Has anyone been a victim of identity theft? Vote in the poll

[AndrewR]

I'm just curious about the size of the problem compared to the hype since there are almost daily reports about data being stolen -- I think my information has been "compromised" about four or five times now (TD Ameritrade, US military a couple times, Bank of America, probably a couple others) with no consequences to date.

So, have you had your identity stolen in any way? Vote in the poll, and let us know how it happened and/or if it was avoidable somehow.

 

[Tweak155]

Nope.

 

[FoBoT]

never
my credit used to be not that good, bad credit is a bulletproof defense against identity theft

 

[Modeps]

Identity stolen? People have not masqueraded as me or anything, but they've used random number generators or something to order stuff with my credit cards... Happened at least 3 times that I can recall. All three times, the CC company was smart enough to catch it first.

 

[yllus]

I had someone copy and use my debit card to withdraw the max of $500 a few months back. That's all though - and I got that money back in a few days.

 

[Jeff7]

Someone in Russia got my debit card number somehow, and used it to buy an $800 cellphone at a UK company. It put a hold on my bank account, and when I went shopping that day, my card was declined, and I incurred an overdraft fee.
I talked to Wachovia right away, and they did some fraud investigation thing, and I had to sign a paper about it so that they'd credit me the money (as well as the overdraft fee). I also had to get a new debit card.
I then contacted the company in the UK by e-mail. They were helpful, and they credited me the $800 back, too. The fun part was that they said that the 3-digit security code that the Russian thief used wasn't even the right one. I asked why my account ever even saw the hold, if the security code wasn't correct. They never replied to that one.

Since the UK company had released the hold, I contacted Wachovia again, and they got back the credit they'd given me (I was never charged overdraft fees though).
Thanks to fluctuations in the exchange rate during the time it took to resolve this, I wound up making $1 off of the whole mess.

 

[SSSnail]

Well, I don't know if my identity has been stolen, but I can tell you that I went shopping TWICE in Canada within the last three months with two different credit cards, the funny thing is that I was in different countries other than Canada.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

wheres the not sure option? My credit report is clean but i still have reason to suspect.

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Someone in Russia got my debit card number somehow, and used it to buy an $800 cellphone at a UK company. It put a hold on my bank account, and when I went shopping that day, my card was declined, and I incurred an overdraft fee.
I talked to Wachovia right away, and they did some fraud investigation thing, and I had to sign a paper about it so that they'd credit me the money (as well as the overdraft fee). I also had to get a new debit card.
I then contacted the company in the UK by e-mail. They were helpful, and they credited me the $800 back, too. The fun part was that they said that the 3-digit security code that the Russian thief used wasn't even the right one. I asked why my account ever even saw the hold, if the security code wasn't correct. They never replied to that one.

Since the UK company had released the hold, I contacted Wachovia again, and they got back the credit they'd given me (I was never charged overdraft fees though).
Thanks to fluctuations in the exchange rate during the time it took to resolve this, I wound up making $1 off of the whole mess.

Invalid CVV/CVC2 codes isn't automatic grounds for decline on every processor. Most will just return that the one entered isn't valid or that one hasn't been submitted. It's still up to the merchant to decide if they want to take that transaction. But if the person contests the charge and the merchant didn't have valid CVV/CVC2 and/or AVS it's akin to not having a signed sales draft for a swiped/retail transaction. If I was that company, I wouldn't have honored the charge, not sure why they did.

At least you made a buck? Do you think you could have gotten away with making 800 smackeroos?

 

[43st]

- Visa card was scanned behind a counter at a gas station in NC. Someone in Russia attempted to use it, or so said the bank. They didn't get anything with this one.

- Cell phone number was cloned when I moved to NYC. $500 in charges or so, phone company confirmed the number had been cloned.

- Someone ripped off some "checks" (those free ones they send out for cash advance crap) from my credit card company and cashed them. This was a massive pain. Needed to lock down the credit, deal with investigators and threats from that collections agencies.

So three times... only voted once though.

 

[grohl]

Had credit card stolen twice this year.

Once travelling in London, must have been a double scan at a restaurant - only time I used it there prior to getting fraudulent charges.

Next time was several 75 dollar charges at a gas station in Austin.

 

[AndrewR]

Originally posted by: oogabooga

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Someone in Russia got my debit card number somehow, and used it to buy an $800 cellphone at a UK company. It put a hold on my bank account, and when I went shopping that day, my card was declined, and I incurred an overdraft fee.
I talked to Wachovia right away, and they did some fraud investigation thing, and I had to sign a paper about it so that they'd credit me the money (as well as the overdraft fee). I also had to get a new debit card.
I then contacted the company in the UK by e-mail. They were helpful, and they credited me the $800 back, too. The fun part was that they said that the 3-digit security code that the Russian thief used wasn't even the right one. I asked why my account ever even saw the hold, if the security code wasn't correct. They never replied to that one.

Since the UK company had released the hold, I contacted Wachovia again, and they got back the credit they'd given me (I was never charged overdraft fees though).
Thanks to fluctuations in the exchange rate during the time it took to resolve this, I wound up making $1 off of the whole mess.

Invalid CVV/CVC2 codes isn't automatic grounds for decline on every processor. Most will just return that the one entered isn't valid or that one hasn't been submitted. It's still up to the merchant to decide if they want to take that transaction. But if the person contests the charge and the merchant didn't have valid CVV/CVC2 and/or AVS it's akin to not having a signed sales draft for a swiped/retail transaction. If I was that company, I wouldn't have honored the charge, not sure why they did.

At least you made a buck? Do you think you could have gotten away with making 800 smackeroos?

I remember ordering something online using my credit card number from memory, and the site asked for the CVV from the card. I thought I knew it, entered it, and the order went through. Only later when I checked the card did I realize that I had put in the wrong one. I thought it was odd but never followed up with the company.

 

[AndrewR]

Seems like people have had their credit card numbers stolen, but no one has had problems with a stolen social security number.

I take back my earlier comment -- I do know someone that had his identity stolen. My wife worked for a guy that had a ton of problems from an identity theft. He had a standard letter to send to creditors that tracked him down at work (he was a senior executive for a major company -- tons of money).

I had someone write a check against my account years ago (for a used mattress set!), and I had my credit card number stolen in New York by a shady hotel. The CC was AMEX, and it was very easy with them. Checking account was with Bank of America (had another name at the time, I think), and they were good about it.

No one with identity problems? Beginning to think the problem is overstated.

 

[soydios]

me? no.

but my grandmother had her identity stolen about a year ago. some repeat-offenders robbed her mailbox. that was a PITA for her to deal with.

 

[cherrytwist]

Looks like two accounts were compromised. One was my checking acct (debit card) and the other was CC.

The debit card purchases were overseas a couple of months ago and easy to dispute.

The CC transactions were on March 4 and today. I am vigilant about checking my statements/making payments so I caught it quickly and the CC company was quick to cancel my card and remove the transactions.

I'm seriously considering a subscription to an identity theft prevention program.

Anybody have suggestions/testimonials?

 

[Beller0ph1]

I had someone steal my Yahoo and eBay accounts before. They didn't get any money or anything else.

 

[edro]

I got a new credit card a year ago.
I never actually got the card in the mail.
I got a call from Chase asking if I charged $4000 on it, which I didn't.
They canceled all charges and canceled the card.
That was the closest I have been to identity theft.

 

[AlienCraft]

Back in the 80's, a roommate I had on a tour, managed to get my Phone & Credit card info and then racked up a thousand bucks of Dial A Porn calls. Dude was closet tweaking on cocaine. It ended up with him stealing a keyboard from the keyboard player and disapperaing with a couple of thousand in road cash.

I spent months repairing his damage, some stuff can't be fixed and it was a lesson in letting go of things i have no control over.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
Seems like people have had their credit card numbers stolen, but no one has had problems with a stolen social security number.

I take back my earlier comment -- I do know someone that had his identity stolen. My wife worked for a guy that had a ton of problems from an identity theft. He had a standard letter to send to creditors that tracked him down at work (he was a senior executive for a major company -- tons of money).

I had someone write a check against my account years ago (for a used mattress set!), and I had my credit card number stolen in New York by a shady hotel. The CC was AMEX, and it was very easy with them. Checking account was with Bank of America (had another name at the time, I think), and they were good about it.

No one with identity problems? Beginning to think the problem is overstated.

You're asking about identity theft on a tech forum. The average poster here is far more computer-savvy than the average American.

Once you get a social security number, do you have any idea how easy it is to get a credit card?