Sorry, to hear about you having that happen. I've been there... sadly it was a family member who took out a credit card in my name and racked up almost 10k in charges while I was in college.

I contacted all the credit card agencies and had a fraud alert added to my accounts. I had to prove it was me anytime a credit line was applied for and credit checks couldn't be made for 6 months I believe??

I love that you can now get your free credit report yearly, and still check mine. I think everyone should!

Bleh, its so time consuming going through all that. Glad your bank is taking care of those charges for you :)

It happened with my husband's American Express card recently, and his card never leaves the house usually. They notified us because they thought the charge was unusual. This was a large purchase on an Emirates airline but there were some smaller charges, too. They took care of the charges promptly. He said his online purchases are usually from secure sites, but I'm not sure what caused it. He normally carefully checks the account online regularly for this reason. I hope your problem is rectified quickly.

I am glad you were able to get some action taken on it. Very frustrating and scary when something like this happens. Recently when my husband and I went to Arizona they froze my credit card. It turned out since my daughter was in Illinois using it for gas (with out permission and a card in her name) and we were using it in Az they froze it and called my home. Since we weren't there we didn't know why they were denying charges. It was embarrassing but I am glad they watch those kind of things.

I once had a bank account opened under my name the day AFTER my 18th birthday! They only ran up $1000 but I didn't find out about it until I tried to apply for credit cards and kept getting rejected two years later!!:mad:

So, I can totally understand your pain--and like you I had no idea how my information was stolen (especially since I didn't have any credit cards) I am so glad you were able to solve the problem immediately!

so sorry to hear this has happened to you. I was going to suggest calling the credit agencies and putting a block on your name so they would have to notify you whenever someone was trying to get credit in your name.

I recently had 2 credit cards notify me that their data bases were possibly comprised. One company issed another card, just in case while the other says that no ones credit card info was obtained.

It is so scary to think that this can happen anywhere, anytime. I've always been told that you should request credit reports just to make sure your info is up to date. From my understanding, each credit agency will do this, free of charge, once a year. I need to do this again as I did it once before.

Best of luck to you in catching it all before it's out of hand.

I went through identify thieft a few years ago. They got my DL #. and I had not even lost them. We figure it was through the DL bureau and the number was sold. They had arrested some people for doing that and selling the numbers to illegals. I got info that a third party had tried to use my paypal card when I ordered bows from bowbiz and I had to call and have my cc number changed. I NEVER order anything off the internet and this was the second time I had ordered bows and used paypal in years. I had only used it one other time when I had my babies portrait done. I started to start a thread about it and just didn't. This has been within the past 2 weeks. Hope no one else has had any problem I now have a new credit card and new number and scared to order bows. lol!!!!!!

Thank you again everyone for the support. It's sad to see how many people have been the victim of thieves. Sure, fraud is less painful than other types of crime, but it is still unpleasant.

I found out when I opened my monthly statement yesterday. This is a card that I don't use much and I pay off monthly, so when I saw the balance was over $7,000, I almost fell over.

Your credit card company is good. I was shocked that my account didn't send up huge red flags for unusual use.

I just had my debit card compromised. and a few years ago my credit card got stolen.

The bank told me that scammers set up card readers, mostly at gas stations (pay at the pump) and restaurant (with hand held wireless machines) because they are the easiest to install readers in (pumps are unattended, and restaurants one person distracts the waitress while the other inserts reader).

I no longer pay at the pump, and I am careful when paying at restaurants.

As for the rest of your identity I think you've been given great advice. I just wanted to share what happened to me so all readers know the newest scam.

For debit cards - you receive an email deposit around $1000 that doesn't belong to you. it just appears. The scammer then makes contact with you asking you to send $800 back and as a reward you get to keep $200. That's how the bank manager explained it to me. Luckily it didn't get that far with me, I discovered the extra money, and well after much thought I decided to do the ethical thing and report it. THANK GOD, they took it out of my account soon after I reported it, so I would have been in big trouble if I'd have spent it. Many people I've talked to admitted they probably wouldn't have done anything about it, those people would have been scammed. I guess it pays to be ethical... I did get a spam e-mail which I didn't open, it may have been related to this several days after, but the money had long been returned to the fictitious account it came from.

I just had my debit card compromised. and a few years ago my credit card got stolen.

The bank told me that scammers set up card readers, mostly at gas stations (pay at the pump) and restaurant (with hand held wireless machines) because they are the easiest to install readers in (pumps are unattended, and restaurants one person distracts the waitress while the other inserts reader).

I no longer pay at the pump, and I am careful when paying at restaurants.

As for the rest of your identity I think you've been given great advice. I just wanted to share what happened to me so all readers know the newest scam.

For debit cards - you receive an email deposit around $1000 that doesn't belong to you. it just appears. The scammer then makes contact with you asking you to send $800 back and as a reward you get to keep $200. That's how the bank manager explained it to me. Luckily it didn't get that far with me, I discovered the extra money, and well after much thought I decided to do the ethical thing and report it. THANK GOD, they took it out of my account soon after I reported it, so I would have been in big trouble if I'd have spent it. Many people I've talked to admitted they probably wouldn't have done anything about it, those people would have been scammed. I guess it pays to be ethical... I did get a spam e-mail which I didn't open, it may have been related to this several days after, but the money had long been returned to the fictitious account it came from.

I have had several issues with my credit cards !!
I was told gas stations and restaurants were prim locations to have your card info stolen. There has been a lot of info about "switching" cards at restaurants.. keeping your card and giving a "dummy" card from the same bank back or an expired card from another person. I guess most people don't look at the card they are getting back and just put it in their wallet and go one..to trouble!!

I advise my daughters (and myself) to have a separate account with a debit/credit card from main account to use for online shopping and such. My fear is to be traveling and have a card hacked into and not have access to my funds to get home etc. It is funny that almost all my "troubles" start after a trip or shopping spree.... hmmmm

That is terrible! I'm sorry this happened to you. People can be awful! :( :mad:

About 2 weeks ago my bank called and said my CC had been traced with a skimming device and they had to cancel my card and re-issue a new one.

IDK what a skimming device really is, but she said it's something these people can put in the machine you swipe your CC and trace your acct and card info.

I keep wondering how the bank actually knew it had been "skimmed" or whatever?! Anyways, glad they did!

They probably noticed weird activity. This is what happened when my credit card was stolen. I got a call that said, "Miss d'Eon we'd like to confirm your location." I said "I'm at home in Halifax, NS" "So you did swipe your card at sobeys" "Yes" "But did you just buy a bus pass in Montreal Quebec?" "No" "We are shutting down your card and will send you a brand new one"

It is possible that something weird like that triggered it, it is impossible to be in two places at once, and they confirmed that it was a swiped card not an online transaction, so it was obviously not me.

That is very similar to what the lady at my bank said! She asked me if I had recently been using my card, as in that day. I told her I hadn't in a few days. She said "Yep!, your card has been compromised!" Then she explained the rest but never gave me any further details. only that they were issuing me another card.