Identity Theft

[Jay]

Soo, I went out Friday night with my date, went to buy her a drink with my amex declined. Amex declining is kinda unheard of. So I go home to check my shit and I find out I owe 30k to amex. 6 computers, 6 pairs of sunglasses, 2 TV's. I freak out, call all my card companies and cancel everything. Turns out I have a capital 1 and a citi card I didn't know about. I call my bank acct, I have neg 400 in it. I go to online banking where they have a pdf of my written checks and the sigs match mine perfectly. Weird part is, all my checks are accounted for in my safe and all cards are in my wallet (minus the 2 I never signed up for). Called the bank to find out wtf is going on. After holding for 2 hours they were able to get the physical check right in front of them. Someone has a sig stamp with my sig on it.

So yeah, I have 40 dollars cash and I just spend 25 of that to fill the tank. I talked to the cops and made a report and now I have to stretch this 15 for the next week which shouldn't be too hard since i have groceries but I have to find a way to pay for client lunches and dinners now ><. Life is good!

PS - Laugh it up Harri.

[araby]

It happened to me before, too. sorry about your shortage on funds. worse things could happen!

[Hatak]

That sucks, man. I once had my debit card number stolen online somehow. It wasn't near as bad as your situation, but I can relate.

Back when I did Web Support for Pre-Paid Legal (which sells an Identity Theft Protection plan), one of their salesmen was telling me about his identity getting stolen. I asked if the ID Theft plan worked well for him. He said he didn't know because he let the guy keep his ID since the thief was spending less than his wife did...

[Harrison]

PS - Laugh it up Harri.

I did lol

[Narrock]

Soo, I went out Friday night with my date, went to buy her a drink with my amex declined. Amex declining is kinda unheard of. So I go home to check my shit and I find out I owe 30k to amex. 6 computers, 6 pairs of sunglasses, 2 TV's. I freak out, call all my card companies and cancel everything. Turns out I have a capital 1 and a citi card I didn't know about. I call my bank acct, I have neg 400 in it. I go to online banking where they have a pdf of my written checks and the sigs match mine perfectly. Weird part is, all my checks are accounted for in my safe and all cards are in my wallet (minus the 2 I never signed up for). Called the bank to find out wtf is going on. After holding for 2 hours they were able to get the physical check right in front of them. Someone has a sig stamp with my sig on it.

So yeah, I have 40 dollars cash and I just spend 25 of that to fill the tank. I talked to the cops and made a report and now I have to stretch this 15 for the next week which shouldn't be too hard since i have groceries but I have to find a way to pay for client lunches and dinners now ><. Life is good!

PS - Laugh it up Harri.

Sorry that happened to you Jay. Might I suggest: http://www.lifelock.com

[Kramer]

dude. that sucks bawlz. man. that really sucks.

i have never had something like that happen. really sorry about that.

nothing funny about that. damn.

that lifelock site is intersting, and very reasonable, i was surprised

[Gypsiyee]

PS - Laugh it up Harri.

I did lol

I don't really get the joke. I don't understand how anyone, regardless of how much you dislike them, going 30k+ in the hole because someone snatched their identity is ever funny. I mean as much as people dislike you we didn't laugh when you got the shit kicked out of you, regardless of the fact that you probably deserved it for being such a pompous fuckwad.

No funny detected.

[Tuggan]

I laughed when Harrison got his ass kicked.

[Gypsiyee]

ah, well, fair enough. i guess that's allowed; harrison is the person who will always laugh at someone else's misfortunes, so I reckon he's fair game.. especially since his entire joke of a life is one big misfortune.

[Zanchief]

I think it's funny that Jay is broke. I like the kid and all but it's just funny.

[Harrison]

I don't know him. Nor do I care about him any more than I should.

I save my "caring" for people who deserve it, however small that handful is. People fucking suck, and he's probably done plenty in his life to deserve this.

If not, I also believe that bad things happen to good people. Often...

[Naethyn]

What's your next step?

[Jay]

Lol @ Harrison's viewpoint on this. Fair enough, that's all I have to say.

Cancelled cards, called bank, called credit card companies, called Equifax, made police report, waiting for my credit report results and that's all I can do. Everything is gonna come back minus 700 dollars which I have to pay for various deductible fees. Straightening it all out is gonna take months.

[Gypsiyee]

I don't know him. Nor do I care about him any more than I should.

I save my "caring" for people who deserve it, however small that handful is. People fucking suck, and he's probably done plenty in his life to deserve this.

If not, I also believe that bad things happen to good people. Often...

but you cared enough to laugh..

I mean being indifferent is one thing.. to actually have it in you to get entertainment out of someone else's problem is another

[Narrock]

dude. that sucks bawlz. man. that really sucks.

i have never had something like that happen. really sorry about that.

nothing funny about that. damn.

that lifelock site is intersting, and very reasonable, i was surprised

Yeah, for ten bucks a month you really can't go wrong. I hear their commercials on the radio every day, and they are getting some big name endorsements like Michael Savage, Dr. Laura, Rush, etc.

[Lionking]

Jay, this should be a wake up call for you. It really looks like you were broke BEFORE this card scam. If you can't function in your life well without the plastic, you have a serious debt problem. Get the fuck off the plastic, man! Oh shit I sound like Dave Ramsey.

[Maeya]

He said his bank account was wiped out, too. I use my Amex for everything I can to get the frequent flyer miles despite having enough cash to cover it out of checking.

[Tikker]

He said his bank account was wiped out, too. I use my Amex for everything I can to get the frequent flyer miles despite having enough cash to cover it out of checking.

same thing

[Jay]

Only debt I have is about 400 on my Chase which was spent inside the month for some additional miles. I normally carry about 80 bucks on me at all times but I just didn't have time to go to the bank or atm recently. Didn't really anticipate this. Amex is a charge card. Everything I do goes through it so I can get pts and stuff. You can't maintain a balance on your Amex card or you get taxed and jacked. And yeah, my money was in the bank and that got wiped too.

[Jay]

Just found out I owe Citi 12k and Cap 1 about 8k. Those are the 2 cards I never applied for. My Amex billing address was changed and I didn't notice because I'm on paperless so that's how they got my card. It goes to a PO Box in Sac under my name which I don't have.

[Arlos]

Surely you won't actually owe that money, since it's pretty obviously a case of identity theft, yes?

-Arlos

[Jay]

In the end I will owe 700 bucks roughly. What I won't get back is the time I have to spend on this and the 6 months or so of bad credit.

[Ginzburgh]

Lifelock is bullshit. Everything that Lifelock provides you can get free through regular channels. For example:

http://www.experian.com/ask_max/max030508a.html

And their million dollar guarantee is bullshit too, they might as well make it a billion dollar guarantee, the average amount stolen in an identity theft case in 2007 is $5,720 according to Javelin's statistics.

Just fancy marketing and a waste of money.

This is the real deal if you want to protect your identity:

http://www.idsecure.com/

[Narrock]

Lifelock is bullshit. Everything that Lifelock provides you can get free through regular channels. For example:

http://www.experian.com/ask_max/max030508a.html

And their million dollar guarantee is bullshit too, they might as well make it a billion dollar guarantee, the average amount stolen in an identity theft case in 2007 is $5,720 according to Javelin's statistics.

Just fancy marketing and a waste of money.

This is the real deal if you want to protect your identity:

http://www.idsecure.com/

Not everybody has a spare $5720 in their checking account that they can afford to get stolen. Lifelock isn't bullshit. There may be free stuff out there, but why not go to a reputable company for the cost of 3 or 4 cups of coffee a month?

[Gypsiyee]

Not everybody has a spare $5720 in their checking account that they can afford to get stolen.

I think that was Ginz's point