Last week we got a call from the credit card company, asking us to verify some purchases. This wasn’t that unusual, since we sometimes travel and buy stuff. But this time, it appeared someone had been using our credit card number to buy cell phone service and some crap from Home Shopping Network, among other things. So we filed a fraud report, and they recommended we cancel the current account and transfer everything to a new one, so we did that. Then we left for available light’s parents’ house, where we are now.
Last night I tried to buy something with my ATM card, but it was denied. So of course I was worried, given the credit card fraud. When we got back to the house, we checked our bank account balance online and found several suspicious withdrawals to the tune of $600, so we called the bank. Turns out the ATM card was fine, and the local merchant’s POS machine was probably on the fritz, but someone had managed to get money directly out of our checking account some other way. Apparently anyone with the account number and routing number off the check can potentially clean your shit out. If this is true, it’s a major fucking security hole that I am very pissed about. But for now, all we can do is wait on the bank’s fraud team to investigate and get back to us. When we get home we’re going to see about running a credit check on ourselves to see if someone has opened any other accounts in our name.
I urge all of you to check your balances and verify your purchases, especially now with the high volume of transactions. Scammers are hoping you won’t notice a couple extra little debits between your own DVDs and computer games or whatever.
Did you give the caller from the "credit card company " your personal info? NEver, never, never, never, give your SSN, bank routing #, or CC # to ANYONE who calls you, no matter how legit they seem to be. Get the caller’s name, then you call them back. Scammers are getting very good these days at posing as financial institutions.
My purse was stolen in November – ID, credit cards, checks. It’s been a nightmare, but I’ve learned a lot. The credit card companies and credit reporting companies (esp. Experian) have been extremely helpful; the employees of my credit union are idiots.
If you’ve been a fraud victim, you can request Experian to require that you be called at a number you specify before any new credit (opening an account, getting a loan, etc) in your name can be approved. Experian notifies the other two credit reporting agency of your request. This service is free. If you want more information about this, email me.
I also signed up to have my credit report monitored daily and to be notified of any changes. This cost, but I decided it was worth it since my thieves seem to be professionals.
The checks have been the worst part. The police said that the thieves probably sold my checks and my ID to someone who resembles me. That person had a very merry Christmas.
You will need to get a new bank account.
It’s amazing that there’s not more check fraud. Someone can print out checks with your account and routing numbers, using whatever name they have an ID for… Merchants seem quite willing to accept just about anything with minimal ID checking. If the checks have your name and address on them, you will be harrassed to death by collection agencies (who are not just idiots, but evil idiots).
Kind of hard to not give out your checking account number and bank routing number, as they are printed on every check you write. To maintain a strict level of control would mean not writing any checks, ever.
Yep, no checks for me. I have a couple in case I need them, but I haven’t finished a box of checks in over a decade.
Tip for folks aside from keeping photocopies of your credit cards (front and back) in your safety deposit box:
Get a state ID. Keep it safe, makes recovering from stolen ID/Purse/Wallet much easier - you have a photo ID to get on with daily living until you get a drivers license back.
sturmhawke, if you haven’t already done so, call the credit reporting agencies and put a fraud alert on your account.
Keep ALL documentation regarding this theft forever. I’ve heard horror stories on Clark Howard from people arrested for check kiting, when they were the identity theft victims and someone else was doing the kiting.
My check writing has gone way down since I got online banking. Between that and my check card, I maybe write one check a month.
Good luck, and again, keep all documentation forever.
When we got the call from the credit card people, they already knew all our information. I suppose they could have been sophisticated scammers, but today we got the replacement cards with the new account number. I’ll remember that next time though. Unfortunately our other credit card has been compromised as well, but this time we definitely called them so we know we’re dealing with the right people from the start. As for the bank account, we’ve arranged to only allow payment on a couple of legitimate outstanding checks, and tomorrow we’ll be going to the branch office to transfer our funds to a new account. Plus we’ll be going to the credit reporting agencies and the police and some other stuff from some fraud information websites. On New Year’s Eve. Wheee.