Post by Velar Fricative on Jul 1, 2015 9:04:24 GMT -5
I'm back from my business trip. On Sunday I had my wallet stolen out of my handbag. Long story short, I thought maybe they were just happy enough charging shit from Best Buy on my cards but it turns out they have access to more of my accounts than I thought, so I really have to go through allllllll the steps to make sure this doesn't spiral out of control even further. These assholes are sophisticated. I hope whatever they bought from Best Buy literally blew up in their faces when they turned their new gadgets on.
Anyway, I'm starting to feel like this new job is a curse. I've been here since March and these people who work for me that I still don't know all that well have seen me go through this, a pregnancy loss at 5 months along, getting dinged in our parking lot and needing $$$ repairs on my new car, and there's current shittiness going on at this job...so they must think I have the worst luck in the world. I hate being pitied.
So woe is me, but if you have any words of wisdom if you've been an identity theft victim, I'd love to hear them. At first I was "okay" about it but after the latest fraud alert I got that told me this is worst than I thought, I feel like crap. It's really violating and I could barely sleep last night (also partly because my body is still on Pacific time). And then one of my staff made me feel bad for what happened by going on and on about how "Oh, I would never keep such-and-such in my bag," blah blah blah. Thanks, asshole. Like I already haven't been going through the guilt of knowing about what I should have done better.
But in better news, meshaliuknits and ESF and audry80 are wonderful and dinner with them was just what I needed Monday night!
I am so, so sorry about all of this. ID theft truly does cause you to feel violated. My fingers are crossed for the best possible outcome here. ::hugs::
My advice is to call the cops and file a police report. When this happened to me years ago, this was one of my biggest saving graces when one of the CC company (6 months later) tried to tell me that *I* was responsible for the $10,000 balance
Post by orangeblossom on Jul 1, 2015 9:13:52 GMT -5
Ugh, I'm sorry.
I think the FTC has a page on ID theft and what to do if it happens to you.
At a minimum, I'd freeze your credit, and set up a credit monitoring service. Not sure if you belong to Costco, but they have a good service that's onlly $10, IIRC.
One of my friends just had a go round with identity theft and it is crazy the lengths the people wer going to and the sophistication of what they did. The police were involved too.
My advice is to call the cops and file a police report. When this happened to me years ago, this was one of my biggest saving graces when one of the CC company (6 months later) tried to tell me that *I* was responsible for the $10,000 balance
Thanks! That was the first thing I did after it happened. I needed it to be able to fly back home since my license was in the wallet too.
I'm really sorry. My wallet was stolen a couple of years ago. I noticed it within 5 minutes and they had already charged 2 things. I cancelled everything, thought I was fine, but somehow they were able to withdraw a large sum of money from my bank. Called my bank, they supposedly put a hold and password and all this stuff on the account, even CHANGED my account, and it happened again. Needless to say I was not too happy with them. However if you haven't already contacted your bank, definitely do that. I would close your accounts and open new ones. I also talked to the police (filed a police report at the onset but again to figure out how this asshole was withdrawing money and who the jerk at the bank giving it to him/her was). Make sure you pull your credit reports now, in a month from now, etc.
I'm sorry.
This is what I am so afraid of. It was my bank credit card that let the big charge from Best Buy go through (they tried my other two credit cards first) so I'm disputing that. Unfortunately my bank isn't a national one so I couldn't do anything while I was still in SF. And of course I had to pay daycare today via check, my mortgage and other things are on autopay for today, so I'll be going to the bank on my lunch break to work with them and make sure I can still make some payments while we're changing all of our information.
I think the FTC has a page on ID theft and what to do if it happens to you.
At a minimum, I'd freeze your credit, and set up a credit monitoring service. Not sure if you belong to Costco, but they have a good service that's onlly $10, IIRC.
I have to go to Costco anyway to get a new card, so I'll ask about this, thanks!
Aw, velar. I'm sorry thieving assholes have ruined your piece of mind.
I don't have advice, really. Change PINs and passwords for everything to crazy shit with tons of symbols and random capitals.
And then I have to remember all these crazy passwords, ugh! I guess that's what a pen and paper is for...
Lifehacker is your friend. They have a few strategies for using a different password for everything but also helping you keep them straight in your head.
First ((hugs)). It's such a crappy feeling to have that happen.
ESF was super helpful when someone impersonating H went around New England making all sorts of teller and ATM withdrawals from our checking account. She is wise and it seems like you've already gotten a lot of good advice.
Aw, velar. I'm sorry thieving assholes have ruined your piece of mind.
I don't have advice, really. Change PINs and passwords for everything to crazy shit with tons of symbols and random capitals.
And then I have to remember all these crazy passwords, ugh! I guess that's what a pen and paper is for...
Password protected excel spreadsheets also work well for this.
ETA: While you're changing passwords it's a good idea to change security questions as well. Don't make them all the same and don't make them anything that can be easily discovered with a Google search or Ancestry.com. Treat it like another random password. Say your mother's maiden name is the Slavic equivalent of Smith. For the purposes of security questions say it's something like Blankenship. The spreadsheet is great for keeping it all straight.
I'm really sorry. I was a victim of ID theft in college, meaning, someone truly stole my identity (SSN, name, etc) and was opening accounts as me. I felt so violated and it was hard to clear up. I think an address they used is still on my credit report. The agencies refused to remove it no matter how many times I told them I never lived in Ohio. Do they have your SSN? My suggestions, assuming they do (or just to be extra safe):
- Pull your credit reports - Add a fraud alert and freeze your credit with all credit agencies. Everyone should freeze their credit (I haven't, but just got this information at a recent seminar). It will just cost a few bucks to unfreeze it if you ever need to apply for new credit. - Change PINs/passwords - File a police report
This sucks Velar. I'm sorry it's happening to you. We actually had our tax return hacked this year. We got an audit notice after someone claimed a $20,000 refund. When DH called, he found out someone had filed a fraudulent return under his SSN. Needless to say, it's been an ordeal. I hope you can get things resolved quickly.
Aw, velar. I'm sorry thieving assholes have ruined your piece of mind.
I don't have advice, really. Change PINs and passwords for everything to crazy shit with tons of symbols and random capitals.
And then I have to remember all these crazy passwords, ugh! I guess that's what a pen and paper is for...
The most secure passwords are phrases, according to my H who deals in computer security. For example - IhopeThoseThievesGetCaught is going to be a much tougher password to crack than newpassword23. Bonus, much easier to remember too.
My advice is to call the cops and file a police report. When this happened to me years ago, this was one of my biggest saving graces when one of the CC company (6 months later) tried to tell me that *I* was responsible for the $10,000 balance
Yes, file a police report. Even if they never catch the guy, the documentation helps down the line when you find all the random shit that has been opened in your name. Also, set up a credit freeze so that any attempts to open something are met with Alabama's flag.
For me, it was a ball of never-ending bullshit for like six months. Every time I thought about it it just made me ANGRY. Still does. And VS is forever on my shit list.
I'm really sorry. I was a victim of ID theft in college, meaning, someone truly stole my identity (SSN, name, etc) and was opening accounts as me. I felt so violated and it was hard to clear up. I think an address they used is still on my credit report. The agencies refused to remove it no matter how many times I told them I never lived in Ohio. Do they have your SSN? My suggestions, assuming they do (or just to be extra safe):
- Pull your credit reports - Add a fraud alert and freeze your credit with all credit agencies. Everyone should freeze their credit (I haven't, but just got this information at a recent seminar). It will just cost a few bucks to unfreeze it if you ever need to apply for new credit. - Change PINs/passwords - File a police report
Thanks! They must have my SSN somehow (I don't keep the SS card in my wallet), because I don't know how else they could have gotten access to an old account for a credit card that I had cut up years ago. Oh, and it didn't even matter that the card was long expired, they still somehow managed to use it. But I just don't know how else they would have known about a card that wasn't in my wallet if they didn't have my SSN.
And then I have to remember all these crazy passwords, ugh! I guess that's what a pen and paper is for...
The most secure passwords are phrases, according to my H who deals in computer security. For example - IhopeThoseThievesGetCaught is going to be a much tougher password to crack than newpassword23. Bonus, much easier to remember too.
I always use non-English words but given the global network of identity thieves, I like the phrase idea better.
I think the FTC has a page on ID theft and what to do if it happens to you.
At a minimum, I'd freeze your credit, and set up a credit monitoring service. Not sure if you belong to Costco, but they have a good service that's onlly $10, IIRC.
I have to go to Costco anyway to get a new card, so I'll ask about this, thanks!
The most secure passwords are phrases, according to my H who deals in computer security. For example - IhopeThoseThievesGetCaught is going to be a much tougher password to crack than newpassword23. Bonus, much easier to remember too.
I always use non-English words but given the global network of identity thieves, I like the phrase idea better.
Throw in some non-English words in there, and your passwords will be even more secure. If you can make it nonsensical (to others), but make sense to you, that's key.
love1999 had this happen with her DH recently. i hope you get it cleared up quickly.
Yep, so far they have opened 4 accounts in his name and attempted to open 4 others that we know of. From what I can tell so far, this is going to be a months long process to get it cleared up. So sorry this happened to you. It definitely sucks.