Comments on: Identity Theft: Three ways to fight it

By: threadbndr

threadbndr — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:45:43 +0000

Yep – the accounts were set up while he was in-country (this was before he got married and I was his only power of attorney and *I* did not set up any credit cards for him).

All but one of the vendors is being very understanding, but that one is arguing that the military has internet access (his bases had very intermittant access) and that he could have set the account up from a military computer. He may have to get the JAG office involved. I’m hoping that the certified letter, threat of legal action in the civilian courts, etc may do the trick.

That vendor should know better than to take on the Marines! LOL

By: funny

funny — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:21:54 +0000

@ Threadbinder: Somebody’s ripping the guy off while he’s in freaking Iraq? What a damnable outrage. I hope he finds something useful here. More to the point, I hope the low-life gets caught…

By: threadbndr

threadbndr — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:42:53 +0000

I’ve been hit twice in the last couple of years – one a stolen CC (didn’t get it canceled soon enough when my purse was stolen – I worked them in “damage control” order and this one only had $1000 limit – it was my oldest one, though, so I kept it for length of credit history). The other time must have been a skimmer.

The Marine! Goth, though, had somebody set up several accounts when he was in IRAQ – he’s having all KINDs of fun fixing that. I’m going to forward this post to him. The boilerplate letters will come in handy.

By: Carnival of Money Stories #9

Carnival of Money Stories #9 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:09:14 +0000

[...] VH from Funny About Money presents identity theft: three ways to fight it. [...]

By: Carnival of Money Stories 9th Edition – Richest Americans | My Journey to Millions

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:01:21 +0000

[...] presents Identity Theft: Three ways to fight it posted at Funny about Money. VH gives us a detailed review of what happened to her and how to avoid [...]

By: Janet

Janet — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:12:11 +0000

That’s really annoying. I’ve also gone with friends and presented my membership card and they did the swiping of either the credit card or debit card. I don’t think Costco checks on the match. Thanks for the informative article.

By: Revanche

Revanche — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:34:34 +0000

I just dealt with a series of fraudulent charges on my credit card, with this post I’m wondering if I should take it a step further and place fraud alerts on my cards. On the one hand, can’t be too careful! On the other, I’ve got all my cards [that I know of!] on Yodlee and all activity is reported within a couple days of posting.

By: funny

funny — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:40:34 +0000

@ Charlie: It’s amazing how trusting people are, isn’t it? O’course, all these transactions involve a hefty dose of trust: you have to trust the store’s employees not to rip off your information, and that’s just the start: the data goes through employees at banks and lenders. At any stage along a check’s way through the system, anyone could copy the account and routing numbers on your checks. Overall, we’re pretty lucky so many people are honest!

By: funny

funny — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:14:53 +0000

@ Vickey: Although Costco now accepts your Costco AMEX card as a membership card, they also will accept the old red, white, & blue Costco membership card. Certainly if she walked in there with dollars and a traditional membership card, they wouldn’t question her. I think they’ll take any American Express card; I’ve brought guests in and had cashiers accept their money as long as I present my card, so it’s possible they would even accept a credit card in her name.

She is a nurse, and when she’s working, she makes a good living. She just diddles it all away so fast there’s nothing left to pay on her considerable debts. So it’s reasonable to expect that on payday she could get cash that she could spend at Costco without having to identify herself with anything other than the membership card.

Who knows? It could all be the figment of a fevered imagination. Surely if she were forging IDs, sooner or later she would use them to coin some change for herself. If she’s really had fake IDs in my and her father’s name for 5 years, you’d think she would have done something that showed up on one of our credit reports by now.

By: Vickey

Vickey — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:43:56 +0000

Hmmm. How did she pay for goods at Costco once she was using the illicit membership, if she was out of cash? Wouldn’t the difference in name on a check or credit card raise red flags?

I’m not sure I’d wait until she does something that costs you more. And if I’ve guessed correctly who “she” is, she needs folks to draw firm, clear boundaries to help her in returning to reality.