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You too can be a victim of Identity Fraud. I did not think that it could happen to me because I am so very careful with my card data and I thought my card but apparently I was wrong.

I did not catch it, however. Thankfully, my bank did.

I don't know details of how this all happened or even what really happened except that my account was shut down (momentarily) and my card numbers changed as a result.

The bank resolved all of the resulting issues for me with one single exception. I had to deal with PayPal. The bank reported that PayPal would not make the required changes unless I contacted them myself which I was able to do online.

Lesson Learned: Identity Fraud does not always happen to the other guy.

My wife's wallet was stolen from her purse some years ago. This was when NJ permitted non-photo driver's licenses. For 5 years, someone used this license to cash stolen checks from others they used my wife's name on.. Over $100,000 of items primarily from Walmart were "purchased" by my wife.

The thieves used other people's stolen "security featured" checks which they would erase the name & address printing & put my wife's name & our address on with rub-on letters along with a different phone number every time. They would also change some of the numbers along the bottom of the check so the same account number was never used twice. Quite a racket which lasted 5 years.

I was interviewed on the local NBC television station where they wanted to see a 10" pile of collection agencies notices and requests for collection. I had to supply a copy of the police report which protected us from being liable for a cent. What was bad was the practice collections agencies use to sell the checks we supplied a police report on & then 2-3 months later, I'd have to submit another police report for the same bad check... Sometimes I'd send 2-3 police reports for the same bad check.

A nightmare... Sometimes one Walmart would have 2-3 checks cashed at different registers within minutes on one another. How was it done? I have no idea. Walmart used the SCAN check system them. SCAN works by checking for only bad checks- not good ones. So if per chance a thief used a bad number, they'd be denied, otherwise every check was approved!

A couple of years my daughter went overseas while in the service and had to use an ATM. Within 24 hours hundreds of dollars were spent with her credit/debit card number. A person has to be very careful.

One last thing if you are traveling outside your usual spending area, be sure to contact the credit card company or they may suspect fraud and freeze your account. Happened to me. Another time there was a collect phone call for like 45 cents. I was attempting to get information on who the call was from & before I learned, the security person cancelled my credit card. What a pain in the you know where as I had many automatic payment made each month as it was a dividend miles credit card & I had to notify every business who had the number on file. Eye, ye, ye...what a pain!

dusty wrote:Lesson Learned: Identity Fraud does not always happen to the other guy.

You just showed that it happens to the other guy (you not me); I'd sure like to know a few more details as I also am very careful but any specifices on what happened would be helpful. The only thing we get on the news is general, the banks won't tell, and those who protect against it don't (read the fine print. They just charge you a huge monthly fee for insurance if it happens to you.

Thanks for the post.

I have spent years looking up video and helping the police track down those that steal from others so they don't have to work. Another very successful method is taking your checking account information from your checks and making their own. All they need is a check you have written for any thing, House work, yard sell items anything. They go to a business like Kinko or any coping company and use their computer to make their own company's check using your routing number and checking account. They make their check on Tom's Auto Repair or what ever and then start passing them written to themselves and all the many fake ID's they are carrying. They will keep going through your bank in most cases until you are over drawn or your bank get wise and checks on it. In my job I work with several million dollars a year in bogus checks and stolen credit cards. Most of the times these are groups that move across the country and are in and out of your town in a couple of days.

Identity theft takes many forms and the biggest problem in the experience my wife & I endured was no one seemed to care. After $10-20K of checks with Walmart were written, I was no longer required to send copies of police reports to the Walmart security office located in Rochester, NY at the time. The lady who ended up becoming a supervisor handled our case. Once a week I'd call her & we'd verify a dozen or two fraudulent checks. We attempted to have my wife's name & phone posted at all the local Walmarts and I was told no. No? The reason was Walmart did not want to put their cashiers at any chance of physical risk. All that was needed was a non-photo NJ driver's license.

When the amount exceeded $10,000 back in 1994/5, the Secret Service was actually responsible to be involved. I called & information was taken down. I was then asked a question I will never forget, "Do you have any leads?" I said no & was then told that they would not be able to help me. I spoke to someone in the Department of the Treasury to report the problem with the checks where people were able to simply erase the name & address blocks and put my wife's name & our address along with changing an account number or two. The Treasury Department rep told me there was nothing can be done as the entire checking system would need to be changed and that would cost more than the problem! Amazing.

I learned that if a person has a credit card lost or stolen, to quickly report it and to also file a police report. That simple police report essentially meant we were not liable for one single cent. In addition to my wife's license, two credit cards, a checkbook with 5 checks and worst of all was a check register that was on the last page was taken. The theft occurred in NJ. The 5 checks were used to buy $1,900 in carpet and the rest in computer systems. We were not liable having notified the bank. I think the police report was enough to waive the stop payment on the checks, along with the signature being a fraudulent one. Checks used to take several days to clear, but now they are essentially immediately cleared electronically which is a good thing. Our check register disappearing hurt the worst as it contained about 150 checks which I had to get copies of the checks which the bank had to copy each check to provide us a copy so we could figure out were our money went for when I completed our tax return. That took 3 months to get all the copies.

One credit card was recovered in PA. The other credit card made it all the way to Kentucky before someone had the guts to grab it.

This nightmare ended in 1999. Prior to that NJ stopped the non-photo driver's license option. 9/11 resulted in the entire revamp of the paperwork required to get a driver's license in NJ and most states to my knowledge. I see on TV commercials which offer a person peace of mind against identity theft by offering a service which will monitor your credit reports and notify you of any changes. Someone did attempt to buy a cellphone, lease a car, buy groceries at an Acme grocery store and buy more computer systems using the 5 checks they had of ours. One salesperson, an immigrant from Italy who was very familiar with my surname had never seen a person with my last name who looked like the person wanting to purchase $2500 in computer equipment. He excused himself and called us as this was one of our checks. We thought Yes! & told him to call the police. But by the time he did & went back out front, the people were gone. The check written at the Acme market phone also had our name & number and they had security film. My wife went to the supermarket with a police detective and they were unable to identify the person writing the check because she never looked into the camera. Shucks!

In my opinion, these services are not required because if you read most credit card agreements, you are not responsible for fraudulent use of your card if you can provide a police report or write a letter to the company in writing to inform them of any unauthorized transactions. I recommend always reviewing your credit card statement & banking statements each month. Another thing to know is that debit cards do not offer the same protections that credit cards do. As a result, I do not carry a debit card.

How to protect yourself? Make sure you never leave copies of your credit card number anywhere. Most retailers only print the last 4 digits of a credit card number. A good thing. My daughter's card was most likely compromised by a person with binoculars as she is very careful. We have written on the back of our credit cards with permanent ink to "See Photo ID." If 1 in 5 people ask, that is a lot.

All of this happened because my wife who works with some people with substance issues, always keep your wallet, purse, whatever secure. Women especially are most vulnerable. Next time you go to a store with carts, she how many women leave there purses in the cart while they look at something. Women should never leave their purses on the passenger seat where someone can snatch & grab it.

Keep a copy of everything in your wallet so if someone lifts your wallet or it falls out, you have a pretty good idea of who to call. There was a service in the 70's that you registered you credit cards with & one phone call would cancel them all. Don't carry any more than you need. Pin numbers- don't write them down on anything in your wallet or use birth dates or other info contained in your wallet or purse.

I think the systems have made it more difficult for thieves to get entire number unless they have those readers which can read credit cards with mini-transponders in them. Remember the Mobil or the Exxon swipe & go? Well, other credit cards have come out with similar technology and can be read by miniature readers which just need to come close, not touch the card. There are special jackets a person can use for these type cards which will shield the cards.

I would hope I'm the only one on this forum ever subjected to an identity theft which lasted almost 5 years. You can't be too safe. Ultimately, do what makes you feel most secure & never leave anything insecure.

I do understand check fraud. Once a thief has a stolen check they can and often do much damage with it.

What I don't understand is on going credit card fraud. By that I mean I can see where someone can get a card and make fraudulant purchases but once the owner realizes this and reports it the card is useless.

I stopped using checks years ago. I now use a credit card which I pay the balance every billing. If someone steals or I loss the card my card company accepts full responsibility. When I travel my card company which is monitoring my card usage calls me immediately and asks what is up. If I make a catalogue purchase outside my immediate area again the credit card company calls and asks if I made the purchase or not.

The biggest thing is never never post you birthday, your mothers maiden name, your city of birth, your social security card number for any reason on the internet.

I know many guys have their birth date in their profiles for this forum. My advice change the month, day or year right now, or remove it completely.

My deepest sympathy for those of you who have had to endure these trials. And, my deepest appreciation for sharing the gained knowledge you so kindly posted to help the rest of us. You didn't have to share, but your post indicates a clear care for the rest of us. So, thank you for posting a wealth of information.

Also, if you use checks, make sure you have good neighbors. I have two neighbors who moved in and for some reason, I am the one to pick on. They want to mow parts of my yard. I don't get it. I had three checks on the mailbox to pay medical bills. I went away for a few minutes and returned and the bills were gone. An hour later, the postman came. I asked if he had already come by. He said no. So had to pay to stop payment on the checks. Then went to those businesses to pay them directly. I like paying all bills with credit card and paying for it as the transactions occur. I can't pay all my bills with credit card. I send all my monthly bills via checks and hand them directly to the postman or take them to the post office. Then I watch the account get deducted. When buying small items, I use strictly cash. Never carry much cash as this will make you a target. I know this is way off topic from ID theft, but is related.

Again, my sympathies to those who have had to deal with this terrible nightmare.

Ed,
I write maybe 1-2 checks a year & use an air miles credit card for everything else and pay it off like you do. On-going credit card fraud in my opinion happens because some people do not look at their statements. My elderly neighbor is always getting pre-approved credit cards with her last name and the first name Lisa. Lisa was a dog she had 10 years ago who passed away, yet this dog gets several pre-approved credit cards a year. All someone has to do is send in the application and maybe change the address or simply watch a person's mailbox & wait for the envelope with the card.

I agree with every one of your comments. I also do not use social networking sites where as you mentioned, people give a crook all the information they might need to open up a bogus account with your identity information. A site like Facebook is a smorgasbord of information an unscrupulous person needs to become you. Combine that with information which a person can get by Googling your name and anything could happen. But it is not as easy as it once was.

Well, I have to say many credit card companies have smartened up to the extent they look at the caller ID to see if the phone number is on your file. I have no explanation as to the reason a dead dog continues to get credit. Things have gotten a lot better & we enjoy protections from credit thieves. But these thieves typically get away with their crime one time. If more cashiers actually asked for photo ID, the problem would be less. But since my family & I lived through a tough 5 years where we'd get sometimes 10 or more letters a day from collection agencies demanding payment for checks written in my wife's name from banks we never heard of.

Oh, on 7-8 occasions, banks would return one of the fraud checks to us & apologize for leaving the check out of 'our' monthly statement. By this time, the check had survived the clearing process & often the rub-on letters/numbers would start to detach from the check. We'd provide the checks to the detective who handled the initial police report & he'd just put the checks in the file. The thing I never understood is that we were never customers of these banks to begin with & had the bank checked the account number with the name on the check, they'd of realized the check was bogus. But like I wrote previously, many people just didn't care. But for us, it suddenly stopped after 5 years. The director of Walmart security told me that Walmart factored in the cost of fraud, theft, etc in their prices. He also told me that I was not the injured party since I only needed to provide a police report to get off the hook. He said WalMart and all the other businesses were the injured parties. I disagreed & said we were all victims.

Oh, one thing I forgot, if you ever are in this situation, notify all three major credit bureaus to put a fraud alert on your account. This way anyone attempting to obtain credit fraudulently in your name will be denied. You might have some difficulty which is easily resolved when you provide some additional information which only you would know. If you suspect fraud, the credit bureaus are/were required to provide you a credit report. There have been many improvements since there were others using my wife's non-photo driver's license as a license essentially to steal. I believe the bureaus now share information where in the mid-90's, that wasn't the case. It was left to the individual to fend for themselves. I think all the publicity has helped to educate people to protect themselves.

Something else to consider about credit cards is that there are folks out there who can actually make a credit card after stealing your account number. My son had someone obtain his number and then use a card with that number on it in London. The transaction showed that a card was actually run through a card reader there while he was here in the U.S. The thieves were able to use the card once, but were denied on their second attempt. Since he still had his card, he has no idea where the number was obtained and you never do get complete details from the card company.

One possibility for thieves to obtain you number is at a restaurant where the server takes your card to the register to complete the transation. Another is those card with built-in RFID chips. If you have one of these cards, supposedly wrapping them in aluminum foil will prevent someone from picking off the account information from the chip. I don't have one of those cards with an RFID chip so I can't verify that the foil actually works.