Identity Theft
 

Out of curiosity, has anyone had their identity stolen or knows of someone that has had their identity stolen?

I've been reading a lot of articles recently stating that the FBI and such is going to ramp up their cybercrimes department (guess they weren't that good in the past catching these people) and apparently alot of people are affected by this form of theft.

I don't know anyone that's had their identity stolen so I'm curious if any of yous svx'ers know of anyone.

Also the commercials they show on cable about identity theft is being aired more and more frequently.

Thoughts? Experiences?

not exactly identity theft, but thanks to a screw up in the records department somewhere my fiance and some other lady in southern kentucky both get pulled up via her social security number. So every once in a while we'll get stuff pertaining to that one. That and we've had some weird charges coming out of our bank accounts in the past....:rolleyes:

hubby had his identity stolen by an acquaintance in 1995 and still has issues on his credit report. even now, he can't get a car loan on his own because of two auto repos from this joker. :(

Someone hacked my ebay account last week...if that counts :rolleyes: :D

I know two here in Louisville. Quite an unpleasant mess that never seems to go away. Lots of expenses involved and almost weekly issues to deal with, even after several years.

It has effected my life very permanently. Some tips- keep your ssn to yourself, when you can use passwords for bank accts or any accounts do so. Shred all mail and personal info and don't trust anyone especially people who know your ssn and birthday. With these two things a person can pose as someone close to you. Be careful with online purchases, use secure sites watch for scams bla, bla, bla you know all that stuff. Above all don't let anyone use your credit, if they have bad credit, there's a reason!

the identities that were stolen, were they from people that knew them or some random joe across the us?

a relative

Michael- you need new realtives

Me? I don't need my identity stolen, the phone company expects me to pay every bill 4 times :mad: :mad: :mad:

so no random joe off the internets has pretended to be landshark? those cyberthieves aren't as sophisticated as i thought.

Both the people I know were hit by randoms.

No identity theft troubles of which I'm aware, but I recently had a couple of credit card charges for purchases I didn't make. Two months in a row, in curiously small dollar amounts, as if they were testing to see if I'd notice. One was from Cyprus. Both were credited back to my account with little fuss. Check yer statements.

dcb

wow, so it was the whole shabang?

Social Security No.
Credit Cards
Address
Phone number?

how much did the thieves get?

They were friends of my recent, once again, ex gf. So additional info will be difficult to gather. ;) As I recall both had their accounts emptied, cards maxed and if they ever want to get past this they better get busy producing male offspring.

All I know is that the wife and I were spending all our money all over New York, and at the same time, I was punching in, at the transit office, 300 miles SOUTH of new york!!!
Only ended up costing me $ !,000.!!