Identity theft...Unauthorized purchase.

[supercharged]

I swithched to work P.M. Shift recently (Now I work all night and stay up all night on my nights off), and on internet and decided to check my balance on checking account to possibly make another purchse on AG (I really wanter to get more leather conditioner in a gallon size). I thing that came up to my attection was my balance - it was $600 istead of $1200. I immediately checked by balance details, and noticed a purchase authorized to some website called tigerdirect. Website appeared to sell all kind of electronics. It was authorized on Sunday at 18:45 when I was in church, and my wallet was with me. I don't trust my PIN numbers to anyone, so noone else will make purchases. I was very frustrated. I immediately called my bank, and reported them unauthorized purchase. I cancelled my card, to make sure that this number will not work again. Then I called the tigerdirect. I gave them my name and card number and told that I did not authorise that purchase, and asked them to calcel it. Amazingly they even told me my address before I told it to them. Whatta @#$%? Anyway I told them that card was already cancelled and asked to refund my money. It appeared that there was a Canon camera ordered on my name with attention: my name. I was very frustrated. Even my family members don't know my PIN numbers. No other family members of mine do any online purchases (except for ebay).

Anyway my bank told me that for purchases like this I will not be responsible but I do need to report them ASAP. I don't check my balance online very often, it could of been a while before I did.

Could it be stolen through other online purchases? I do have Norton Internet Security, but I don't know what even to say.

Thanks God, I checked that online statement that time.

In conclusion I want to say, - be carefull out there. If you suspect something
that someone knows your card/has your identity - call the bank and cancel that card. $600 maybe is not a whole lot, but you sure can buy a lot for it form Autogeek.

Thank you for reading.

[TexasTB]

Never happend to me. Not with a CC. My eBay account was hacked, and they changed all the personal info to the UK. The person(s) ended up scamming a few people by selling sports cars. Luckily they did not get into my PayPal Account. It took me hours on end to straighten it out.

Some sites are not secure. I was told to make sure the address bar has an "https" not the normal "http". I am not a computer whiz, so someone can chime in. And Spoof emails will get you too. They look real, but they are people out to get your info.........

[P1et]

Every single time you go to a restaurant and they walk away from the table to ring your bill up, they have a chance to make a nice and easy copy of your credit card. I check my balance EACH AND EVERY DAY to make sure everything is going smoothly. It takes a minute or two and gives you peace of mind.

There are WAY too many scammers out there. Just the other day, my friends fiancee lost $1,200 to a Nigerian scam on Craigslist. I didn't know people could still possible fall for those, but it just shows...

[FloridaNative]

Wow!! I am so sorry to hear that this happened to you, but glad that you were vigilant and caught it in time. I am a total computer retard as many of you know, but my husband on the other hand works in computers and really knows his stuff. There are certain rules he has embedded into my brain that I can pass along to you.

1) Be careful what you download. Alot of free downloads contain spy ware that can open you up to being hacked as they let the person see everything that's going on in your computer including personal information, passwords etc.

2) Do not use your real credit card number to make online purchases. We use Discover card for all online transactions because it lets you generate a single use number for online purchases. It is good for only one purchase and you get a new number every time. It is a way to keep your actual credit card number in your wallet and off of the internet.

Those are the two main ones that he's told me to always follow and in addition to that we are very vigilant with the mai that comes into the house. He always rips up or shreds any offers for new credit cards and thiings with our name and address on it. It's alot of work, but it is less work than having your identity stolen.

I hope that everything gets resolved for you and that you have no future problems from this unscrupulous person. Good luck to you.

[wytstang]

To add to what FN said a good firwall helps against hackers my personal favorite (and free) is Kerio Personal Firewall. Here is a good site to test your firewall for leaks https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 have have past all the "port scans" with flying colors.

[MikeyC]

Weird that someone would steal your credit card info only to buy something and have it shipped to you.

[joe.p]

Samething happen to me.. except the item was for a $1,100 computer from HP store in california, but the bank put a stop on the payment .I spoke with the CC investigator , i was told that the culpprits have a hook up with whatever carrier is used track the package then intercept it..so its not unlikely this parcel was in his name..That was the 2nd time the 1st time was a $900.00 Plus purchase from a site connected with a yahoo store..he'll get it taken care of but sometimes it could be time consuming..

[Surfer]

I had a similar situation last year on my Visa card. Got my statement and there was an extra $500 bill on there for some place in California through Paypal. I hadn't used my Paypal account in pry 2 years. Called Visa, no problem, told me not to pay it and was credited back to me next month. I was suprised as I thought if it was something with Paypal I was screwed since their unregulated.

[Grimm]

I just had this same thing happen just last week. I went to Meijer to buy a few grocery items and my VISA card was declined. So I called and the bank had put a hold on the card. The rep reviewed three transactions the day before in California. One was $230 from someplace I never heard of, and another was $250 at Walgreens. They must have flagged it because it was in another state or something. The stupid part is that because they had just been done and were in transit, they can't do anything. I have to actually wait for my statement. One thing I think I'm going to do that I hadn't thought of before is to lower our credit limit. It's now at $25K which would give me a heart attack if they had used it all. I still can't imagine why a thief would use my card at Walgreens and not hit Best Buy for a big screen TV or something. Needless to say I have new cards with a new account number coming.

Oh, one other thing, call one of the major credit bureaus and have a "fraud alert" put on your account. I did that in case they also had one of our social security numbers, and it's a 90 day alert where no one can open a new account without getting your personal authorization first.

[joe.p]

Originally Posted by Grimm

Oh, one other thing, call one of the major credit bureaus and have a "fraud alert" put on your account. I did that in case they also had one of our social security numbers, and it's a 90 day alert where no one can open a new account without getting your personal authorization first.

Very good advice as i have done this already..