Identity Theft...

[Unorthodox]

I'm curious just how pervasive it is, or if we are just especially "lucky". 

I'm going to categorize this:

Credit Cards

Our card numbers have been acquired several times over the years.  This is typically caught by the bank and, while annoying, relatively minor inconveniences. 

The Target hack that made news a while back.  We were caught in.

The Sony hack...fortunately I had switched to only my paypal on that before that hack happened.  So, someone has my email address...whoopdy doo. 

Local Maverick stations put in new machines, and they were immediately hacked, my card info with it.

The bank claims there are random number generators people use to get these numbers as well. 

While we've had a missing/stolen card before, and had to cancel as a result, I've never had one we've lost come up with people trying to use it, only the ones involved in hacks. 

Insurance Fraud

hEt had someone "use" her information at a hospital in Salt Lake this year.  As in just the health information.  They never tried to open bank accounts or credit cards or anything, just pay for an ER visit.  We got the bill in June this year. 

It's a little odd that they would have this information, and we're not entirely sure how it happened. 

This has been a pain in the ass.  Now, this Hospital chain, the only time we've ever visited was back when Kyle was born.  We believe the hospital autopopulated the information with just a name and (bad) address, especially since they don't appear to have taken the standard practice pictures of insurance and ID from the patient. 

Full blown ID theft 

Just got informed all my stuff was stolen.  Name, social, address, everything someone needs to really fubar my credit. 

How? 

I applied for a job. 

They've been hacked.  I'm not sure I'm at liberty to go into more particulars, but a rather massive database of such info has been stolen from a pretty big employer in the nation. 

Now I've got to go about sorting this out in a pre-emptive strike before my data is used. 


And that brings me to the question:

Is this just the new reality of the day?  Anyone else had problems?   

[Dio]

I can guarantee that my personal information has never been compromised by the scoundrels known as identity thieves. I also know that various studies have shown that identity theft remains a growing crime in the United States of America.

[Unorthodox]

I can guarantee that my personal information has never been compromised by the scoundrels known as identity thieves.

How do you know?

There was nothing we've done wrong on any instance, just big corporations being careless.  Target, Maverick, and Sony lost millions of people's information, each.  And "did the right thing" notifying everyone and suffering the PR that went along with that, but how many companies try to sweep something like that under the rug? 

[Dio]

I can guarantee that my personal information has never been compromised by the scoundrels known as identity thieves.

How do you know?

There was nothing we've done wrong on any instance, just big corporations being careless.  Target, Maverick, and Sony lost millions of people's information, each.  And "did the right thing" notifying everyone and suffering the PR that went along with that, but how many companies try to sweep something like that under the rug?

I cannot state this information publicly, but suffice it to say cash transactions remain fairly secure.

[ColdWizard]

Only a few issues with cards, two of which I caught and had to report, and the other being a potential vulnerability to the Home Depot hack where my bank issued a new card just in case.

[Valka]

A couple of times. The first time somebody paid their rent at a branch of the credit union that wasn't the one I always went to and since $600 to a realty company wasn't a usual kind of transaction for me, an alert person caught it before I did. She phoned, verified that I hadn't moved or changed anything about the account, and assured me the money would be replaced within 2 business days. It was.

The second time was a near-miss with a credit card. But I cancelled it and got a new one. They hadn't had time to use it.

What really steams me about identity theft is that the now-former government here put in new election rules stating that people couldn't use Voter Information Cards as proof of residency, so they concocted a list of 39 alternate IDs... that included debit cards, credit cards, social insurance cards, and bank statements!

So here's me, last month, trying to arrange to vote at home by special ballot (which is allowed for disabled people with mobility problems). I don't have a driver's license or passport, so right there I don't have the two major IDs they wanted.

The Returning Officer was going through the list of IDs with me over the phone, and I kept telling her that no, I would not allow the Elections Canada workers to look at my debit card, my credit cards, or my social insurance card (the latter, we're told, is something you never show anyone - only the Canada Revenue Agency has the right to demand your SIN number). So she moves on down the list and sees the bank statement option.

She actually asked me that, when the Elections Canada people got here, if I would go online, log into my bank account, and let them look at my bank statement.

Keep in mind that they want photocopies or photographs of this stuff if people are voting by special ballot.

NO DAMN WAY!!!! (and several dozen other expletives) 

I told them that no, they were definitely NOT going to see my bank statement, either, or any of my income tax papers.

So the ID I used was a couple of utility bills.

This now-thankfully-ex-government couldn't organize a bake sale, let alone an election. The whole thing was a mess from start to finish, and anyone who did let the EC workers look at anything financially sensitive had best change their cards/account accesses.

[Unorthodox]

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/opm-hack-government-finally-starts-notifying-21-5-million-victims-n437126

The federal government is finally getting around to notifying the 21.5 million people whose personal data may have been stolen in a massive data breach at the Office of Personnel Management, several months after the agency first revealed it had been targeted by hackers.

See, there's absolutely nothing in my power I could have done to prevent that one. 

In my particular case, the data may very well include my fingerprints. 


So, to recap:

hEt had to put a freeze on all her bank activity because a hospital screwed up her info.  (no new bank accounts, loans, cards, etc)

I'm having to freeze mine because the feds screwed up. 

Where does that leave us going forward?   (added bonus estate stuff HAS to be handled, which really needs new account stuff done)

[Lord Avalon]

The perpetrators should spend quality time in the agony booth.

Sorry that you're having these problems. A number of years ago, a couple of my credit cards #s got used elsewhere, only once each. Citibank caught these incidents, asked me if I had initiated the transactions, which I hadn't. So those accounts were closed and new cards issued. One was a card I used a lot, both IRL and online, and I had to go to various sites where I had automatic payments and change the info.

A few months ago Discover issued me a new card as a precaution - their initiative. I don't recall where the breach was. No unauthorized charges were made on my account.

I hope I never have to endure ID theft. What a nightmare that would be.

[Valka]

Changing the payment arrangements for Paypal was godawful aggravating. The instructions they had was a list of things to do, and I started going through the list, but then they had a line that basically said, "But before you do all that, make sure you do this..." and that completely <messed up> everything I'd done. So I had to call them to fix it, and told them that most people don't read the entire list first before following the steps, and would they change the instructions so they listed every last step people had to take, in the correct order - no backtracking.

[Rusty Edge]

I think it's the new paradigm. Global economy, global opportunity for fraud, minimal opportunity for getting caught and prosecuted.

Generally, we do everything possible by credit card in order to get rebates or air miles. Dealing with mega-banks, they usually err on the side of caution, freezing our cards and notifying us when we make purchases in other states. When there is a fraudulent charge and we find it first, not our problem.

Once upon a time when the Wii fit was the hard to find Christmas gift, we found some at a discounted price online ( because that's how my wife rolls, although we are not above chasing from store to store in search of stock ). Turned out they didn't have them and didn't send them. We got our money back from MegaBank. Next statement, it turns out that we bought a one-way airline ticket from that same city to equatorial Africa. I think it was first class. We got our money back on that one, too. That was so suspicious, considering we didn't have any other charges to tie us to Texas, and we were continually charging from home, that I don't know how it ever got approved.

That was the worst. I think fraud is factored in now by merchants, banks, and insurers. It's not as hard to make a case that we didn't make the charges.

[Unorthodox]

Once upon a time when the Wii fit was the hard to find Christmas gift, we found some at a discounted price online ( because that's how my wife rolls, although we are not above chasing from store to store in search of stock ). Turned out they didn't have them and didn't send them. We got our money back from MegaBank. Next statement, it turns out that we bought a one-way airline ticket from that same city to equatorial Africa. I think it was first class. We got our money back on that one, too. That was so suspicious, considering we didn't have any other charges to tie us to Texas, and we were continually charging from home, that I don't know how it ever got approved.

That was the worst. I think fraud is factored in now by merchants, banks, and insurers. It's not as hard to make a case that we didn't make the charges.

Yeah, I saw a too-good-to-be-true PS4 listing this year, and ran a check on the website.  It was a trap to get your info.  I can see lots of deal hunter traps happening.