Identity TheftI am not in the practice of posting broadcast e-mails that I receive from well-meaning friends and family but I did receive one from my mother today that I thought was interesting. These are three examples of how people had their credit card information stolen. I realize that these could very well be urban myths and I can not verify if these actually happened but they do convey a very important message: Be paranoid about your credit cards!

Here are the stories and some online resources to help you protect yourself from identity theft:

Story 1

A friend went to the local gym and placed his belongings n the locker. After the workout and a shower, he came out, saw the locker open, and thought to himself, “Funny, I thought I locked the locker.” Hmm. He dressed and just flipped the wallet to make sure all was in order. Everything looked okay - all cards were in place.

A few weeks later his credit card bill came - a whooping bill of $14,000! He called the credit card company and started yelling at them saying that he did not make the transactions. Customer care personnel verified that there was no mistake in the system and asked if his card had been stolen.

“No,” he said, but then took out his wallet, pulled out the credit card, and yep - you guessed it - a switch had been made. An expired similar credit card from the same bank was in the wallet. The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched cards.

Verdict: The credit card issuer said since he did not report the card missing earlier, he would have to pay the amount owed to them.

How much did he have to pay for items he did not buy? $9,000!

Why were there no calls made to verify the amount swiped? Small a mounts rarely trigger a “warning bell” with some credit card companies. It just so happens that all the small amounts added up to big one!

Story 2

A man at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card. The bill for the meal came, he signed it, and the waitress folded the receipt and passed the credit card along.

Usually, he would just take it and place it in his wallet or pocket. Funny enough, though, he actually took a look at the card and, lo and behold, it was the expired card of another person.

He called the waitress and she looked perplexed. She took it back, apologized, and hurried back to the counter under the watchful eye of the man.

All the waitress did while walking to the counter was wave the wrong expired card to the counter cashier, and the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real card. No exchange of words — nothing! She took it and came back to the man with an apology.

Verdict: Make sure the credit cards in your wallet are yours.

Check the name on the card every time you sign for something and/or the card is taken away for even a short period of time. Many people just take back the credit card without even looking at it, assuming that it has to be theirs. For your own sake, develop the habit of checking your credit card each time it is returned to you after a transaction!

Story 3

Yesterday I went into a pizza restaurant to pick up an order that I had called in. I paid by using my Visa Check Card which, of course, is linked directly to my checking account. The young man behind the counter took my card, swiped it, and then laid it on the counter as he waited for the approval, which is pretty standard procedure.

While he waited, he picked up his cell phone and started dialing. I noticed the phone because it is the same model I have, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Then I heard a click that sounded like my phone sounds when I take a picture. He then gave me back my card but kept the phone in his hand as if he was still pressing buttons. Meanwhile, I’m thinking: “I wonder what he is taking a picture of,” oblivious to what was really going on.

It then dawned on me: the only thing there was my credit card, so now I’m paying close attention to what he is doing.

He set his phone on the counter, leaving it open. About five seconds later, I heard the chime that tells you that the picture has been saved.

Now I’m standing there struggling with the fact that this boy just took a picture of my credit card. Yes, he played it off well, because had we not had the same kind of phone, I probably would never have known what happened.

Needless to say, I immediately canceled that card as I was walking out of the pizza parlor.

All I am saying is be aware of your surroundings at all times. Whenever you are using your credit card take caution and don’t be careless. Notice who is standing near you and what they are doing when you use your card. Be aware of phones, because many have a camera phone these days. When you are in a restaurant and the waiter/waitress brings your card and receipt for you to sign, make sure you scratch the number off. Some restaurants are using only the last four digits, but a lot of them are still putting the whole thing on there.

I have already been a victim of credit card fraud and, believe me, it is not fun. The truth is that they can get you even when you are careful, but don’t make it easy for them.

Story 4

This story was not a part of the original e-mail that I received but it happened to my wife and me. Fortunately, I am quite knowledgeable about computers and the Internet and I was able to help the police to catch the person who stole my wife’s credit card information.

It started out innocently enough. We were going through our credit card bills as we regularly do and we noticed a pattern of small charges each month. Initially we thought that these were some service that we automatically pay for each month and did not think too much about it but something didn’t feel quite right for my wife. So, we called up our credit card company and got some more information about the company that we were paying too each month. It turns out that the company was an online pornography company!

We explained to the company that the credit card information that they have was stolen. The person on the other end of the phone was very helpful and she quickly looked up the account information. It was obviously bogus because the name on the account was John Doe (even though I am sure that a real John Doe does exist somewhere) and the address was 123 Any Street (and yes, John may just live on 123 Any Street but the chances are pretty slim). She said that she would reverse all of the transactions and disable the account.

This gave me an idea. I asked if there was an e-mail address attached to the account and she promptly gave me the e-mail address. I then asked her if she could leave the account active for a week. She said that she would and I thanked her for her help.

I then went and set up a little website of my own but made sure that it was not indexed by search engines. I then sent an e-mail to the e-mail address I received from the pornography company telling him that since he was a paying member of the pornography website, he was eligible for a one month free trial at my (fake) pornography website. Just click on the link!

He came in, got an error (since I didn’t really want to set up a pornography website) and left the site. But, not before I grabbed as much information about him and his system. I was able to track his internet provider down and I was shocked (although, in hind site, I guess I should not have been) to find that he was from my own city.

I passed all of this information on to the police who were dealing with my case. I thought that this was the end of it but a few weeks later, I received a phone call from the police asking if I had gotten all of my money back that was stolen from my credit card. I said that I had but I asked why he was asking. He could not tell me very much but he said that the information that I provided to them lead them to an individual who was taking credit card information from people’s cards at the restaurant he worked at.

Resources

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Tim Fehlman