Santa brought me Identity Theft for x-mass this year

[Lakewood90712]

Santa came 2 days early this year.

So far, one debet and one credit card comprimised, all were online purchases, the bank declined all but one before I even knew. The only places that I have used both of those payment methods is at supermarkets and harbor freight, and chain resteraunts.

Cleaned google wallet, e bay / paypal and amazon of stored credit card info, just in case. In the process of replacing all cards , and then updating auto pay things.

If I press the banks, maybe I can get the shipping adress of those fraudlent purchases. Wonder what city / state ?

 

[omni550]

Santa came 2 days early this year.

So far, one debet and one credit card comprimised, all were online purchases, the bank declined all but one before I even knew. The only places that I have used both of those payment methods is at supermarkets and harbor freight, and chain resteraunts.

Cleaned google wallet, e bay / paypal and amazon of stored credit card info, just in case. In the process of replacing all cards , and then updating auto pay things.

If I press the banks, maybe I can get the shipping adress of those fraudlent purchases. Wonder what city / state ?

Oh, dear. Hope the perpetrators get coal in their stockings.

Glad the bank caught most of these attempted purchases. How did you find out? Did the bank alert you?

omni

 

[W2R]

How awful that this happened to you, and right before the holidays! Merry merry, anyone? Ugh.

If I press the banks, maybe I can get the shipping adress of those fraudlent purchases. Wonder what city / state ?

I doubt the banks will want to tell you the exact address; the credit card investigation team will take care of this and the fraudulent purchases should have been refunded to you already. They probably don't want you appearing at the perp's door with heavy artillery. Bad for PR.

 

[Ian S]

Sadly all too common these days. But barely raises an eyebrow now when it happens. The banks take care of it quickly and you're not out any money just time it takes to change things over to new card. Real identity theft is more problematic but I'm hoping that having my credit files frozen at the various agencies will help to avoid that.

 

[Lakewood90712]

Oh, dear. Hope the perpetrators get coal in their stockings.

Glad the bank caught most of these attempted purchases. How did you find out? Did the bank alert you?

omni

I got text fraud alerts ( real ones ) from both banks, asking if I made the purchases.

About a week ago, I got a phony e mail " phishing " in my spam filter. It showed all the bank trademarks, etc, but the typical scam odd language, and asking for info. Sent ot to the trash.

 

[Sunset]

OP - knowing the address might be misleading as the address could be another victim.

Some scammers develop a fake online friendship with someone, and while stringing them along, send expensive items to the person's home.
Using the excuse that if they had it shipped to their home in another country, customs will heavily tax it (say 100%), but when the friend ships it, personal shipments are tax free.

Often these re-shipping people don't know they are being tricked, and can see by the value of the items this relationship must be real as they are being trusted to pass on the many $100's -> many thousand dollar items.

 

[GrayHare]

That's never fun. Had you scratched off the 3-digit CVV codes from the backs of the compromised cards? After copying those digits elsewhere for your reference, of course.

 

[Sunset]

Sadly all too common these days. But barely raises an eyebrow now when it happens. The banks take care of it quickly and you're not out any money just time it takes to change things over to new card. Real identity theft is more problematic but I'm hoping that having my credit files frozen at the various agencies will help to avoid that.

NOT Capital One.
I had a Menards CC for over 10 years. Only used it at Menards by my home. 1 Store over 10 years.

Somebody charged in a different State over $1,000 at a gas station (it can now be used at 2 brands of gas stations).
In 1 day they charged repeatedly $55, and $108 items up to about $600 then at a nearby gas station charged over $400 in various items.

Stupid Capital One failed to catch that !
I phoned them and told them about the fraud, they gave me a new card and TRANSFERRED the charges to my new card
Then had me sign a paper about the fraud, before removing the charges from my account.

One month later, as my new card showed zero balance, I CANCELLED IT.

I already have my credit frozen before this fraud happened.

 

[REWahoo]

Sadly all too common these days. But barely raises an eyebrow now when it happens. The banks take care of it quickly and you're not out any money just time it takes to change things over to new card. Real identity theft is more problematic but I'm hoping that having my credit files frozen at the various agencies will help to avoid that.

+1

I too am hoping the credit freeze at the big three agencies will limit damages to CC and, unfortunately, debit card fraud. DW has had fraudulent hits show up on her debit card on three separate occasions during the last 18 months, all Microsoft XBox charges. Each time the bank (USAA) has issued her credit and sent out a new debit card/number. Frustrating but just the way things are in the sleazy underworld of theft via electronic transaction.

We keep a close eye on our online account transactions...

 

[Souschef]

The fraudulent CC charges are a nuisance, But the bigger problem you can have with identity theft is where they open up accounts in your name, buy cars, houses, etc. That can be a nightmare to straighten out.

 

[Lsbcal]

Santa came 2 days early this year.

So far, one debet and one credit card comprimised, all were online purchases, the bank declined all but one before I even knew. The only places that I have used both of those payment methods is at supermarkets and harbor freight, and chain resteraunts.

Cleaned google wallet, e bay / paypal and amazon of stored credit card info, just in case. In the process of replacing all cards , and then updating auto pay things.

If I press the banks, maybe I can get the shipping adress of those fraudlent purchases. Wonder what city / state ?

A few years back someone here mentioned scratching off the 3 digit code on the back of the CC that you use for restaurants. Most restaurants take the card out of sight and come back with the bill. This is an opportunity for CC theft.

I scratch off the code and put it in my Lastpass secure notes in case I need it which I rarely do.

 

[carnivalday]

I have found that one of the best services that cards offer is the ability to block your card. Ive got a Wells Fargo Visa and a USAA Amex, and both have the blocking capability. It really works, too, because once (only once...I learned quick) I forgot to unblock the card and went to the store, and it was declined. I had to get on my bank app and unblock it. Happens instantly, and as soon as the card was run, I blocked it again, and it was instantly blocked. Kind of a pain the patoot, but less than getting hacked.

 

[MissMolly]

I got a fraudulent charge on my Discover card a couple of weeks ago. I immediately called Discover and alerted them. They gave me the phone number of the merchant. I called them and asked if it was shipped yet. They said no, so I said you may want to cancel that shipment because I have disputed the charge with Discover. They also gave me the address for shipping. I Googled it. It doesn't exist. I found the street, but all the houses on that street have 3-digit house numbers and the address it was being shipped was a single-digit house number. Also, the fraudulent charge was for this: https://store.digilentinc.com/analog-discovery-2-100msps-usb-oscilloscope-logic-analyzer-and-variable-power-supply/ which I thought was an incredibly odd thing to be buying fraudulently.

 

[USGrant1962]

The fraudulent CC charges are a nuisance, But the bigger problem you can have with identity theft is where they open up accounts in your name, buy cars, houses, etc. That can be a nightmare to straighten out.

Yes, contrary to the thread title, fraudulent charges on a CC is not the same as identity theft and not nearly as serious.

We had a fraudulent charge show up last Monday, DW was in the account paying the monthly bill and said to me "what did you buy yourself?" I said nothing. Someone tried to buy a Traeger Pellet grill on my CC.

I called Citi right away, got a new card the next day. Yet the Traeger charge is still on the card. I just disputed it today. Also found out you can't dispute a pending charge - it has clear then you can dispute. Dumb.

 

[Ian S]

For sales above a certain amount. my Fido Visa instantly texts my phone to alert me and give me the opportunity to decline the charge. It's so fast the clerk hasn't had time to give me a receipt before the text comes through!

 

[jazz4cash]

I thought it would be impossible to order something online for delivery to another address without a text/email notice going to a verified contact, but I think it happened to me on eBay and I can’t recall the details.

 

[audreyh1]

+1

I too am hoping the credit freeze at the big three agencies will limit damages to CC and, unfortunately, debit card fraud. DW has had fraudulent hits show up on her debit card on three separate occasions during the last 18 months, all Microsoft XBox charges. Each time the bank (USAA) has issued her credit and sent out a new debit card/number. Frustrating but just the way things are in the sleazy underworld of theft via electronic transaction.

We keep a close eye on our online account transactions...

I don’t believe that credit freezes make any difference on stolen credit card numbers and thus don’t fraudulent credit card charges. They should keep someone from getting new credit cards or opening accounts using your credentials.

 

[TX_Ret_Soon]

Had this happen to me recently, Paypal account hacked and $1000 worth of Wifi routers purchased from Office Depot. Called Office Depot and they confirmed that the shipping address was my house and told me to decline the shipment when it arrived. UPS truck pulled up, driver got out, looked at his tablet, drove away. Called UPS, delivery address had been changed after I talked to Office Depot. As the routers were now at a warehouse I was able to decline the shipment and have it sent back to Office Depot.

UPS was very, very difficult to work with. They wouldn't let me change the shipping address, and didn't want to return the shipment unless I went to the distribution center in person (an hour away). When I pointed out that they were in possession of stolen goods they agreed to return to sender. Why they would be willing to let someone else change the shipping address, but made it very hard for me to get it sent back to the sender, is a mystery. I was probably on the phone with UPS 2 hours that day.

Funny thing is, UPS told me this is a known scam. Someone sold the routers on Ebay or another platform, scam artist bought them using my Paypal, then had the shipping address changed. Routers would have arrived at the buyers house with my name on them.

 

[Dimsumkid]

I had someone try to open up 2 CC's back in spring for Sprint and Syncrony JCPenney cards. Thanksfully both got denied. Got the mailing address for my new cards, one in NY and the other in west suburbs of Chicago. Even got the name and phone of my joint owner for these cards from Syncrony Bank. All info went to local police and put in freezes/monitoring with all 3 credit agencies. The address in Chicago area was an apt. building and the police said there were multiple apts for that address in their system for fraud. As for reporting fraud to credit agencies, I had to bend over backwards to provide proof to two of them trying to remove the fraudulent credit pulls since they were negative reports to my credit history. It's up to you to get this incorrect history removed and I never got it removed from Transunion and my score is about 50 points lower than the other two. Was asked by one agency if I gave my SSN to anyone...really? One agency demanded I file an identity theft report with fed. govt attesting I file under penalty of perjury claiming identity fraud before they accepted my claim to them. Turns out about a month after all this, Equifax announced their massive data breach, which is probably how most data is out there. You should get on one of the credit bureau sites to see if you were affected, my info showed up.

I set all my notifications to $1 if possible to notify me. We don't use debit cards at all since they don't really provide theft reimbursement without a lot of work. You're better off with CC protection.

 

[REWahoo]

I don’t believe that credit freezes make any difference on stolen credit card numbers and thus don’t fraudulent credit card charges. They should keep someone from getting new credit cards or opening accounts using your credentials.

Agreed. As I said I hope the credit freezes will limit my damages to fraudulent credit card and debit card charges, blocking the really serious damages that come with real identity theft.

 

[jazz4cash]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Woke up today to a buzzing iPhone text declaring my $2k online purchase from XYZ.com was declined. Text string started with inquiry from Elan Financial at 1:30 am Xmas morning. Since I was sleep and did not respond they declined the charge. I texted YES anyway and got a reply that I my card was unblocked. They also left a voicemail at 8am so I called. That asked if I recognized the purchase and I said yes so they said I had to resubmit the purchase order. That didn’t makes sense to me so I asked several questions about why this transaction was flagged. He eventually mentioned casually that the exact amount had posted to the account 5 days ago!! I thanked them and asked to leave the card block in place.

 

[Badger]

I froze my and my wife's credit at all 3 agencies and I never let the CC out of my hand. It doesn't mean I won't get hit but it should slow them down.


Cheers!

 

[dixonge]

Apple Pay...

 

[CaliKid]

Is credit card fraud really identity theft? To ME credit card fraud is very common. Has happened to me at least 15 if not 20 times as we charge 200+ times a month. However, I have never had anybody, as far as I know, open up new cards in my name or something like that. To me the latter is identify theft. The former is a nuisance and inconvenient part of life in the big bad world.

I like the idea above about scratching out the 3 digit code on back of card. That seems smart. I might add that into my mix.

 

[Jeffman52]

DW and I had that happen three years in a row at Christmas. Once a skimmer at the ATM inside the Walmart, once at Target and again at Home Depot. We got all the money back but it was very inconvenient.