70gto 142 Posted August 15, 2016 Yesterday i had someone make 3-4 applications for new credit cards with my information. i have no idea how they got my info but im sure it could have been from one of many places. They had a 24 hour lead on me before I got an alert from the credit tracker I use. the cards were shut down etc. What was the real kicker was, somehow they were able to have my cell phone calls forwarded from my cell phone to another number. I called Verizon and confirmed that someone had put call forwarding on my cell without my knowledge. so that was corrected asap. This is a new one on me and I think I heard them all. However they did it, those calls being forwarded were to a number that the person would answer or call from to pretend they were me. I have had the same number for a very long time, the last time I added anyone to my line was 6 months ago. I'm a little amazed by this. I know its not voodoo but what gives with the phone thing? anyone ever hear of this? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jackandjill 683 Posted August 15, 2016 Once they got your Name, Address, SSN, phone # etc .. then pretty easy including forwarding your phone. The silly phone companies (and many other companies including healthcare) use last 4 digits of your SSN to get you into the account... thats how. Verizon Wireless recently changed their practice and now uses a custom pin only you should know.. duh..., take advantage of it and set your account pin to something else other than your last 4 of ssn. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
70gto 142 Posted August 15, 2016 Yup been there done that with the phone pin for a while already. So I just wanted to give you guys a heads up on how far these "people" will go. Btw I did a police report today, the officer says that's the 3rd one he took in two days. He went onto say he took a report yesterday that they got a guy yesterday for $200,000. also manipulating his bank accounts. time from ID theft to discovery was less than 30 days. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vlad G 345 Posted August 15, 2016 Most banks and cards now offer a warning system whenever your account is accessed. On all my cards and bank accounts whenever there is a transaction larger then 10 I get an email. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dajonga 396 Posted August 15, 2016 They did a similar thing to me last year, except they forwarded my mail via the internet. So, the cards would have gone to Ft Lee, NJ and then they would have activated them. The cards came to my house, and the bad guys called to post office to complain. My postman was there and informed the postmaster that I do not have a thick Russian accent. Good thing I know my postman well enough that he knew it was scam. Big frickin' credit cards, too, one with a $30K limit. As I need no new credit, I locked down my credit asap. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Malsua 1,422 Posted August 15, 2016 Verizon Wireless recently changed their practice and now uses a custom pin only you should know.. duh..., take advantage of it and set your account pin to something else other than your last 4 of ssn. Thanks! I just changed mine, I didn't know it existed. I was a victim of Identity theft in 2007. A bunch of accounts, a home equity loan, car loans, the works. I never want to go through that again. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mipafox 438 Posted August 15, 2016 70gto, What credit tracker are you using? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikeyjones 88 Posted August 15, 2016 I still dont understand why people don't put freezes on their credit info with the 3 bureaus. That way no new credit can be taken out regardless of how much info thieves gather on you. It's free to place the freeze and only $5 per bureau to lift it when you need to apply for something. Sent from my Z812 using Tapatalk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted August 15, 2016 it bothers me that no one is following up and catching these SoB's and tossing them in jail for the rest of their lives. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
70gto 142 Posted August 15, 2016 I use Experian credit tracker. Its about 25 a month. they alerted me same day the nonsense went down. The good thing about it is, when I called, they took care of everything including notifying all the credit bureaus, removing the items from the credit reports and placing alerts on the credit report etc. that alone was worth it to me. I will put a credit freeze on my report after this. for the guys who did it, whats the lead time to take it off? I need to buy a new truck soon. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
70gto 142 Posted August 15, 2016 it bothers me that no one is following up and catching these SoB's and tossing them in jail for the rest of their lives. I hear you, the damage they can do is minor to staggering. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heavyopp 167 Posted August 15, 2016 I still dont understand why people don't put freezes on their credit info with the 3 bureaus. That way no new credit can be taken out regardless of how much info thieves gather on you. It's free to place the freeze and only $5 per bureau to lift it when you need to apply for something. Sent from my Z812 using Tapatalk How is this done? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikeyjones 88 Posted August 15, 2016 How is this done?Here's experians site. The other 2 are fairly similar. http://www.experian.com/consumer/security_freeze.html Sent from my Z812 using Tapatalk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1LtCAP 4,259 Posted August 15, 2016 there's also the email scams. mom called me panicking the other day, 'cause there was a lawsuit threatened by advance cash or something like that for a loan she'd never paid from 2014....'cept she's never taken a loan out. i read it, and it's painfully obvious it's a scam..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Schrödinger's cat 87 Posted August 15, 2016 I still dont understand why people don't put freezes on their credit info with the 3 bureaus. That way no new credit can be taken out regardless of how much info thieves gather on you. It's free to place the freeze and only $5 per bureau to lift it when you need to apply for something. Sent from my Z812 using Tapatalk That's very good to know, how do I do this ? My wife had her purse stolen recently, luckily it didn't get too nasty, but it made me aware of how vulnerable we are. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jackandjill 683 Posted August 15, 2016 I still dont understand why people don't put freezes on their credit info with the 3 bureaus. That way no new credit can be taken out regardless of how much info thieves gather on you. It's free to place the freeze and only $5 per bureau to lift it when you need to apply for something. Sent from my Z812 using Tapatalk ^^^^ THIS. Pretty easy to put the freeze on with all three credit agencies. I use Experian credit tracker. Its about 25 a month. they alerted me same day the nonsense went down. The good thing about it is, when I called, they took care of everything including notifying all the credit bureaus, removing the items from the credit reports and placing alerts on the credit report etc. that alone was worth it to me. I will put a credit freeze on my report after this. for the guys who did it, whats the lead time to take it off? I need to buy a new truck soon. For $25 a month, they should have advised you to put the freeze. Shame on them. Once you place freeze, you will be supplied with PIN (usually by regular mail). Keep it in safe place. There are option to life freeze for a date range, so you can open from Aug 1st to Aug 3rd, ahead of time if you know when when you will be shopping. FTC site on credit freeze - https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jackandjill 683 Posted August 15, 2016 it bothers me that no one is following up and catching these SoB's and tossing them in jail for the rest of their lives. Not easy, its a decentralized yet very organized setup. Left hand doesnt know who or what right hand does. Everyone does a little bit of work and sells the data to next guy in the chain. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites