Identity Theft (not the movie)
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I have had people steal my credit card number, which could happena a variety of way. The bank gave me my money back after I shut it down, about $2,000 worth.
What type of theft are you talking about here?
What type of theft are you talking about here?
Wife's debit card number got used twice last week in memphis for total of $432, first transaction went through and second was caught somehow. Bank called asking if it was her, she said no and they canceled card immediately and put $$ back in our acct. It was an in store transaction too (she had her card in her purse) and bank said they got her number somehow and made a duplicate card. Scary, makes me want to use cash only. Took the bank 5 minutes to make her a new one in branch so I guess that's how crooks do it too. Bank said beware of waiters taking cell phone pics of your card and always watch when it is swiped and make sure there's not a small box about 1" square under regular swipe slot that is also reading your card.
Little more difficult than the usual credit/debit card fraud. You can steal somebody's debit/credit card info using a dummy swiper at the ATM or Store, which can then be used to create a copy card. You shut down those accounts, and they don't necessarily have any information to hit you again.
But if they are claiming unemployment benefits and its coming back to your wife, they probably have her name, social security number, and date of birth, although maybe some states make it easier than that. If they do, they may have the information to come back and try to open cards in her name or take out other credit in her name. You might want to get a statement on her social security earnings. It may be that an illegal worker was using your wife's SSN, and then claimed unemployment when she got fired. In that case, they may not intend on doing anything else with the information. If they are intending to steal your wife's identify, she may have to get her credit report frozen for a while and watch it very closely when it's not frozen.
They may actually not have as much info as it appears. The govt is going to research the name and/or social. Basically, you just don't know.
They could have everything but chances are, probably not. If they had her social, name & address, etc, you would have already known it because they would be stealing money already and have done a WHOLE lot of damage. If they have her social, you would be screwed but again, you would already know if they had her social. The calls would be burning up your phone.
Probably just have her name. Once the name was run through the databases, they were figured out. They cannot be really that smart because 1) they have to give some actual mailing / correspondence address to get the benefits 2) those addresses will allow them to be found by the authorities pretty easily.
I would be concerned and would definitely monitor but I don't think your wife needs to change her name or social at this point. BASED ON THE INFO YOU HAVE PROVIDED!!! If they do have her social, you need to be getting it changed YESTERDAY. But, again, if they had her social, getting SSI benefits would not be where they would start.
They could have everything but chances are, probably not. If they had her social, name & address, etc, you would have already known it because they would be stealing money already and have done a WHOLE lot of damage. If they have her social, you would be screwed but again, you would already know if they had her social. The calls would be burning up your phone.
Probably just have her name. Once the name was run through the databases, they were figured out. They cannot be really that smart because 1) they have to give some actual mailing / correspondence address to get the benefits 2) those addresses will allow them to be found by the authorities pretty easily.
I would be concerned and would definitely monitor but I don't think your wife needs to change her name or social at this point. BASED ON THE INFO YOU HAVE PROVIDED!!! If they do have her social, you need to be getting it changed YESTERDAY. But, again, if they had her social, getting SSI benefits would not be where they would start.
My Regions sucks rant/hijack
Wife's debit card was used at a pharmacy that does not exist in the area we used to live in. Charge went through on Friday at about 3:00. I call Regions and say 'hey, this charge went through my account and I know we didn't make it'. They respond with 'well, charges typically get shown as pending but clear within 24 hours so we will just monitor it'. Now, I get them to clarify that I won't be held responsible. They agree. I work in financial services and definitely know how the banking world works. This is not how it should be handled but fine... I let it go. I proceed to get more and more little charges through Friday night/Saturday morning. Not huge charges but just $30 here, $60 there. I knew what was going on but I thought, oh well. Regions' fault. The thieves were gauging my account. My favorite charge was for a 'black executive headhunter program'. I am not black. After all was said and done, over the weekend, they charged up about $8600 and a trip to Bora Bora. Regions then tried to slow play me about paying me back. But, of course, they cannot. Refunded all money and finally issued a new card. All after I tried to warn them what was happening. Regions is the most useless excuse for a bank in the southeast today.
Wife's debit card was used at a pharmacy that does not exist in the area we used to live in. Charge went through on Friday at about 3:00. I call Regions and say 'hey, this charge went through my account and I know we didn't make it'. They respond with 'well, charges typically get shown as pending but clear within 24 hours so we will just monitor it'. Now, I get them to clarify that I won't be held responsible. They agree. I work in financial services and definitely know how the banking world works. This is not how it should be handled but fine... I let it go. I proceed to get more and more little charges through Friday night/Saturday morning. Not huge charges but just $30 here, $60 there. I knew what was going on but I thought, oh well. Regions' fault. The thieves were gauging my account. My favorite charge was for a 'black executive headhunter program'. I am not black. After all was said and done, over the weekend, they charged up about $8600 and a trip to Bora Bora. Regions then tried to slow play me about paying me back. But, of course, they cannot. Refunded all money and finally issued a new card. All after I tried to warn them what was happening. Regions is the most useless excuse for a bank in the southeast today.
similar experience - I don't buy anything with ATM card anymore. Use it for cash withdraws only, and only at a branch of the bank. I use a credit card for everything - paying bills, shopping, gas, etc. much easier to deal with than somebody emptying out your actual checking account, and I got the Capitol one venture card that pays double miles - I'm up to 132000 in less than a year.
Contact all three reporting bureaus. Transunion, Equifax, and Experion. This has al three numbers. http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0275-place-fraud-alert . Get copies of the 3 credit report, don't pay for a score, just get the report to review any inquiries that have been made on her name and social. Any applications whether it be an account, loan, credit cards, will show up on the report. Then you'll know what to worry about. If you do see inquiries reported under her social you may want to see if your Financial Institution or Credit Card company offer any identity secure upgrades to monster your credit for you. If you tend to be the type that wants to wipe out any chance of further instances, you can enroll in Lifelock. Although I do know of a member of mine that did have a Lowe's card opened under his social. Let me know if you have any more questions. I've worked on the compliance side of a bank so I have a little experience with this particular thing.
If anyone ever needs a reason to get a credit card through Chase... here is is..
About 4 months ago, my credit card numbers got stolen. No clue how.
In a period of about 2 hours, someone had gone to Cavenders (Western clothing, boots), Best Buy, A liquor store, and somewhere else (can't remember) and charged up over $500 at each place.
After the 2nd charge, Chase sends an alert e-mail asking if the charges are legit. I declined them. They were all taken off, no questions asked. No clue if they ending up catching the guy/gal, but he/she ran up over $2000 in about 2 hours that were "pending charges" on my account and I didn't pay a penny for them.
About 4 months ago, my credit card numbers got stolen. No clue how.
In a period of about 2 hours, someone had gone to Cavenders (Western clothing, boots), Best Buy, A liquor store, and somewhere else (can't remember) and charged up over $500 at each place.
After the 2nd charge, Chase sends an alert e-mail asking if the charges are legit. I declined them. They were all taken off, no questions asked. No clue if they ending up catching the guy/gal, but he/she ran up over $2000 in about 2 hours that were "pending charges" on my account and I didn't pay a penny for them.
I transferred my money out. I was protected. It was Regions that left themselves liable. They had to charge off the amount that got charged on me. I wasn't out any money. They refused to cancel the card that day, probably because the lady didn't want to run the risk of working late on a Friday. Didn't bother me, just more Regions ineptitude.
We've filed a police report, contacted the credit bureaus, and told our bank what has happened. We did get a credit report and nothing has showed up as of yet. They and the bank have flagged our account and should let us know if anything suspicious happens.
Thanks for all the info.
Thanks for all the info.
Several years ago, we had dinner at a local Ruby Tuesday on a Thursday evening. The waiter was gone with my card several minutes ... between 5 and 10 ... before he brought the card and bill back. i didn't really suspect anything at the moment.
The next day we went to Nashville for the weekend and came back mid-day Sunday. Sunday afternoon, a woman from Redstone Federal Credit Union called me and wanted to ask if I'd made several charges that were on the card. There were such things as joining a dating site, ordering roses online, and several other charges that were outside my usual pattern. At the end of the conversation, she'd canceled my card and I got another one overnighted and received it on Monday. That shows the difference in my bank and yours. I used to use Regions but they had several screwups and I dropped them a long time ago. And it's good that Redstone watches out for their customers.
I reported it to the Madison Police on Monday, told them who I was sure that did it, even his name because I remembered it, where it was, etc., and as far as I know they never did a thing. It didn't cost me anything, but apparently credit card fraud isn't something they're interested in. Don't know why ... there's very little crime in Madison.
The next day we went to Nashville for the weekend and came back mid-day Sunday. Sunday afternoon, a woman from Redstone Federal Credit Union called me and wanted to ask if I'd made several charges that were on the card. There were such things as joining a dating site, ordering roses online, and several other charges that were outside my usual pattern. At the end of the conversation, she'd canceled my card and I got another one overnighted and received it on Monday. That shows the difference in my bank and yours. I used to use Regions but they had several screwups and I dropped them a long time ago. And it's good that Redstone watches out for their customers.
I reported it to the Madison Police on Monday, told them who I was sure that did it, even his name because I remembered it, where it was, etc., and as far as I know they never did a thing. It didn't cost me anything, but apparently credit card fraud isn't something they're interested in. Don't know why ... there's very little crime in Madison.
When Apple Pay came out I linked my Regions debit card and my AmEx card to it. One afternoon about six weeks ago I was at work and got a notification on my phone showing that I'd just used my AmEx card at the National Museum of Art in Washington. Seeing as to how I was in Ridgeland at the time, and I'm not a culture vulture, I immediately called AmEx. They reversed the charge, canceled my card and overnighted me a replacement.
Fast forward to Christmas Eve morning. I got a call from Regions' fraud monitoring asking me did I really just use my debit card to buy $763 worth of stuff at H&M? I asked the lady if she was talking about the store in Northpark, and assured her it would be suspicious if I spent $7.63 there. Regions reversed it on the spot, maybe because their fraud monitoring deal caught it I guess, and said they could only send me a replacement the regular way, in "5 to 7 business days." So I wound up using AmEx like a drunk sailor through New Years. I was impressed that AmEx would overnight me a new card, Regions ... not so much.
Fast forward to Christmas Eve morning. I got a call from Regions' fraud monitoring asking me did I really just use my debit card to buy $763 worth of stuff at H&M? I asked the lady if she was talking about the store in Northpark, and assured her it would be suspicious if I spent $7.63 there. Regions reversed it on the spot, maybe because their fraud monitoring deal caught it I guess, and said they could only send me a replacement the regular way, in "5 to 7 business days." So I wound up using AmEx like a drunk sailor through New Years. I was impressed that AmEx would overnight me a new card, Regions ... not so much.
Oh I gotcha. I use Regions, too, and that sounds about right. My firm does not do direct deposit so I have to physically deposit my check every month. Not a big deal to me, but about every two or three months I'll pull a drive-through teller that won't deposit my check and puts a three-day hold on it because I don't have an amount equal to or above my check (I spend or move to savings pretty much everything by the end of the month). Sometimes I can sweet talk them, sometimes I have to call someone at the GD corporate office while I'm in line, and sometimes I just say 17 it and go on. The point is, they only do it sometimes, which I would understand if it was the hard-and-fast, no-exceptions rule, but it isn't. It just depends on whose on duty.
Few years back somebody (later found out in the Hattiesburg area) opened up a Bank of America credit card in my name. They maxed it out then just lost it. Collectors were calling me to collect 2K+. It was a pain in the A++ to clear it up. I'm not from nor do I really know too many people from Hattiesburg. Took around 9-12 months to straighten it all out and convince them that it was not me.
If you have been a customer of a bank for any period of time longer than a month and they are still putting holds on your deposits, I would definitely tell them where to 17ing go. That is absurd. If you haven't had any deposited checks come back, they are really just screwing you. No reason at all for that. I handled those decisions and that is not ok EVER. You probably could get the bank mgr to approve it if you bring up the points I just gave but why you have to go through that is still absurd.
I put a security freeze on all three credit bureaus. It cost $3 per bureau. I have a PIN number to unlock. It won't help with credit card theft, my bank is very good with that. It does help with the bigger and more serious identity theft.
Horror Story: A coworker had her ID stolen...
(Note: This was back in the day when Identity Theft was a new, "What is that?", "Never heard of it." thing.)
A couple got her personal info and ran up nearly $250,000 (Not a typo. It was ~ a quarter of a million dollars) of debt against her name.
They maxed out all of her credits cards, bought 2 new cars (each were over $30,000), opened additional credit cards, and secured some other type of loans.
After my coworker discovered what was going, it still took a couple of weeks, or so, before law enforcement finally tracked them down.
My coworker(60+ years old)....She spent endless hours trying to rehabilitate her (previously great) credit rating. The calls, paperwork, proving who she was, proving she didn't make the purchases, proving she didn't take out the loans, dealing with the debt collectors, etc.
(Note: This was back in the day when Identity Theft was a new, "What is that?", "Never heard of it." thing.)
A couple got her personal info and ran up nearly $250,000 (Not a typo. It was ~ a quarter of a million dollars) of debt against her name.
They maxed out all of her credits cards, bought 2 new cars (each were over $30,000), opened additional credit cards, and secured some other type of loans.
After my coworker discovered what was going, it still took a couple of weeks, or so, before law enforcement finally tracked them down.
My coworker(60+ years old)....She spent endless hours trying to rehabilitate her (previously great) credit rating. The calls, paperwork, proving who she was, proving she didn't make the purchases, proving she didn't take out the loans, dealing with the debt collectors, etc.
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