It happened to P-51's wife last year.
Best advice...................shreader.
Yup... even the fake loan offers that show up in the mail, from all those "wonderful" credit houses... burn 'em or otherwise.
I work in the credit dept and we are having more and more calls about id theft. it's getting bad.
I'd laugh at the punks who steal the identity of someone who's gay.... haha they're gay now too
:blink: ok I need to put down this coffee
ok nass..................... :huh:
I'd laugh if someone tried with me though, they'd get nothing as I know my credit is almost in the crapper already.
Yup, my wife got it pretty good. The worst part about the whole thing was how the crediting companies handled it, and the cops didn't give a s**t.
Long story short:
We check our credit card statement online almost daily. Saw a strange charge for $600 to the Colorado Sun or something like that. Newspaper. WTF?
Cancel the card.
Few weeks later, we get a bill from Telus for $1000 of cell phone charges, on a phone we don't have. Call, tell them to cancel it, it's not us, identity theft, etc.
Next day, get another bill for over $1000 for another phone. Call Telus again, tell them it's identity theft, they say they'll cancel it, etc.
We look at the phone logs, and one of the phones is calling random places all over New York. We figure it's a drug dealer, and this is his phone. Somebody used Tina's identity to buy a phone, then sold it to a drug dealer to use.
The second phone bill, there are some numbers all over the US, never twice. And a TON of phone calls to this one 1-800 number. WTF? Call the 1-800 number, and it's for "Canada By Tel" or something like that. Basically it's a company that will set you up with a 800 number, a voicemail box, and even forward your calls to any phone number you want. This company is on the up and up I think, but you can imagine how this could be abused. Say, if you were running an illegal company... you could have them take your messages, and access them by stollen cellphones. If the phone gets cut off every month, no big deal, your "customers" can still call you, and you can forward it to your new illegal phone.
We started calling some of the other numbers around the US. They are all for newspapers all over. WTF?
We call the Colorado Star, and ask them what was purchased with the $600 charge on our card. They say it was a big ad, and fax it to us.
The ad reads: "Credit Problems? In debt? Call us for free credit counselling."
You can imagine if somebody was going to help you with your credit, they'd ask you for your name, number, and Social Security number, all the things they'd need to steal your identity.
We searched the internet for that phone number, and turn up tons of identical ads in newspapers in both countries.
It's a ring. Somebody got Tina's identity, bought a couple phones, sold one, used the other to set up this fake credit counseling company to harvest other identities.
We call the police, and tell them everything that is happening. Give them the entire file, and tell them to shut down that 1-800 number before they steal other ID's.
A month later, we get another bill from Telus, they didn't turn one of the phones off. We call them again, and they say they turned it off, but somebody called and complained so they turned it on again! A month later, we get another bill, and a threatening letter saying if we don't pay our bills, they'll take action against our credit rating. We call and tell them to stop harrassing us or we'll sue. That stopped that.
But the incompetence is STAGGERING.
We also called the credit bureau, and told them to flag Tina's account as having fraudulent activity, and not to grant any new credit without calling our house to confirm with us.
A few months after that, we bought a damned CAR! and nobody asked or said anything!
3 months after the report, we get a call from a cop. He's following up on the case. He was on vacation when we filed it, so it sat on a pile on his desk, and it took him that long to get to our file. It didnt' sound like he really gave a s**t, and AFAIK, never did anything.
The system is SO broken.
A few months ago, I lost my bank card in Mexico. (yeah, I know) When I got home, I went to the bank to get a new one. Told the lady I lost my card and need a new one. She asks for my bank account number, I say I don't know it, but it's tied to <this> credit card I have with the bank. She scans that, gets my account number, gives me a new bank card, and I set a PIN. Now I have full access to my account.
But I ask her "How come you never asked for my ID or anything?" "Oh, you have an honest face." I told her that's rediculous. I could have found a wallet, seen a bank-credit card, and gone in and got a new bank card with PIN for the wallet I found and raided the account.
She really didn't seem to care.
:ph34r:
nass,Oct 6 2005, 05:15 PM Wrote:I'd laugh at the punks who steal the identity of someone who's gay.... haha they're gay now too
:blink: ok I need to put down this coffee
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maybe some of the "Steve's" on this board could steal a good looking, kool guy's identity and get laid more often?
You can't borrow my identity.
Man that is so insane... do you mind if I use your story? It totally depicts several of the issues surrounding this problem. Have you checked her credit report since? I read some stories on how it just wouldn't go away.
The company that will fulfill the ID Theft Shield for my company is called Kroll and they have been in business for 30+ years. (
http://www.krollworldwide.com) It really sux that you have to question whether or not a good valuable service is a scam anymore :blink:
...Kroll became an operating unit of MMC, the global professional services firm with annual revenues exceeding $11 billion. MMC is the parent company of Marsh Inc., the world's leading risk and insurance services firm; Putnam Investments, one of the largest investment management companies in the United States; and Mercer Inc., a major global provider of consulting services. More than 60,000 employees provide analysis, advice, and transactional capabilities to clients in over 100 countries. Its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) is listed on the New York, Chicago, Pacific, and London stock exchanges. MMC's website address is http://www.mmc.com.
P-51,Oct 6 2005, 07: Wrote:Yup, my wife got it pretty good. The worst part about the whole thing was how the crediting companies handled it, and the cops didn't give a s**t.
Long story short:
We check our credit card statement online almost daily. Saw a strange charge for $600 to the Colorado Sun or something like that. Newspaper. WTF?
Cancel the card.
Few weeks later, we get a bill from Telus for $1000 of cell phone charges, on a phone we don't have. Call, tell them to cancel it, it's not us, identity theft, etc.
Next day, get another bill for over $1000 for another phone. Call Telus again, tell them it's identity theft, they say they'll cancel it, etc.
We look at the phone logs, and one of the phones is calling random places all over New York. We figure it's a drug dealer, and this is his phone. Somebody used Tina's identity to buy a phone, then sold it to a drug dealer to use.
The second phone bill, there are some numbers all over the US, never twice. And a TON of phone calls to this one 1-800 number. WTF? Call the 1-800 number, and it's for "Canada By Tel" or something like that. Basically it's a company that will set you up with a 800 number, a voicemail box, and even forward your calls to any phone number you want. This company is on the up and up I think, but you can imagine how this could be abused. Say, if you were running an illegal company... you could have them take your messages, and access them by stollen cellphones. If the phone gets cut off every month, no big deal, your "customers" can still call you, and you can forward it to your new illegal phone.
We started calling some of the other numbers around the US. They are all for newspapers all over. WTF?
We call the Colorado Star, and ask them what was purchased with the $600 charge on our card. They say it was a big ad, and fax it to us.
The ad reads: "Credit Problems? In debt? Call us for free credit counselling."
You can imagine if somebody was going to help you with your credit, they'd ask you for your name, number, and Social Security number, all the things they'd need to steal your identity.
We searched the internet for that phone number, and turn up tons of identical ads in newspapers in both countries.
It's a ring. Somebody got Tina's identity, bought a couple phones, sold one, used the other to set up this fake credit counseling company to harvest other identities.
We call the police, and tell them everything that is happening. Give them the entire file, and tell them to shut down that 1-800 number before they steal other ID's.
A month later, we get another bill from Telus, they didn't turn one of the phones off. We call them again, and they say they turned it off, but somebody called and complained so they turned it on again! A month later, we get another bill, and a threatening letter saying if we don't pay our bills, they'll take action against our credit rating. We call and tell them to stop harrassing us or we'll sue. That stopped that.
But the incompetence is STAGGERING.
We also called the credit bureau, and told them to flag Tina's account as having fraudulent activity, and not to grant any new credit without calling our house to confirm with us.
A few months after that, we bought a damned CAR! and nobody asked or said anything!
3 months after the report, we get a call from a cop. He's following up on the case. He was on vacation when we filed it, so it sat on a pile on his desk, and it took him that long to get to our file. It didnt' sound like he really gave a s**t, and AFAIK, never did anything.
The system is SO broken.
A few months ago, I lost my bank card in Mexico. (yeah, I know) When I got home, I went to the bank to get a new one. Told the lady I lost my card and need a new one. She asks for my bank account number, I say I don't know it, but it's tied to <this> credit card I have with the bank. She scans that, gets my account number, gives me a new bank card, and I set a PIN. Now I have full access to my account.
But I ask her "How come you never asked for my ID or anything?" "Oh, you have an honest face." I told her that's rediculous. I could have found a wallet, seen a bank-credit card, and gone in and got a new bank card with PIN for the wallet I found and raided the account.
She really didn't seem to care.
:ph34r:
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Credit houses and consumer agencies are all facked. I had entire student loans get FUBARed because of the complete clusterfack when NSLSC took over the administration and collection of new OSAP loans from the major financial insititutions. I ended up needing to borrow money personally through family just to pay off a loan that NSLSC should have "ported" over to the new system, but failed to do so and refused to take responsibility for a job that was totally theirs.
Yeah, go ahead and use it. The whole thing was very maddening. I mean, more than the crime, was the complete incompetence and carelessness of all the "authorities" involved. Nobody REALLY gives a s**t.
You look at the case that we gave the cops, and they put it on some guy's desk who was on vacation, and didn't even flag it as HOT. I mean, that 800 number could have been up for who knows how long. Maybe it's still up!
Everybody gives lip service to the problem, but they don't really care.
P-51,Oct 7 2005, 09: Wrote:Yeah, go ahead and use it. The whole thing was very maddening. I mean, more than the crime, was the complete incompetence and carelessness of all the "authorities" involved. Nobody REALLY gives a s**t.
You look at the case that we gave the cops, and they put it on some guy's desk who was on vacation, and didn't even flag it as HOT. I mean, that 800 number could have been up for who knows how long. Maybe it's still up!
Everybody gives lip service to the problem, but they don't really care.
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the same as getting your car broken into. I'm tempted to take up car theft, simply because I know nobody will come looking for me.
The best thing people can do is just protect themselves. Watch your statements closely, get regular credit reports (at least once a year), and act quickly and followup often if you open a report. Because the only person who's going to truly protect yourself is you.
And for the love of god, don't buy stuff you hear about in e-mails.
hmm I think I need to check out a few things for myself cause sometimes it seems that I have less money then I thought I did, but thing is if someone did steal your ID then they'd abuse it like a preteen sex slave and not use it casually. It's true what your said about the whole " credit rating " thing unless you personally check it daily you'll never know what it has to say and if all the info in there is even correct. I know of a girl that had her life ruined cause of this and the fact that she had her ID stolen and the financial companies haven't fixed anything really for her for the longest time so she was basically black booked for over a year cause of this.
it's one thing to have your id stolen, and another to have the credit companies not believe you and take their time to fix things while you wait and not have any credit
Equifax can put a flag (they automatically do this after fraud activity - at least they did for me) on your credit, meaning that every credit app. you (or someone else claiming to be you) try to get processed will be looked at closer.
It is a pain in the butt when you're trying to get a loan (add a day or two) but prevents it from happening again without you knowing.
I had a credit card & cell phone that I didn't know about, almost 10 years ago (s**t, getting old). There was around $5000 run up between the two. Somebody had a good time calling overseas.