# Should I worry about this? (Possible identity/cc theft)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 1, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507 "2012-05-01T13:18:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/1 "2012-05-01T13:18:28Z")
I received this e-mail this morning from Andre Shults [support@gredine.com]:
> [@](#):
>
> Dear Mr./Mrs. (my name),
>
> On 15 of Aug 2011 you had become a victim of
> activity, when you were purchased computer program that was
> supposed to cure your computer. This program was
> installed on your computer in order to gather your personal
> information.
>
> At present, the group of alleged perpetrators, which includes the
> management of Oneliya LLC (Moscow Russia), B&N Bank (Moscow, Russia)
> and Raiffeisen bank (Moscow, Russia) is being investigated by the
> appropriate authorities and several criminal actions has begun.
>
> Unfortunately, all your personal information that you had transmitted
> to the perpetrators has been compromised and is available to other
> criminally minded individuals.
>
> Here is your personal information that is available:
>
> Trnsaction date: 2011-08-15 00:34:01
> Credit card number: (my credit card number)
> Credit card expire year: 2013
> Credit card month: 12
> CVV: \*\*\*
>
> Paymnt amount: 59.95
> Name: (my name)
> Street: (my street address)
> ZIP: (my street address again)
> State: MA
> City: (my city)
> Email: (my work e-mail)
> Phone: (my old cell number)
> Country: US
>
> We urge you to immediately cancel the card above and request a
> replacement, due to the fact that your information has been
> compromised.
>
> Also, please enclose the copy of this letter with your complaint to
> the law enforcement. You can complain to the law enforcement agency
> via email. You have the right to receive a 49.95 dollar compensation and
> the reissue of the card should be free of charge to you.
>
> In the event you wish to receive the compensation please contact our
> legal department by writing to [support@gredine.com](mailto:support@gredine.com)
>
> Andre Shults CISSP, ISSAP, ISSMP, CSSLP
Should I contact my bank?
---
### Author:  [@Doctor\_Why](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Why)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/2 "2012-05-01T13:31:00Z")
I think you should contact your bank. If you did indeed purchase a program as mentioned, you should uninstall the program and do a thorough cleaning of your computer for viruses and trojans and the like.
---
### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/3 "2012-05-01T13:36:09Z")
I would call the bank, but I’d be very careful about contacting the person who sent this.
---
### Author:  [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/4 "2012-05-01T13:43:30Z")
Either they are on the up and up and you need to get a new card and cleanse your pc, or they are shady and you need a new card because you know they have the details of your current one. Assuming the details they sent were correct for your card.
---
### Author:  [@Doctor\_Why](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Why)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/5 "2012-05-01T13:50:48Z")
This is what I like about the Dope; someone always says what I’m thinking and they say it better than I can.
---
### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/6 "2012-05-01T13:55:48Z")
If someone, _anyone_, has sent your credit card info thru email in plain text, you need to cancel that credit card **now**. Report it as stolen. Go thru the list of recent purchases and report any fraudulent charges.
If you really did buy one of those scam anti-virus programs, you need to start running multiple virus scanners **now**. See the GQ sticky.
If anything is found, once it’s cleaned up start changing passwords, etc. on every single account/login you have ever used on that computer.
Should you be worried? You basically can’t be worried enough.
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/7 "2012-05-01T13:56:50Z")
> [@TokyoPlayer](#):
>
> I would call the bank, but I’d be very careful about contacting the person who sent this.
Yeah, I was wondering about that. If I reply, will I get myself in more trouble?
I just got back from my bank, they’re issuing me a new card. And I no longer use that laptop as it indeed got a virus, but that was in February, not August.
---
### Author:  [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/8 "2012-05-01T13:58:45Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> Yeah, I was wondering about that. If I reply, will I get myself in more trouble?
>
> I just got back from my bank, they’re issuing me a new card. And I no longer use that laptop as it indeed got a virus, but that was in February, not August.
Have you ever made an online purchase from a friends computer or a public one? May not be your laptop that is the issue.
---
### Author:  [@tboltman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tboltman)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/9 "2012-05-01T13:58:56Z")
I received the same email this morning.
searched [gredine.com](http://gredine.com) and web address is expired.
sounds fishy to me. Any other’s with more info…???
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/10 "2012-05-01T14:03:44Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#):
>
> Have you ever made an online purchase from a friends computer or a public one? May not be your laptop that is the issue.
Not that I can remember. I made a purchase through Orbitz from a library desktop, but that was in March, and for a lot more than $9.95.
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/11 "2012-05-01T14:03:54Z")
That website, gredine . com, was only registered on April 25, 2012, by someone apparently in Panama and with very fishy E-mail addresses for the contact personnel. Also check out the really bad grammar in the first paragraph of the letter you got (“when you were purchased”). Plus, yeah, sending your full CC info in plain text means if you weren’t compromised before (and there’s no reason a fly-by-night company should have that info on you), you soon will be.
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/12 "2012-05-01T14:05:01Z")
> [@tboltman](#):
>
> I received the same email this morning.
Did it have your correct CC number and address?
---
### Author:  [@mikef11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikef11)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/13 "2012-05-01T14:14:02Z")
I have just received this same email this morning. I have absolutely no Idea what it’s from, but it’s definitely some kind of scam. I googled the web address in which the person sent their email from, but there is no such thing as [gredine.com](http://gredine.com). It’s a bit scary to see this in my email with the guy knowing all my information. Yes definitely contact your bank and cancel your card.
I just looked at my bank statement from the date the email says i made a purchase. There is a purchase on my card for exactly the amount he stated, so maybe this is something we signed up for online (anit virus something or not)?
Good luck!
---
### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/14 "2012-05-01T14:19:06Z")
It would be interesting to know if all the people reporting that they received this email are with the same bank. It could be that bank’s credit card info has been compromised.
---
### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/15 "2012-05-01T14:21:30Z")
Grammar/Syntax is wrong in several places (“when you were purchased”, for instance). That’s usually a dead giveaway to me.
Quasi
---
### Author:  [@toni0329](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toni0329)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/16 "2012-05-01T14:21:36Z")
I also got this same email this morning, which had all of my correct credit card info as well as correct address, etc. The credit card was lost several months ago and already cancelled and replaced - anythign else I should be concerned about??
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/17 "2012-05-01T14:24:05Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#):
>
> It would be interesting to know if all the people reporting that they received this email are with the same bank. It could be that bank’s credit card info has been compromised.
Citizen’s Bank, anyone?
---
### Author:  [@Kaishadaisy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaishadaisy)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/18 "2012-05-01T14:46:59Z")
Are you all in America? I live in Scotland and received this email today also! I have checked my online banking and nothing has come out for that amount on the day mentioned nor a few days afterwards.
It has quoted an old bank card I have since had replaced, but my current address and phone number.
Should I still cancel my card?
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/19 "2012-05-01T14:50:43Z")
For those of you who got this, how much do we have in common?
Citizen’s Bank?
$9.95?
August 15th, 2011?
---
### Author:  [@S10slayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/S10slayer)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-worry-about-this-possible-identity-cc-theft/620507/20 "2012-05-01T14:55:02Z")
I just got this too, but already got a new credit card number in Feb. So the way I handled this is reported it to our police department and sent this mf a great picture of my nuts so fuck um all!!
😃
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