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My husband had identity theft on Paypal/credit

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by vwhiten, Apr 27, 2017.

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  1. Valgal

    Valgal VIP Whale

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    Today he got a letter saying they put a hold on his account for suspicious activity -- I have a paypal account in my name we both use -- only one account. We were hesitant to call the number on the letter so we went through customer service number on the paypal website. Sure enough, someone opened up a Paypal Account and Paypal Credit account. Thankfully no charges went through-- although someone tried to charge a $100 gift card but it was denied.

    It was a few months ago that someone got his Amex # and charged a cell phone -- we caught that one right away because we get alerts from American Express.

    We also have Lifelock and they didn't catch it. How do you catch it if the person is using all the "right" info and it doesn't set off any alarms? Low life bottom feeders.
     
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  2. vegasdev

    vegasdev VIP Whale

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    low life losers indeed.
    the purchase of gift cards, especially prepaid MC/VISA cards, is often a red flag for fraud.
     
  3. Geogran

    Geogran VIP Whale

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    Glad they caught it and flagged it as suspicious. And in other instances where fraudulent charges do slip through and are often eventually cleared, it's the time and hassle and the fear of it happening again that can't be measured in terms of loss.
     
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  4. vegasdev

    vegasdev VIP Whale

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    most of my breaches have been after a vegas visit. just sayin.
     
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  5. Multifarious5

    Multifarious5 VIP Whale

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    So sorry Vwhitten!!!! Hubby had a bunch of repeated attacks...and they kept coming. We have lifelock too (mainly for the insurance in case we DO miss something). We caught them early like you did, but it's still an awful feeling.

    We really like LL, but I don't think there is any perfect solution with identity theft. Watch it. If the attacks become more frequent, you can freeze his credit temporarily. You can still use existing credit cards/lines, it just prevents someone from opening new ones.

    Thanks to another VMBER who mentioned it, we did this with his credit. It's a hassle, but if you start seeing multiple attacks....it IS an option that has (knock on wood) works for us.

    I am sorry...it's becoming more and more rampant :(
     
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  6. darlene

    darlene Low-Roller

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    Thanks for sharing this info, I didn't know it was possible. My debit card was recently compromised, and I caught it quickly due to text alerts, but the lowlifes are out there and unfortunately my state is known as one of the worst for it happening.
     
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  7. Ty

    Ty ?

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    I have a permanent freeze and do temporary thaws as needed. It takes a few minutes and about $3 to put the temp thaw in place. You can set a window to start/stop the thaw, then it will refreeze.

    If someone pulls my credit report during the freeze it looks as though I don't exist. This only works for places that pull credit reports. My wife and I both opened credit accounts at casinos in Vegas last year without a thaw.

    http://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/
     
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  8. makikiboy

    makikiboy VIP Whale

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    I booked a room in vegas and not long after my cc was compromised. That was the only place I used my charge card in 2 weeks so I know it came from that booking at the EC.

    I was lucky, my cc company quickly informed me of a bunch of bogus charges. I'm also glad that the crook was stupid, he started paying his dmv and other bills (utility, etc.) in CA so that set off red flags with my cc company (since I live in Hawaii why would I start paying for bills in CA). We went through all the charges (a bunch) and I was able to cancel all of them since they were for bill paying. I wonder what happened with the guy since all the important places know that he stole someone's cc since those charges were all rejected. I wonder if those companies required the guy to pay check or cash and not a cc unless it was under his name. Sure hope so since it is a red flag that the cc number was listed as stolen.

    I'm just glad that sometimes we have stupid crooks, he should have made charges at stores that couldn't be traced but idiot charged things that had his name on so the charges could be easily rejected.

    I informed the El Cortez about the stolen/bogus charges but they said that it can't be proven that my cc number was stolen from their hotel. Terrific customer service from the EC.
     
  9. flyguyfl

    flyguyfl MIA

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    Somebody accessed a government data base that contained almost all my personal data (due to high security clearances). It was noticed and the feds gave me two years of monitoring free. I get a monthly report and so far nothing has gone wrong. As an aside I also now get a monthly report on any people who are registered sex offenders hat live near by.
     
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  10. tmoney25

    tmoney25 High-Roller

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    Somebody committed ID theft of several people in my office. We think the butler did it.... I mean the cleaning staff, but there was no proof. Cleaning staff was let go anyway because nothing was getting cleaned anyway.

    Anyways, I was one of the people who got to deal with it. I received a letter from Canada Post confirming that mail to me would be forwarded.... wait, what? It even screwed up my name. Let's say my name is Thomas Canadian, well the name was slightly altered to Thonal Canadistunin. RED FLAGS! RED FLAGS! Quickly call Canada Post to inquire about it and have the mail forwarding stopped. They were able to tell me that one piece of mail was actually forwarded, but they had no clue what it was but it went to somewhere in Quebec (I live in Alberta). A couple of days later Thonal Canadistunin received mail from a bank here in Canada. I don't use that bank, but it was a credit card with a fairly high limit. So, I call the bank. I wasn't able to have it cancelled over the phone call I had to go a local branch. So I did. That branch wasn't able to cancell it either, it was somehow locked to a specific branch and I had to go there... great, I thought. Do I have to go to Quebec? Turns out the card was requested from a branch in a small town only 10 minutes away from the city I live in. So to that branch I go. Being a small town branch they didn't know how to deal with this situation but after some time I was able to get it cancelled.

    Next, was to report fraud with the police. I'll deal with that tomorrow. Well, tomorrow comes and people around work start talking and several people who use the aforementioned bank were alerted to attempts to open accounts, or credit cards. All of those were unauthorized. Then everybody in the office was told to open up accounts with the two major credit check companies to ensure nothing fishy is going on. Half the people in the office were unable to create an Equifax account because an account was recently created, but thankfully after jumping through hoops we were able to gain control over those accounts. The other company, TransUnion, had altered information for those same people, stuff like address and contact information. All of that was changed to the same address in Quebec. So our big boss man got police involved and we all had to "interview" with the detective.

    About two years later they closed the case because in cases like this they only reach dead ends and never catch the culprits. Everybody all seems to be good. Major inconvenience though, not to mention stressful.
     
  11. wormhole

    wormhole VIP Whale

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    I got that, too, for the same reason.
     
  12. bshowell

    bshowell VIP Whale

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    Also
     
  13. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    My credit card was compromised is February; the bank caught it and issued a new card. Boom, a month later, same credit card compromised again and again bank caught it. So freaking frustrating!!
     
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  14. makikiboy

    makikiboy VIP Whale

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    But now you have to figure out where you made charges where they were able to steal your cc information. That's the hard thing, figuring out where they were able to steal your cc info. You may want to cut back on your charges so you can narrow down the culprit (store, etc.) where they could steal your info.

    If you make online purchases you may need to use paypal more instead of using your cc so they can't steal your cc info.
     
  15. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Same thing happened to me, but with my debit card.

    In both cases the bank said they couldn't disclose which/what business(es) were compromised due to ongoing investigations--and to respect the privacy of the accused. :confused:
    (We wouldn't want anyone stealing their identities and invading their privacy, would we?) :mad:
    And it would've been nice to know what business(es) to avoid using my card at!

    So now I tote around cash when shopping!
    So to all the folks stuck behind me at Dollar General, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, or Macy's while I count out my hard earned stack of sweaty ones--I deeply apologize!

    RICHARD
     
  16. Valgal

    Valgal VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the info on freezing credit reports. I have been arguing for over a year with my husband. We have our Bank app on the phone and can turn our debit card off and on. He has been refusing to do so. Now he has changed his mind. When the card is turned off no charges can go through and no one can activate a duplicate card. It is very easy to turn off and on. He thought it was too inconvenient.
     
  17. Multifarious5

    Multifarious5 VIP Whale

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    HI Vwhiten, I absolutely recommend "turning cards off" when you can do it with a switch of a button on the phone.

    BUT the above offers no protection on new lines of credit being opened. "Freezing credit" takes this step way further....it means no one can pull a credit report..and thus no one can OPEN a new line of credit in your name.

    You have to contact experian, transunion and equifax individually, and pay a small fee ($10 each or so)....but it means no one can pull your credit report, which means no new lines of credit can be opened--- until unfrozen.

    Charges on an existing cc are VERY protected...debit cards less so, but still protected. The danger is when someone opens a NEW account (like you with paypal, or worse, a Mortgage loan) and you never know, until the damage is severe...or even unsalvageable.

    Your existing credit lines are somewhat protected...the MAJOR danger is having new lines of credit opened (and aggressively used) without your knowledge.

    Unless you guys plan to buy a new car or home in the very new future, I'd consider the freezing option . No credit report = no new lines of credit, creditors will NOT open new lines of credit without validation...period.

    Hopefully yours is a one time deal, but my husband was having frequent, escalating attacks, but strategic...they'd attack, we'd catch it, they'd wait, then attack again a month or so later...with small "test attacks" or bigger. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

    If this starts happening, look into credit freezing....it is the ONE fail-safe that (so far) works. And keep lifelock. Even though they didn't catch this one...the insurance for post-attack support is their value, at least in my book.

    Again, so sorry, and tell your hubby that all of VMB (or pretty darned close) is backing you on using a few safeguards. If he balks....have him watch "Identity Thief" with Jason bateman. Not a great movie, but very, very teling on how "out in the cold" you can be if it happens.

    Also, I think you said you're in the healthcare/healing industry? Give him a shark analogy. Once they take a nip and a little blood is in the water...it's a matter of when, not if. Cover the wound and get out of the water (credit freeze) or be prepared for deeper bites potentially.

    Sorry for the length...I just know how upset we were (and worried when it KEPT escalating) and I can tell you're upset/worried. I know you'll handle it beautifully, and good luck!
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2017
  18. nostresshere

    nostresshere Mr. Anti Debit Card

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    Some good info above.

    Another way to avoid having life get difficult is to have multiple cards. If one gets hacked, you just use the other. Most cards are FREE, so why not. We actually have 30+ cards as we get airline signup bonuses and travel for free.

    And, we never use DEBIT cards.
     
  19. KellyLovesVegas

    KellyLovesVegas Earthling/retired space nerd

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    +1 Hubby and I were caught in the same data breach. Like you we haven't had any problems to date. The sex offender reports can be interesting ;)
     
  20. phantomfj

    phantomfj High-Roller

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    Being from Canada, we use only one credit card while traveling out of country, it is an Amazon.ca Visa card issued by Chase that doesn't charge any foreign currency exchange charges, we ONLY use it while out of Canada. I got a phone call from Chase asking if I had tried to use it in Houston, nope I have never been in Houston. The transactions were declined when the CC was attempted to be used. We had been in the Bahamas a week or 2 before, and Vegas about a month before that.
    A BIG thumbs up for Chase to be that diligent, I got the phone call mere hours after the card use was declined.
    As to company breeches, I have had free credit monitoring services supplied twice for a year each time. Home Depot's system was hacked once. I used to work for a huge oil company, and someone lost a laptop that had all of the Canadian employees' info on it...........Luckily I had no funky things happen to my credit at those times.
     
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