reason to monitor devices/accounts

[Bob Noel]

I'm sure a lot of people are on the lookout for identy theft or fraud... I just want to relate something that just happened to me

I opened my cellphone bill (normally about $40.52 each month) and looked at the balance due. $827.76.

Someone managed to add four devices/lines to my account at an Apple Store in another state.

Calling Customer service (and the Fraud dept), 60 minutes later the lines were suspended and a credit was applied.

Be careful out there.

 

[frfly172]

Thanks,good advise.

 

[Challenged]

I'm fairly obsessed with security and I still get bitten every so often...unfortunately there's only so much you can do if you still want to maintain everyday conveniences in our lives.

This past summer I had someone impersonate me with a phone call to my credit card company. They attempted to have a credit card, in my name, sent to them. They failed some of the security questions, and the company sent the new card to my real address. I actually just thought it was a normal replacement card until a few days later when I received a piece of mail from the credit card company, notifying me of a $7000.00 charge on my card.

After this experience, (the phone call by someone attempting to impersonate me really got to me) I froze my credit with all three credit reporting agencies. I highly recommend that people take the small amount of time required to do this, in order to protect themselves. It's only a small inconvenience to temporarily unfreeze your credit if you ever need to, in case you need to apply for a loan or something.

http://credit.about.com/od/privacyconcerns/qt/securityfreeze.htm

 

[coolbreeze]

After this experience, (the phone call by someone attempting to impersonate me really got to me) I froze my credit with all three credit reporting agencies. I highly recommend that people take the small amount of time required to do this in order to protect themselves. It's only a small inconvenience to temporarily unfreeze your credit if you ever need to, in case you need to apply for a loan or something.
http://credit.about.com/od/privacyconcerns/qt/securityfreeze.htm

I had to do the same thing after 3 incidents (2 debit cards, and 1 credit card).

 

[Ghery]

My wife had her wallet stolen from her car, in our driveway. No, it wasn't locked. One card in my wallet that she didn't carry, so that worked until we got new ones. New driver license (easy in Washington), new cards, etc. I still need to get her a new AAA card. First we knew was when Capital One called about suspicious charges at local stores. Darned right they were suspicious. We only use that card outside the US. Oh, and her cell phone was in that wallet, too. No indication it was ever used. Just a couple of the cards. PITA, the whole thing.

 

[us AAirways]

A friend of a friend of mine got scammed by someone on Facebook. They said they would send her $150,000 cash if she paid a $700 processing fee by Western Union. So she pays the fee and whatdayaknow...no cash!!

The scammer is probably still in shock that someone actually fell for that.

 

[cowman]

I've never had any outright fraud but I've caught some accidental double and over-charges before.

Just took a phone call to get it cleared up.

 

[ChrisK]

I have a "monitor rather than prevent" philosophy. People are going to get in. I want to know ASAP.

One exception to this is two factor authentication. I turn that on everywhere I can because it provides solid cheap defense.