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?

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. 

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.

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.

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.

 

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.

70gto, What credit tracker are you using?

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.

 

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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 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.

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.

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.

 

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How is this done? 

How is this done?

Here's experians site. The other 2 are fairly similar.

 

http://www.experian.com/consumer/security_freeze.html

 

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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.....

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.

 

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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.

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.

 

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^^^^ 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

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.