if this is the case? Say that I need to apply for insurance within the next few months and they see this "fraud alert" on my credit report... could that give them an excuse to give me a higher rate? Could this be looked at unfavorably in the future by potential employers?? Overall I just want to know what you think about the potential for identity theft at this point... and whether or not a fraud alert would do me more harm than good. Thank you!!
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:22 pm
If you have not done so there are a few things you want to do to cover all bases.
1. File police report, obtain copy of the report, or obtain the phone number to the police station and the file number of the report.
2. Go here: consumer.gov/idtheft/ Complete an ID Theft Affidavit and have a few copies noterized.
3. Contact the credit reporting agency, (you can call one, and have them take care of the other 2 agencies for you) Experian 888-397-3742, activate fraud alert - they will mail you out a free copy of your credit report immediately "also you are entitled to another free credit report from each agency within the next 12 months".
4. When you receive the credit reports, forward dispute to the credit reporting agency - including a copy of the police report, and ID Theft Affidavit. Let them know which account was the result of ID Theft and they will remove the listing for 30 days while the creditor investigates, if they find it to be result of ID Theft - they will remove the item for good.
5. Along with the Fraud Alert, best to request a victims statement being added, to do this, forward a copy of your phone bill (showing your name and address portion to them, don't hve to be the details of the billing. They should add a remark direct to the report better then just fraud alert, this can remain on the credit report for 7 years or until you write in sooner to request to be removed. They should add your phone number to the credit report so that new creditors can call you to verbally verify your identity before extending new credit.
6. Forward copy of the police report and noterized ID Theft Affidavit to the creditor, know that you have already talk to them in person over the phone, but to be legally binding, it is best to send them documentation and keep copies for your records as well. Follow up with all directions, keeping notes of who you talk to, when and what resulted, this can be a timely matter, and you are right, that there are more then just one form of ID Theft, recommend that you read the pdf file at the FTC site called When bad things happen to your good name also you can report the theft to the FTC help line, number should be at their site, if you can't find it let me know and I will hunt it down.
Yes it is true that it can take up to 30 / 60 days for new accounts to show up to a credit report, so be a good idea to periodically check your credit report, the monitoring services are just after your money, you don't need a day by day access to the credit report, things update monthly when ID theft is involved, least 3 / 6 reports per year is a good enough job to monitor. 3 at the lest, spread out, get in the habit though from here on out to check your credit report yearly - the credit reporting agencies will offer one free credit report per year so you would not have to pay for at least one. Also you can visit idtheftcenter.com for more information. If you invest the little bit of work now, and hit them hard, then they should not have a leg to stand on later should they try to collect on fraudulant activity as long as you have the police report and id theft affidavit. The credit card company can technically hold you accountable for the first $50 related to the fraud, so be sure to follow up with them to see what they are going to do
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Author: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 444
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 6:35 pm
You're not a victim of identity theft yet, and the fact that your credit card number was used without your permission doesn't mean you have to panic right now. The fact that someone has your credit card number doesn't make you any more vulnerable to identity theft than anyone else. Until you see some sign of identity theft, don't worry about it. The credit card has been cancelled already. I know you're concerned because you were told that your card was used in a real store. Could be--but I wouldn't believe that until I saw a card receipt from an actual store supposedly signed by you. Most crooks aren't capable of duplicating an actual card. One technique to do what you're describing is to imprint blank forms with your actual card while it's available, and then to have a store compadre later run that form through the store's imprinter for the charge. Such schemes usually get found out fairly fast. More often, it's a mail/phone order run through the system not properly identified as such; the person who responded to your question over the phone doesn't have access to anything more than what the computer says. Information about your credit card accounts, social security number, and telephone/address/name are easily available from a thousand sources on and off the Internet. One stolen credit card number does not make an identity theft.
Polonius
"Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend"
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:32 pm
ID Theft or not, that is why the system is there to log time of occurance, the longer you wait, the less credable your claim becomes, you want to establish time with the police department and get the report filed. It does no hard to activate a fraud alert, the only thing it does is slow down approval rate for new credit, you can always call and cancel both the victim statement and the fraud alert at any time. Better to be safe then sorry.
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 10:54 pm
Polonius is correct. The credit card issuer cancelled the card and will no doubt issue a new card with a new account number. It's over. You're not being charged for the apparently fradulent use of the card and the card is now of no value to the perp. Thieves know this. If they gain access to a credit card they have at the most a few hours to use it. Whether it was used in a store or on line is meaningless to you. There's no need to go crazy writing dozens of letters, filing reports, etc, etc. Just get on with your life. You're in no danger.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:04 pm
I disagree with you on this, the op says he does not know how they got the credit card information, or if they got more information then just that, there are many forms of ID theft, not just focused on credit cards. He gets the police report and he will have his bases covered.
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Author: IveBeenSkimmed
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 3
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:44 am
If the credit card company already filed a police report, should I file one myself as well? Or just obtain a copy of the report they filed?
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Author: IveBeenSkimmed
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 3
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:24 pm
Also, I heard that it is easy to make a fake ID/driver's licence. Can someone use that fake credit card along with this as an ID to open credit accounts in my name? Would one be able to easily tell that it was a counterfeit card or can they make them well enough to look legitimate? In particular I heard that store credit accounts would be very easy to open like this. One other thing, I got a call from the credit card company saying that someone tried to use the card again in another state, and this was 5 days after the card was cancelled. If they spent all that money in one day, why would they come along so much later and try to use it again? Maybe more than one person got a copy? Thanks so much for your advice so far
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:58 pm
Obtain a copy of the report which the creditor filed, that is a first time I have heard of a creditor filing a police report - but be sure to get a copy for your record. Being that the card was hit again on trying to be used, makes me wonder if it was just the group of numbers sold, meaning that yours might have been one out of many sold to multiple groups trying to use them, and one didn't know that another already tried using that number. Sometimes the credit card company has a breach in their system resulting in a lot of their customer numbers being compromised. There have been a few that made the news that lost customer account numbers from their system, and not that the consumer lost it! That might explain why the company filed the police report then, if the breach was on their end. I would not think that they could use the credit card to get a drivers license, but I don't think it is hard for people to make false drivers licenses either. If you can imagine it, then someone has likely already done it is how I think of it, I have spoke to many ID Theft victims personally myself and I have heard some stories that just blew the mind. Just to give you idea: One I heard that 3 guys jumped a postal worker and stole his mail back, and got their hands on check being mailed out to consumers from banks - so they wrote up a bunch of bad checks before the consumer was aware that the checks were missing. That one was a federal offense and that individual was getting a little more help on that end then most people are lucky to get for help. I have heard of people using other people's social security numbers to file bankruptcy, have heard of people taking out mortgage loans on other people's property... heard of employees at nursing homes stealing residents personal identification, and credit card accounts... one time had the state call trying to get a warrant against a nursing home for diverting residents income to their use. Heard of people having purses stolen while at the hospital, or worse one lady had purse stolen while she was at church... more common I hear of children having their identity used by parents to open up utility accounts and cable, or medical bills being billed direct to children instead of parents, when they were not old enough to be responsible for the billing... There are plenty more I have heard, but these few stuck out, or were the most common ones I would get calls on. I don't know how all the scams out there work, how fake drivers license are done, but I know it is common for people to make them
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 7:59 pm
Sorry, but the credit card company wouldn't file a police report. Their own internal security handles such matters. The only time they would get law enforcement involved would be if they caught the perp in the act. At that time it would be more than just a police report; criminal charges would be filed. With regard to the consumer filing a police report, that's almost impossible in a case like this. Where would you file it? I can tell you from personal experience in a similar incident, your home town police won't want to know about it because the incident didn't happen within their jurisdiction. Where were the fraudlent purchases made? Do you even know? You'd probably have to go to a local police department in that city to file a report. Do you really want to travel hundreds of miles just to file a report which doubtless will have no impact on anything? You've not been harmed, you've suffered no monetary loss, the stolen credit card has been cancelled and I assume that nothing else has been stolen. Just get on with your life and be thankful for the vigilance of your credit card issuer.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 444
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:28 pm
As far as checks go, I use a program called VersaCheck which works with 3-check forms available at any office supply store. I can print my own checks from my laser printer--checks with bank logos and any account name or number I like. It's easy to get names and checking account numbers--techniques range from fishing out paper from waste baskets in bank lobbies (often there are deposit slips and checks there that had errors on them) to just copying checks received. Can you imagine how many different checks a supermarket cashier could copy each week? Criminals don't have to rob mailboxes and use blank checks--the technology has gone way past such crude methods. Plus no one cares how a check is signed any longer. Signatures aren't checked.
Polonius
"Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend"
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:47 pm
They say to file where the crime took place, if the local police won't file a theft report, you can request that a miscellaneous report be filed. You can also contact county or state police to file the report, here that is always what I have recommended when local police departments didn't handle theft reports. But that should be changing with the new FACT Act, it is specifically calling on consumers to utilize the police departments now when theft is involved. Wether they like it or not, they are going to be more obligated then before to handle these cases. On the checks, I had just remembered a warning sometime back about people taking mail directly to the post office when checks were enclosed. Because people were stealing them out of the mail box, and washing the checks to be reused. The techology is definitely there now
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:07 pm
Quote:
They say to file where the crime took place, if the local police won't file a theft report, you can request that a miscellaneous report be filed. You can also contact county or state police to file the report, here that is always what I have recommended when local police departments didn't handle theft reports.Toward what end? What exactly is the filing of what would amounts to nothing more than a memorandum going to accomplish? The first question the police would ask would be, "How much did you lose?" The answer would be, "Nothing." The next question would be, "Then what are you reporting?" How would you answer that?
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:18 am
This is important, from my understanding people file police reports for ID Theft all the time, where no actual theft resulted, but a breach resulted that could of led to Theft. In that case after a period of time if nothing resulted, then they would just close the case. But it is important to establish the time and details of what happen for the record on the off chance that something later did happen. Also very important to note is that not all the time are accounts closed when the creditor informs the consumer the account has been closed. I have an example for you on that part - over to CIC site they have a member that had that happen to him, he wrote the company to close the account out, then moved after that point, was the victim of ID Theft, someone had stole his mail, successfully re-opened the account and charged it up. Weird twist was that he never found out and eventually the company went out of business and sold the account to another creditor, in fact it was sold a few times before he was contacted. The only thing that helps him in the end was the fact that the debt was out of SOL, and he did have the letter originally sent to the creditor requesting the account to be closed. So just on that, I would say to file the police report, and get documentation in writing from the creditor to cover bases. With my luck if that was me no matter the odds, I would be the one to end up with that kind of problem
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 9:58 am
Quote:
But it is important to establish the time and details of what happen for the record on the off chance that something later did happen. Even if you could file it, which I still doubt, a police report would not establish what you want. Since the police weren't there all it would establish is that you said it happened that way. Since you weren't there for much of the incident a lawyer would have a wonderful time trashing the credibility of such a report as hearsay. You would be far better off if you could get a copy of the investigative report from the credit card issuer's security department. That would show the results of a professional investigation with names, dates, places, procedures, etc.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 444
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 10:54 am
Quote:
he did have the letter originally sent to the creditor requesting the account to be closed. I don't understand how that would help. Anyone can type up any letter and put any date on it--and claim it was sent.
Polonius
"Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend"
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2431
Location: Illinois
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 1:58 pm
I am not talking about the time of the theft, I am talking about time of reporting on the theft, there is a statute of limitations on reporting such things, it use to be like two years, but think with the new FACT Act that has been extended to five years. You establish the time that you did something about reporting the theft, unfortunately most people don't discover the theft in a timely matter to report it, I think it is like 2 years from discovery, and five years from time of theft is how they worked out the numbers. Creditors have been fighting that one for sometime, that they should not be held accountable to maintain records for that long, every few years the companies would rather purge their records, but these days with technology they can archive records either computer or micro fishe. I was at the hospital with my mother yesterday and seen a first, they needed her to sign papers and needed to see her insurance card, everything she give them, they put on a scanner and copied into the computer. Our local hospital I know does not do that, so when we went to a bigger hospital that suprised me they were doing that. Creditors can do the same thing, they don't have the mass influx of people that hospitals do, that should not be too much for them. And as far as the letter saved, I am sure if you had a good layer, you could carbon date the letter
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 12:13 pm
Nightstar, with regards to hospitals scanning insurance cards, etc., as (unfortunately) a frequent user of both inpatient and outpatient services at my local hospital over the past few years I can tell you that the scanning of and by itself is meaningless and in reality tends to waste and not save time. You still have to show proof of insurance each and every time you're there and each and every time they scan your card, driver's license, etc. I have asked them why they waste time doing the same thing over and over again. Their answer was a good one; they don't know if what you submitted yesterday is still valid today. Things like insurance coverage change very rapidly in today's world. Hence they scan and rescan every visit.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 798
Location: NJ
Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 12:26 pm
Quote:
You establish the time that you did something about reporting the theft, Nope. All it establishes is that you SAID that a theft occurred. You can go to your police station right now, today, and claim that you are a victim of identity theft. They might even take the report, but the police will not investigate it. Tomorrow you can file a similar report at another police station, and the next day a third., etc. So what? POLICE REPORTS PROVE NOTHING! To truly establish your claim, you need to report any incidents of fraud, lost, or stolen cards to the card issuer. They are the only ones who can help. They will immediately investigate all such incidents, will send you the proper forms to establish your claim, will immediately cancel your existing card(s), and will immediately issue new cards with new account numbers. The police cannot do that.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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