I was busy working at my desk earlier in the week when I saw an email from American Express come in with the words Fraud Protection Alert in the subject line. I knew this wasn’t going to be good.
When I opened it, I found this message, “For your security, we regularly monitor accounts for possible fraudulent activity. Please review the attempted charge below which occurred within minutes of the timestamp of this message.”
And then I proceeded to get four more similar emails.
Someone in Eastern Europe was trying to go on an online shopping spree with my Amex and tried five separate times to buy a variety of different items.
Luckily, Amex contacted me via email and by phone, I called them back and told them, no, that wasn’t me on any of the attempted charges, they sorted things out on their end, I am not responsible for any of the charges or attempted charges, and they cancelled my existing card and are sending a new one to me.
Whew.
Fairly painless but it could have been a lot worse.
Case in point, about two years ago, Scott had fraudulent activity with his Visa Debit Card, but because it was a debit card and tied to his checking account rather than a true credit card, the rules for him being liable for those charges were different. To compound matters, he didn’t notice the charges and suspicious activity until about 32 days after the fact since he’s not a daily bank account checker. He just checks online once a month or so, travels frequently and is just a busy person who doesn’t login to his online banking very frequently. However, with his bank, if you don’t report suspicious charges within 30 days, there’s really nothing they could do for him or were willing to do for him. So he (we) were out a couple thousand dollars. Sigh.
In his case, there were no calls, no emails saying hey, we think this charge of $2000 from a Romanian brothel may be suspicious. Nope. The bank processed the charge and because there was enough money in his checking account to cover the charge, it went through.
I give Amex their props because they were all.over.it. with contacting me and making the situation was painless as possible for me and I wouldn’t have been liable for any charges even if they had gone through.
However, it does scare me that we all live in this very virtual, online world where numbers and keystrokes are all we have and how easy someone else can have them, too.
Ironically, this happened on the same day I thought my blog was hacked.
Turns out, it wasn’t hacked, and was a server failure, but the panic level was the same and reinforced how tied we all are to technology. One glitch, one snag, one server decides to have a hiccup, and worlds come to a crashing halt with lots of sweaty palms and white knuckles and ohmygods later.
Another thing that scares me is all the “fake” accounts out there. Fake Twitter accounts, fake email accounts, fake Facebook pages; people pretending to be or trying to impersonate someone else.
Identity theft is such a huge problem and I’ve read stories about people having their lives essentially ruined because someone stole their identity. Their bank accounts drained, crimes committed using another person’s name or identity, fraudulent shopping sprees, credit cards opened in the name of someone else, mortgages taken out in other people’s name, using another person’s social security number, it goes on and on.
It’s a horrible, horrific problem and it’s much easier for the criminals to do these things, often which take seconds or hours to do, but can take years to un-do. And sometimes, it’s not ever really un-done.
For example, if someone opens 17 credit cards in your name and with your social security number, maxes them out, and never makes the payments on them, that is all still going to show up on your credit report. From the amount of cards opened to the credit lines being maxed to no payments ever made on any of it. Default city.
You may not be financially liable for it, but you will spend thousands of hours of your time and precious energy trying to clear your good name and credit. Unfortunately, your credit score will be adversely effected for some time, which can compromise your ability to do everything from buying a house to opening a credit card legitimately, or even getting a job because yes, prospective employers in many cases now run credit checks on prospective employees and if you show up with a bad Fico score, through no fault of your own, you can likely kiss that job goodbye. Sad and harsh, but true.
And that’s just one little example of the ways in which Identity Theft can change and ruin lives. It gets me so riled up to think about crimes like this and what it means for the person who has it happen to them!
On lighter matters, after fraudulent charges snafu, it was time for chocolate.
When the going gets tough, the tough eat chocolate
And it’s the easiest fudge ever. Just turn on your microwave and melt a couple things together and you’re set.
Questions:
1. Have you ever had any fraudulent charges or fraudulent activity on any of your accounts? What happened? How did you find out about it and were you financially responsible for any of the charges?
2. Have you ever had your identity compromised? Have you been the victim of identity theft or known anyone who has?
It’s such a horrible, awful problem. I shudder to think about it, actually.
There are so many websites out there with tips on what to do and also ways to prevent things from happening but really, it seems in many ways, that we are at the mercy of others.
As my grandma used to say, not everyone in this world has good intentions. And unfortunately where there’s a will, there’s a way (for both positive and negative things).
Sadly, if a criminal wants to steal your identity, he or she probably could. But there are things we can do in an attempt to prevent it and to try to make it more difficult for them.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories on this. Hopefully sharing tips and bringing awareness to these things makes us all a bit safer.
P.S. Thanks for the Manna Bread Giveaway entries
Oh my gosh, how scary!! I am SO glad that you got it figured out quickly! I think everyone needs to keep closer tabs on their bank account.
So glad your ID was not compromised. I do an entire lesson on ID Theft and it’s one that I think more young people need to hear. We are SOOOOO bad at keeping our personal information in check and make it literally seamless for someone to suck us dry in an instant. I think more people just need to be aware. That’s all.
This just happened recently to my boyfriend. Someone took out DOZENS of payday loans. It’s been a headache fighting with collectors and trying to figure out what steps to follow to help fix this. It’s terrible and thank god for you that AMEX stayed on top of there stuff!
I love your name :)
I have never had any identity theft, but the Husband actually just had his credit card number stolen last week and had about $1000 of fraudulent charges made. He got all the money recovered but it was just a pain as he found out about it at like 10 at night and was about ready to head to bed but spent the next three hours talking to someone from customer service.
Identity theft is so scary and so real. When I used to work in retail during college, people would sometimes get offended when I asked for their ID when they paid using a credit card. I wanted to shake every single one of them! I know at least some of my colleagues who stopped asking because they were tired of people getting mad at them all the time.
Well, if you get mad at someone because they ask for your ID, you’re asking for your credit card to get stolen. Because then that person may not check the ID and then your credit card is out potentially thousands of dollars! I never get that.
So glad it worked out for you!
how bout it…it’s a bit of a PITA to pull our your ID but it takes 1 extra second. good for you for checking and “troubling” people….if they only knew the trouble of dealing with fraudulent charges, id theft, etc!
wow, so glad amex was so on the ball…that is awesome. have to say my mastercard and my bank are both really good – we went shopping to toronto, made a few purchases and within the hour the mastercard company called to ensure we really were the ones making the purchases.
sorry to hear about scott’s case – that is really bad luck.
luckily, i have never had any issues. the only thing is that my visa got charged two times in august when i purchased an online ticket to see glee the movie – um, it was not worth the $13, so DEFINITELY not worth $26! but the bank reversed the charge, no prob. great service.
thanks for sharing info on this topic, averie. scary what can happen!!
You’ve been through too much this week. Pour a glass of red, hon.
could you come over and join me? we MUST meet!
A few months back a fraudulent online website stole money from me after I ordered a camera lens and then canceled the order. I didn’t realize for about a month that they never refunded my money, so when I went to look into it… turned out that it was not a real company at all and there no contact info. Major Ugh. My bank is still working on it but I’m not sure I’ll ever see the money. I learned from it though… so I guess all was not lost.
yes i remember this whole fiasco. keep me posted on how it all pans out.
and if you’re still loving the lens and what the next lens on your radar screen is!
Lordy Averie, you have had a WEEK!!! I hope things calm down for you by the end of it!! I had my credit card stolen when I was in grad school, and it was SUCH an ordeal. I think the worst part is how vulnerable it makes you feel…ugh.
What a nightmare! I’ve been lucky so far (touch wood!) but I’m sure I’ll end up with my credit card numbers gone at some point. I try to keep an eye on my credit rating and stuff because I hate the idea of there being someone else using my identity, it really freaks me out, but I could do a lot more to protect myself I know.
It’s sadly a sign of the times when “to report fraud” is an option when you call your bank now. This happened to my husband a few months ago but he had a good experience too – thankfully. We always make sure to call the credit card companies when we are headed out of town to let them know we will be using them in new cities. It relieves a lot of hassle and they seem to appreciate it.
So happy to hear that your blog wasn’t hacked!
that IS sad when that’s an option on the phone menu. i noticed it too :(
Glad you got everything sorted out ! That is awesome that they were in touch so quickly.
One time my father’s credit card was stolen, and within thirty minutes, the thief went to Dick’s Sporting Goods and bought 5 or 6 REALLY nice fishing poles. Even though at the time it wasn’t a fun situation, it is kind of funny to look back on. Of all things to do…
My credit and debit card numbers were stolen in back-to-back months {which just so happened to coincide with finals + college graduation!}, but thankfully everything was settled quickly!
I am always happy when my bank is on top of things like that; the inconvenience of a new credit card is far smaller than the inconvenience of identity theft.
this happened to Jason a few years ago – someone took mail out of the mailbox, walked into DMV where – !! – they GAVE the thief an ID with his photo and Jason’s info! he then went to several places, opened accounts (tire store, several department stores) and racked up tens of thousands in Jason’s name. within days the police contacted Jason, after finding his info in a stolen car (yep, this guy was stealing all kinds of things!). it took Jason several months to clear it all up – some companies were GREAT and others were difficult even with police involvement. such a mess.
sorry all this is happening to you! and I wish people weren’t so easily fooled – like Heather WTB said, the scams sound and look SO fake to me, but they must work because they’re all over!
tens of thousands in Jason’s name AND months to clear on your part and the responsibility is on you to deal with it all, not the criminal…THAT’s what also gets me so riled up. Glad to hear things resolved but what a hassle.
and I saw your tacos today on your blog, rather than in Reader :) Beautiful!
I had my wallet stolen in NYC last year by a homeless guy in Starbucks. I know this b/c it was caught on camera and I can remember the guy “oddly” standing over my chair for an extended period of time. I realized it was stolen within 15 minutes of it happening and my credit/debit cards were all already notifying me. I got a call from Wachovia within 15 minutes b/c he was attempting to use my debit card as a credit card (something I never did), all my other credit cards were maxed out on metro cards for the subway. The scarier part was my license and checkbooks were also in there. I was on a work trip and was traveling from NYC-Boston-Maine and then home so I was going to be without ID for 5 days. I ended up filing a police report just in case I got pulled over while driving w/o any ID whatsoever. What a mess! The thing that scared me the most was that my license was somewhere in NYC. I was VERY afraid of identity theft. Thankfully, my credit cards all reversed charges, my banks changed/closed out my accounts and I was able to put an identity theft warning on all the major credit reporting agencies in case anyone tried to open an account in my name for the next 6 months.
This stuff is no joke! It’s a scary world out there! <–haha I sound like a grandma!
That is scary that he was so close to you and yet you never fully realized it was happening til it…happened. And yes on “my license was somewhere in NYC. I was VERY afraid of identity theft.”…scary!
Oh girl, good thing they caught it. I had that happen with someone buying really fantastic perfume (based on price) in Europe. Thankfully my bank did the same thing and it was taken care of quickly. I manage some FB pages for work and am amazed at the fake accounts that pop up and like the page SOOO obviously fake. It is scary.
I know, it scares me too. So obvious, at that!