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Identity Theft is the Suck (1 Viewer)

Fishboy said:
Got a call from a local branch of TCF Bank in Findley, MN.  I guess someone withdrew 6500 from a local branch in a Cub Food store.  They apparently had an IL ID with my wife's information.  I guess they then went to another branch nearby and tried to do it again and got turned away.  

How they allowed that withdrawal with an IL ID at a MN bank when we live in WI is beyond me.  Heck, I just tried to cash a check from an owner in my fantasy league for $30 and I had to enter my pin # for them to cash it at my local branch in WI.  

Have to go to my local branch tomorrow, as they aren't open here in WI on Sunday's.  LOL, they told me I "should" be refunded the $$.  How can they not refund?  They were the ones that handed over 6500 of my money to someone else.  

It's been a joy this afternoon contacting my local and the local MN police departments and contacting all my credit card companies to close/reissue new cards.  
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Seems like such an easy scam.

Fake out of state ID with the thief's photo and the victims name and address ...  maybe memorize the persons SS#?

Bank teller gets ID, signature matches the one on the ID. Thief is hoping they don't sample the signature on file in the system.

Teller will gladly tell the customer what the account balance is ... surprised they didn't withdraw more each time in this case.

I can't believe in this day / age that the banks don't have anything in place to prevent this. Well, one bank turned them away at least.

Maybe most of the tellers are just knuckleheads.

 
When you pull her credit reports to look for new accounts, also look at the credit inquiries section. You might find clues there to other fraudulent accounts to be chased down and closed. 

Turns out we didn't actually sign up for cable tv in Alaska. 

 
Someone has fraudulently completed a change/forwarding address form.  I let the post office know and they are investigating -- but have not reversed the address yet . . . . 

I just ordered my credit reports.  What else should I be doing?

 
Leeroy Jenkins said:
Someone has fraudulently completed a change/forwarding address form.  I let the post office know and they are investigating -- but have not reversed the address yet . . . . 

I just ordered my credit reports.  What else should I be doing?
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How did you find out? Not getting your regular mail?

 
Dezbelief said:
How did you find out? Not getting your regular mail?
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Notice from USPS to confirm whether it was correct.  But that appears to have been delayed.

Son was missing at least one bday card (with $5).

An amazon package was rerouted due to "agreement between carrier and customer"

And now my credit reports all have a new credit card on them opened on 10/31/2021 that I did not open.

 
Got my identity stolen recently.   Called all 3 places, froze my credit.   Dude opened 2 accounts in my name.. got those nipped quick.    Scary stuff.    OPened a target credit card and a charles schwab cash sweep account.

 
Leeroy Jenkins said:
Someone has fraudulently completed a change/forwarding address form.  I let the post office know and they are investigating -- but have not reversed the address yet . . . . 

I just ordered my credit reports.  What else should I be doing?
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Make sure you freeze your credit.

 
Had a credit card that I hadn't used for a long time (opened to do a 0 % balance transfer. ) One of my other cards that has some free monitoring program on it actually notified me of new charges to a card that hadn't had activity in some time. I logged into that card and sure enough 3 charges over 2-3 days in Guatemala. Chatted with rep and he reported the charges and cancelled and opened a new card.

 
Chase Bank is rather paranoid about charges that seem odd to them. They notified me one time of some strange charges I had supposedly made in FL in the last 24 hours --- rentals of expensive automobiles and shipping charges for those automobiles. I live in MD. I told them the charges were fraudulent. They apparently notified the police. A couple days later I got a call from a police detective in Fort Lauderdale asking about the charges. I told him I'd call him back after I verified his name and number with the Fort Lauderdale PD, which I was able to do. I gave him what information I had, he told me who did it, I was asked to fill out a witness statement, she was criminally charged. Not her first time. Chase just canceled my account and sent me a new card from a new account with the same terms.

 
ChiefD said:
Make sure you freeze your credit.
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My credit has been frozen for years, but I frequently get notifications that one or more of my passwords have been compromised. I’m kinda tired of changing them, as even the randomly generated ones get stolen.

I’m not planning on unfreezing my credit anytime soon, if ever. If I monitor my credit card and financial accounts periodically, how much damage can be done with stolen info?

 
Terminalxylem said:
My credit has been frozen for years, but I frequently get notifications that one or more of my passwords have been compromised. I’m kinda tired of changing them, as even the randomly generated ones get stolen.

I’m not planning on unfreezing my credit anytime soon, if ever. If I monitor my credit card and financial accounts periodically, how much damage can be done with stolen info?
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Someone recently tried to open a credit card account using my name and SS#. When this was first suspected I started a fraud alert on my credit. Now that the breach is fully confirmed, is Freezing my credit the obvious next step? Is there any down-side to doing so?

 
soothsayer said:
Someone recently tried to open a credit card account using my name and SS#. When this was first suspected I started a fraud alert on my credit. Now that the breach is fully confirmed, is Freezing my credit the obvious next step? Is there any down-side to doing so?
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I’m not sure of the ideal approach, but freezing your credit will definitely help. The main downside is you won’t be able to open any new accounts/credit/loans without unfreezing it. 

 
Leeroy Jenkins said:
They won't tell me that.  I can see that it is in Orlando, FL based on Amazon tracking for one package.  I am in PA.
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Maybe you could get a burner phone and battery pack, share its location with your real phone, then mail it to yourself. Track the delivery and the phone's location. If you really, really want to know where stuff is going.

 
VandyMan said:
Maybe you could get a burner phone and battery pack, share its location with your real phone, then mail it to yourself. Track the delivery and the phone's location. If you really, really want to know where stuff is going.
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This could work..

 
VandyMan said:
Maybe you could get a burner phone and battery pack, share its location with your real phone, then mail it to yourself. Track the delivery and the phone's location. If you really, really want to know where stuff is going.
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Aren't there other devices that could be used that are even smaller/less expensive? Apple Air Tag, Chipolo, something like that? I actually like this idea.

 
Terminalxylem said:
I’m not sure of the ideal approach, but freezing your credit will definitely help. The main downside is you won’t be able to open any new accounts/credit/loans without unfreezing it. 
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There's really no downside.  It takes literally 30 seconds to temporarily lift the freeze.  You don't even have to do anything to put it back on.  You choose how long you want it "open," and then the freeze automatically goes back on.  It's a no-brainer.  I compare it to closing your garage door when you leave for work in the morning versus leaving it open all day for someone to just walk in and steal something.

 
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Terminalxylem said:
I’m not planning on unfreezing my credit anytime soon, if ever. If I monitor my credit card and financial accounts periodically, how much damage can be done with stolen info?
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Not much, to be honest.  A thief will try to establish credit in your name, find out that your credit is frozen, and likely move on to the next guy on his list.

 
Having been a victim of this myself, I'm happy to help if anyone needs it.  Unfortunately I'm a bit of an expert now.

In mid-December 2018, dude walked into Kay Jewelry in DeKalb, IL, carrying a Wisconsin driver's license with all of my information and his picture.  Proceeded to open a store credit card account with a $10K limit and max it out buying some a necklace or something "for his mom for Christmas."  :rolleyes:   Thankfully Credit Karma alerted me to the inquiry, and that night I got a crash course in freezing my credit, identitytheft.gov, and all kinds of other good stuff.  Dude tried again the next day at Home Depot but was denied credit since I'd frozen my file, and that was the last I heard of him.  Turns out he'd also opened an account with AT&T and got a couple new iPhones, but that was the extent of the damage.  Took me a couple months of going back and forth with Kay's fraud department and the credit bureaus to get everything cleaned up, but all things considered, it could've been a lot worse.

Interestingly, the manager on duty at the store that night took a picture of the DL because she thought it seemed suspicious.  Illinois police ran it through facial recognition, and they were actually able to identify the guy (a career criminal type).  Warrant was issued, and he was charged with felony identify theft a few months later when he got arrested for something else.  Thanks to COVID, the guy's case is STILL open almost 3 years later, but from what I understand there's going to be a plea agreement next month, and it'll likely consist of restitution to Kay's and several months of house arrest.  :rolleyes:   I don't know if this is even possible, but hopefully he'll somehow be prohibited from having internet access so he can't just sit at home on the computer doing the same thing to other people that he did to me.

At the end of the day, I'm fortunate that I'm a 44-year-old dude who's pretty tech savvy and has the time, know-how, and demeanor to aggressively follow up on stuff like this.  I imagine there are a lot of people who fall victim to this type of thing and don't even know it happened until they go to apply for a loan and find out that their credit has been ruined.

 
I really got into credit card points, and thus began tracking my credit, and a byproduct of that is: my phone lights up like a Christmas tree if I apply for ANYTHING. I  get text messages and emails asking if it's really me.  

This is really the kind of thing that needs to be taught at high school level, and taught to adults as well. It is not hard. There are many free options, no one needs to pay for identity security, unless they are somehow more at risk? I guess if you are in Albania for work alot, and use your debit card, maybe you should. 

Is anyone here not tracking their credit? 

 
massraider said:
I really got into credit card points, and thus began tracking my credit, and a byproduct of that is: my phone lights up like a Christmas tree if I apply for ANYTHING. I  get text messages and emails asking if it's really me.  

This is really the kind of thing that needs to be taught at high school level, and taught to adults as well. It is not hard. There are many free options, no one needs to pay for identity security, unless they are somehow more at risk? I guess if you are in Albania for work alot, and use your debit card, maybe you should. 

Is anyone here not tracking their credit? 
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I have spending alerts if big purchases are made, and froze my credit. Other than that I don’t track anything, but I review my statements each billing cycle.

 
Juxtatarot said:
You haven’t mentioned it but I assume you contacted BoA about this, right?
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Yes.  They closed/blocked the credit card.  There was a $0 balance and no activity.

I was still getting the run around from the post office, so I went to my local one today.  They show the address forwarding as still active, but she assures me now that they are involved that it will be resolved in 1-2 days. In the meantime, they have put my mail on hold and are retrieving any mail delivered to the mailbox.

I DO have the address now of where the mail is going -- it's an apartment in Orlando.  The date of the address change request and CC being opened are the same.  So it appears that my information was stolen PRIOR to the address change.

I have now filed with the FTC, my local police, the Orlando police, the Inspector General, and an Internet Crime Claim that alerts FBI.  Along with the freezes.  I also froze my checking account.  Am debating whether to open new accounts (and then have to update all of my autopays, direct deposits etc.) or whether that isn't worth it.  

I also was planning to sign up for Life Lock -- anyone else done that?

 
Leeroy Jenkins said:
Yes.  They closed/blocked the credit card.  There was a $0 balance and no activity.

I was still getting the run around from the post office, so I went to my local one today.  They show the address forwarding as still active, but she assures me now that they are involved that it will be resolved in 1-2 days. In the meantime, they have put my mail on hold and are retrieving any mail delivered to the mailbox.

I DO have the address now of where the mail is going -- it's an apartment in Orlando.  The date of the address change request and CC being opened are the same.  So it appears that my information was stolen PRIOR to the address change.

I have now filed with the FTC, my local police, the Orlando police, the Inspector General, and an Internet Crime Claim that alerts FBI.  Along with the freezes.  I also froze my checking account.  Am debating whether to open new accounts (and then have to update all of my autopays, direct deposits etc.) or whether that isn't worth it.  

I also was planning to sign up for Life Lock -- anyone else done that?
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In all likelihood your checking account is fine and unrelated to this incident.

 
Juxtatarot said:
In all likelihood your checking account is fine and unrelated to this incident.
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I think so too, but I went and changed accounts anyway.  I probably needed an "enhanced" account regardless.

Small update.  Yesterday my wife got a call from "the post office" but the woman did not leave her name, and the phone number was a North Carolina number.  She said in her message that this was a "remote phone" but that she was actually physically in Philadelphia and was part of Philadelphia/Delaware section 2 or something.  I decided just to play it safe and called USPS customer service/fraud line like I have been doing.  The good news is that as of 11am yesterday, my change of address had finally been canceled after two weeks.  The timing lined up with the other call, so probably was legit and the woman was calling to inform me of the matter.

You may recall that there was a redirected Amazon package that was part of what tipped me off.  USPS states that is was "correctly delivered" so I am not sure that Amazon will refund me.  Luckily it was only a $10 memory stick.  But if it was something expensive, I would probably be screwed.  

USPS requires NOTHING for a change of address.  And apparently this type of thing is rising exponentially.  They said they are going to start requiring more information -- but that is not imminent.  So please be mindful if you think you are not getting mail, or if a couple pieces of mail show up with the yellow sticker on them as redirected.  While that is how the mail gets redirected to the NEW address, for some reason, a few pieces of junk mail still came to me with the yellow sticker as well.  

 
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