Fraud/Identity Theft, watch your accounts

[skysharks]

Hey Folks, yep it hit me. No matter how protected I thought I was it has happened to me twice in a 6 week period.
The good note is that I check my accounts daily for balances and transactions, so I picked up on them the day after.

Story: Amonth and a half ago on a Monday morning I bring up my bank account and notice 3 charges all back to back for the same amount.
I know that I haven't made any purchases, I check with the wife and Nope she hasn't either.
I go to the bank and dispute the charges, they ask me to call the number that is associated with the charges. Seems that these were downloads from an Internet gaming site.
Bank has me sign an affadavit disputing the charges and they reimburse me for the amounts.
That account gets canceled and a new one is opened with a new card. Then last week it happens again. 2 charges for varying amounts.
What freaks me out is that it is on the new account.
I scan the puter for virus and spyware etc. I even take the puter to a company to have it scaned by another system without my operating system running. Nothing found, except for a couple of programs that I wasn't aware of that were in the downloaded programs files that would activate when IE was fired up.
Those programs were deleted. Tech says that there may of been something that latched onto those programs, that may have been malious. But he wasn't for sure.
He recommends not using IE or outlook. So I take his advise.
I have to use the internet for business transactions/purchases etc. Now I am so paranoid not sure what to do.
I make a police report and of course since the infraction didnt happen here they have no jurisdiction and close the case.
Remedy for me at this time is to open a dummy account. transfer into it only the amount of my transactions, and carry no balance.
That way, if this one gets compromised, their transactions would not go through.
All of this really @$%^$*$ me off. I feel so helpless.
1. I don't really know if I was compromised through the internet, cause it was only my account that got hit. Not my wife's. She also does transactions over the internet, but uses her account.
2. or if I am being compromised locally.


WATCH YOUR STUFF.

[Trent Mason]

Mac,

I'm very sorry to hear about that. That happened to my mom a few years ago. Now, everywhere she goes, she scolds people for not checking her driver's license when she pays with her debit/credit cards (which is rare). There are other ISPs you can use that might be more secure though. I've heard of Maxthon and Firefox to name two. I hear Vista is very secure, but there are still a few bugs that need to be worked out with it. I hope you get this figured out, but you're VERY lucky you caught it immediately, before it affected your credit or anything.

Trent

[Bob Buchholz]

Account theft doesn't have to come from you computer. I had a friend that rented a car in Chicago, used her credit card and a couple weeks later a fellow in Chicago bought a computer using her card. Turned out he worked for the car rental agency and just copied down her info, including drivers license number, credit card number and insurance info. Course, the idiot had the computer shipped to his home address.

[JimmyC]

Mac,

Man I feel your pain, a couple of years ago I was getting false charge on an AE card and it turned out that my number was gotten from a gas station that I frequented. I had card # changed at it stopped, thankfully.

What has happened to you with your computer has been one of my biggest fears. I hope that everything works out for you.

Jimmy

[fivestring]

Here are some tips to prevent ID theft:

The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them.
If someone takes your checkbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name but your bank will know how you sign your checks.

When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last four numbers.
The credit card company knows the rest of the number and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.

If you must put a phone number on your checks, put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone.

If you have a PO Box, use that instead of your home address.

NEVER have your SS# printed on your checks (DUH!) you can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of each license, credit card, etc.
You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.
Keep the photocopy in a safe place. Carry a photocopy of your passport.

We have all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards, etc.
We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them easily.

File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen, this proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But this is perhaps most important:
Call one of the three national credit-reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. They will, in turn, notify the other two.

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases.

The numbers are:

Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742

Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289

Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271

[junquecol]

I feel your pain, as Christmas 2006, I bought a pair of $200 tennis shoes in Perth Australia, and some bolts at Agri-Supply in Garner within ten minutes of each other. The Agri-Supply purchase set off the alarm though. Some states use your SS # as your drivers licensee #. PUT A CREDIT FREEZE in place. This way crooks can't get into your file to open accounts. Cost about $10 for each of the three credit places. Also costs about $15 to temporarily thaw credit.you that is when the Felders go on sale for $500 and free financing for 10 years.

[Bigdog72]

Sorry to hear that John!

For those of you with Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, look at your account # and see if it isn't familiar to you. I called and asked to have my acct no changed and they "NO"!

[Cliff]

Hi, Mac...

I'm sorry to hear that this has hit you:

• Firefox is a great alternative to IE. I've used it for over a year now, and I'm very pleased with it.
• The FBI is the agency to report cybercrime to... they have a special division for it, and of course, jurisdiction is not a problem: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/reporting.htm
• You know where I work, so if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know...

cliff

[TBone]

If your wife uses the same computer, it's unlikely that your number was stolen from your computer. If it had been, most likely they would have gotten hers also. I think I would take a hard look at where I made purchases, especially with the new card. Heck, who knows, it could be someone at the bank.

Sorry for the hassle and if you find out who, give me a call and I'll reload for you.

[Glennbear]

Originally Posted by Bigdog72

Sorry to hear that John!

For those of you with Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, look at your account # and see if it isn't familiar to you. I called and asked to have my acct no changed and they "NO"!

I knew there was an advantage somewhere to my former residence in NJ. My BC/bandsaw is through the NJ State Health Benefits Commission and a few years ago at the state's behest the ID numbers were changed to something other than SS. One would think the other BC/bandsaw groups would follow suit.

[ChrisMathes]

John,
Out of curiosity, what of yours was compromised? (Your credit card number, online credentials, etc.) How was the transaction completed (Did they log into a site and order something with your cc#, did they pay through your billpay acct online, etc.?) When you were made whole by your financial institution, what did they do (new credit card? new atm/debit? new online credentials, etc.?) That info could help figure out how you are being compromised so we can help you from having it happen again!

Chris

[Will Goodwin]

Really sorry to hear about that. I just saw on the news the other day that the latest is that they are intercepting transmissions from the stores when they try to verify your account (credit or debit). Crazy how many different ways people can steal your identity. Texas was having a rash of people stealing mail out of mailboxes. I'd say the info above is great as well as what you've been doing (checking your accounts on a regular basis).

[woodrat]

Just checked my BCBSNC card and my SS# is
no where on it.

Woodrat

[rcorne01]

Originally Posted by Bob Buchholz

Account theft doesn't have to come from you computer. I had a friend that rented a car in Chicago, used her credit card and a couple weeks later a fellow in Chicago bought a computer using her card. Turned out he worked for the car rental agency and just copied down her info, including drivers license number, credit card number and insurance info. Course, the idiot had the computer shipped to his home address.

One of the curiosities about how we use our credit/debit cards - While we look for all sorts of encryption and security on the computers we use, we have no problem handing our credit/debit cards to a waiter/waitress making $2/hour and let them walk out of our site for 5 or 10 minutes with it! More than enough time to copy the account number and "security numbers" from the back of the card or even swipe it in some type of reader!

[Bas]

First of all, my sympathies.

I use a separate credit card for all web transactions. It helps narrowing down when your account is compromised. Some banks offer "one-shot" credit cards tied to a real credit card/ bank account, you just get a new number every time you make a purchase.

Maybe your computer is bugged, but if you're reasonably careful checking for spyware, that's not likely to be the cause. Perhaps a company you do business with was hacked. Backup tapes, old computers sold on eBay, printouts not shredded: most criminals target businesses instead of consumers.

It's very possible you are compromised locally. A couple of years ago, I pick up some drycleaning, pay by CC. Machine jams, no receipt. The guy hits a button, and it prints out all the transactions for the day, with names & numbers. He hands me the entire receipt, not just the small piece that has my info. I ripped him a new one.