strange things happening at the Hakuna household--your thoughts?

Like the title says there appear to be some odd things happening at the Hakuna household. About 2 weeks ago we get home and there is a series of about 8 messages from various internet companies trying to get in touch with a Dale Miller (not my name by any stretch). My wife calls each of these companies and it turns out this Dale Miller used our home address, and home phone number—but a stolen business credit card from Texas. So when things didn’t match, the companies called to verify. Okay so a weird situation, but we think we have it all settled as we confirm that we didn’t order anything and the companies cancel the orders—then a few days later UPS tries to deliver some four boxes of a training manual that this Dale Miller had ordered (evidently successfully even though the credit card and address didn’t match!). But luckily we happened to be home when the UPS guy was there and now they are in theory blocking anything delivered to Dale Miller from our address. However my daughter did report that they did try and deliver something else last Thursday that she refused to sign for.

So overall everything seems fine—a bit odd perhaps. But figured it was just some bungler who couldn’t figure out that if you are going to steal a business credit card it is best to also steal the address that goes with that card. But we are none the worse for the wear as they say.

Then Friday I get home to two messages on my machine. Now this time it is two small colleges that are seeking confirmation of $100 gift in my name to their college. I call them today and it turns out someone made an online donation using my real name, my real address and my real phone number, but with a fake email address and NOT my credit card. So when the colleges tried to email back to verify the donation they got it bounced back and that is why they left a phone message.

The other odd thing is that my name is NOT associated with this phone number since it is in my wifes name and she has a different last name then I do. But I do use the phone number for stuff where I don’t want a call back.

I have checked all of my credit cards and there is no activity on them. None at all, so it really again isn’t impacting me per se. But I am at a loss to try and explain it. The credit card number they read off is NOT mine.

My wife thinks it is just some practical joke. But on who? The colleges? Seems odd as they are in different parts of the country, so a tie in to them seems odd at best. On me? How? It isn’t impacting me really except being odd. On the owner of the credit card? Again not impacting that person since the charge won’t go through unless the card, address and name match. So I am left to wonder why anyone would do this? I haven’t pissed anyone off that I know about :wink: I am a pretty easy going guy and most people really get along well with me, so I honestly can’t think of anyone I know who would do this.

Any thoughts? Anything you can think of I need to worry about?

It is totally a terrorist plot and you are some sort of “sleeper”.

Are you suuuure you know your real name?

Well I do go by the name “carlos the jackal” But now I have to kill you. Sorry :frowning:

damn you fishwoman!!

Yeah, I get that a lot.

I vote for split personality. You need to figure out what your other personality is doing while you’re “sleeping.”

hmmm…that would explain the red lipstick on my cheek when I wake up in the morning. But it doesn’t explain the straw or why I am wearing clown shoes :eek: Course if I end up with a fishwoman in my bed I would have some explaining to do–but isn’t that also a Mafia sign? Damn!!! I am being targeted by the MOB! This is all making sense now! Thanks Guys! I need to get the wife to monitor me when I am sleeping!

It sounds like a really inept attempt to verify and use a stolen credit card.
I know people who run a website that accepts donations. Their online donation
system sometimes get fraudulant donations, by people trying to verify if they
have a good credit card number. If the donation goes through, they have a winner.

Did the colleges tell you when the donations were made? If it’s before the purchases, then I’d guess that the donations were the attempt to verify the card,
before the other items were ordered. As for the stuff being delivered to your house, are there usually people home during the day? If not, then someone in your neighborhood might have been planning to take the boxes off your stoop before you got home.

Someone has at least some of your personal information and is repeatedly attempting to use this information to conduct financial transactions. Yup, I’d be worried. If it was one instance from one company, I’d maybe put it down to a mistake or whatever. But it’s happening repeatedly with multiple companies, too much to be a coincidence. That you have not personally lost any money yet doesn’t mean you won’t, or that someone else isn’t.
It’s good that you checked your credit cards and bank information and found nothing, but I would go the extra step and contact your credit card companies, banks, etc. Tell them you are worried your personal information has been compromised, and ask for new cards with new numbers. Maybe you can ask them to keep an eye on your account for fraudulent activity. And definitely keep an eye on your balances and report anything odd ASAP.

Not sure how you go about reporting identity theft, I knew someone it happened to, and the local police were completely clueless. Consider contacting the police anyway. It might seem a bit extreme, but if something serious does happen, at least there will be a report on record, which may help you prove your case with the banks or whoever.
Good luck to you. I hope it’s nothing serious, but be cautious, keep track of your accounts and your cards, and continue to reject deliveries you didn’t request or order.

Heard this on Clark Howard. When credit cards are stolen thieves often make small donations to see if they are still active. You might want to check all your account activity including savings/checking. And be careful of doing it on the computer lest you have been hacked into.

If it’s possible I would look into having your credit frozen.

I’d go a step further and check my credit report, probably for everyone in the household. The guy could try to get cards or other credit in your name. You might even consider Lifelock or something similar. It can be hard to correct problems like that in your credit–better to prevent them.

Thanks for the advice. I have pulled a credit report–no activity. Thank goodness. No activity on any checking/savings account, no activity on any credit cards and no activity on any financial data.

I did talk to the schools this morning and it turns out it is a different credit card with each school (and why the school gave me the credit card over the telephone is another story in itself!). So it appears **Tastes of Chocolate **has the likely answer–just someone trying to find a credit card that will go through.

I do plan on monitoring this very closely as I want to catch anything early if I can.

As far as the personal information it is pretty generic. My name, address and phone number. No indication they have my SS number or any account numbers…yet!

btw-Tastes of Chocolate the donations were AFTER the purchases. But the purchases were under a different name. I did have a credit card compromised about 6 months ago (closed that account) and that is likely how they got my name. I use my full name on credit cards–with the exception of the one that got compromised. I think I will check with those schools to see if my full name was used or the dimunitive.

Thanks though for all the advice. Those early hooligans almost had me convinced that the Mafia was involved :stuck_out_tongue:

People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durdan…

Well, no worries then.

Well you know the rules

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