Identity Theft...not a joke a must read!

[Tremor Therapy]

To everyone,
I had heard of identity theft on the news, but I have lived my life without too much thought about it. On March 9th, I became an official member of this club. My checking account, my savings account, my overdraft protection, and my home equity lines were all tied together, and someone in China was able to access and empty all of my accounts within minutes.
So here I sit, no money in any of my accounts, my mortgage payment and other outstanding checks bouncing like a rubber ball, penniless, while some f#$%@&% scum bag is out there spending my hard earned dollars.
I have had to contact the FTC to report fraudulent activity using my identity and apply for a new social security card. I have had to cancel my bank accounts, and then go and contact all of those companies that automatically deduct payments from my accounts. I have had to cancel all of my credit cards. This effort includes contacting all three credit bureau's to place a credit alert on my name. I have also contacted the DMV to have my license suspended, and I will have to apply for a new one, so even if I had money in the bank, I have no way or identification that is valid so that I could get it!
Now there are remedies to some of these issues, but in the end, I may never see most of the ten's of thousands of dollars that have been fraudulently taken from my accounts. My bank cannot tell how they got my info, and they have told me I may never really know how they did get it. I will tell you one thing....I'll never have all of my accounts in one bank, and I will never have them tied to one another, nor will I ever use the internet to buy anything again.
Paranoid....maybe, but let this happen to you, and then you tell me how you feel. Am I pissed.....beyond any of your wildest dreams!
Tremor Therapy

[Mrs. Bordsmnj]

Oh man, that totally sucks ass!!! :mad: I hope you get your money back.

[redneckgirl]

Wow TT....Thank s*cks big time!!!! I wish there was something I could do to help you out!!! :( :( :mad:
RNG

[hoolign]

Holy shit dude..do you have any recourse on the bastard that did this..I mean is there a chance of catching them? the money had to go into an account!, there has gotr to be an Ip addy .. what has the bank suggested.. after all it was their bank that got attacked...just unfortunate it was your money!..I 'm not big on internet purchases. hell I'm not big on anything I cant hand over cash for!
soory to here this and good luck!
Jeff.

[Floored]

that is scarey, I'm sorry to hear of your problems. Worst I had was order a new card and bank put hold (by accident) on all accounts at same time and I couldnt buy gas eat or pay bills until straightened out. not easy. Good Luck Worst is nobody will pay back for you actual losses either. new lic. ss card, credit repair etc.

[slink]

Just out of curiosity, how did you tie it back to China?

[Bre]

Shit that sucks :(
I wonder if by changing your checking account on a regular basis is a good idea or not.

[RiverOtter]

Are the bank accounts not insured for the monitary loss? I would have thought so.

[Mr.Havasu]

Very Scary! Really makes you think how safe is your money in a bank. Might have to go back to stuffing it under my mattress..Oh wait, I don't have any.
Really sorry to hear this.

[Tremor Therapy]

Any time one of your accounts is accessed, part of the transaction number deals with the location of the transaction. I sat down with one of the banking supervisors, and as she looked at the transactions and traced them, she found the point of origin to be Shanghai China. Unfortunately she has dealt with just this situation for other clients, and she told me that they may never know who it was that stole my identity, nor may they ever be able to find out how they got it.
She told me about people who drive through neighborhoods with equipment that can trace your wireless networking signals, and if you have not enabled the security features they can log onto your account.
That people have developed equipment that fits over the facia of your local ATM machine, and it does not inhibit your use of your ATM card, but that it reads your number, and collects your pin number. That way at a later date they can access yours, and many other peoples accounts by duplicating you ATM card and using YOUR pin number!
They also have spam type software that pops up while you are surfing the web, and trys to drill into your system to find your account info if you have ever bought anything on the net.
I don't know about all of this, all I know is since it has happened to me, I'll never automate any of my info again! :mad:

[LHC30Victory]

Sorry to hear about your losses and subsequent troubles. You're right, it is a big hassle.
Make sure you file a police report in the jurisdiction where you live. Under 530.5 PC they must take the report. While this may not help solve the crime and loss, it helps you with the bank, reporting agencies and the rest.I suspect that you will be compensated by the bank, if not raise holy hell with them. ther are a lot of consumer protections in that part of the law!
As far as the money going to a specific account or and IP address, usually the end user are too well hidden through false info. China connection seems like your account may have been skimmed when you used your credit card somewhere -anywhere.

[C-2]

Just out of curiosity, how did you tie it back to China?
Was curious about this too. Do you work in an office where your employer keeps a personnel file on you? Does your wife?
truth is, most identity theft start with stolen or copied identification. Often times this happens at large companies that maintain quite a bit of info about you - info which can be used to set you and then pow - like what happened to you. Based upon the swiftness of the attack - the theft had probably been set up pretty good - and normally it is accomplished with theft of complete credentials. Often times you never realize your ID was stolen, copied and then returned to your possession without your knowledge. Many ladies in office environments get hit with this scenario - they leave for lunch, their purse in their cubicle, and return without incident. In the meantime, a scumbag employee comes in, takes the purse, zaps photocopies of it and then returns the purse to the cubicle. A few months later, bam, just like what happened to you.
Sorry to read the bad news.

[moneypit]

His information could have been sold to someone in china... I dont think it has to link back to china..

[dicudmore]

sorry TT :cry:

[mtndewdrops]

Sorry to hear about your situation. :frown: I am leary of buying things on-line even with encryption. I don't use on-line banking and don't have my financial software on the same computer that I use for the internet.

[Kilrtoy]

WOW, Sorry to here that....
Hope life is holding something better for you really soon

[C-2]

For bank accounts - normally you have your pin associated with your ATM card; another pin for telephone banking, and yet a third pin for online access. What the bank isn't telling you - it could be somebody within their customer service dept who either sold your info or took part in the theft.
If there was no other activity on existing credit cards or new accounts opened - then somebody jacked your info from the bank only. Trace the transaction back - was it done via an ATM only - or was it done via telephone? There should be more info. If you had separate pin numbers and a transfer or withdrawal took place requiring at least two pins - your answer lies with the bank.
I've worked many ID theft cases - and none were pulled off using online info. Victims initially thought they were - but most if not all were done by theft, inside contacts or family members.
Again, trace the transactions (all financial investigations start/end with following the money trail) and figure out who could have gained access.

[INSman]

I must only assume that the bank officer assured you that your funds were covered and insured for fraudulent wire transfers or however it happened?
Trust me in that the banks not only have FDIC coverage, but also Excess Depositors coverage, Crime coverage that takes care of the Electronic Funds Transfer of an Employe, and so on and so on.
It is just like someone charging on your credit card, you are not responsible. This just hurts more, because it was you hard earned cash that was taken, not just credit. Sucks no matter what and is a major hassle and inconvenience. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[MagicMtnDan]

Alan, this sucks beyond belief! I am really sorry to hear about it.
I can't believe that you're out the $ - I guess I'm naive but I would think that the bank is responsible. Maybe I should ask, how was the money taken (wire transfer? Multiple ATM withdrawals)?
I hope you have some recourse.
Please let us know what you find out as things continue to unfold. I appreciate your telling us about your misfortune.
Better days ahead!

[oldbuck40]

Hey Tremor, have you ever thought about why you gave permission for a company to automaticly withdraw funds from your account? are their computers safe? do they have a thief working for them they dont know about? why would any one let a or any company auto withdraw from your account? :hammerhea sorry i just dont trust that way of bizz! and i am sorry for your loss!

[It's Only Money]

Recent lapses by ChoicePoint and NexisLexis have proven that data stored in central databanks are not safe whether or not you ever made an online transaction. Your data isn't safe if it is ever passed to a third party. This includes your medical insurance company, your bank, finance companies, and all of the other places where your account information is kept. Only one dirt bag does it take to sell yours and all the other folks private data.
Online banking and shopping are probably safer than giving your credit card to a retail establishment.

[Trash]

My wife too was a victim. File a police report! It paid off for us and let the various institutions know we meant business. The police were at our house within an hour or so which surprised the living daylights out of me. They filed the report, gave us a case number and said the detectives that work on this stuff were overloaded.
I wasn't hopefull that anything more would come of the ordeal. The credit cards were very proactive in stopping purchases that were out of line and the bank credited us with the monies lost.
About a year later the FBI called us saying they caught the MF's (my words not theirs ;) ) and these individuals were being arraigned.
FILE A POLICE REPORT. Document as much information as you can and construct a timeline. We did this and the police were VERY impressed. I believe this helped in our case. Often you can fine phone numbers or addresses associated with some of the transactions. Using reverse lookups you can start to trace the origins of the crooks.

[imirsh1]

Im literally in the middle of this myself over 5 years now.Just found out this weekend that I am the owner of a now defunct meat company.(sucker started an LLC. in my name)

[Krumbsnatcher]

Tremor the same thing happened to our Company (Mine) we now believe it to be an inside job with where we registered our corporation. Anyhow, the bank will perform an investigation to ensure no fraud has taken place and then they will refund your accounts, providing they were under the same institution.
Sounds like it was a professional ring, i know ours was a Black lady in her 40's had my wifes name Drivers License and her platinum Credit cards. It was only uncovered after a smart clerk in vegas called for a signature card at our bank in Newport Beach. The clerk then called my wife and asked her location, by that time the perp vacated and we caught fraud. A some of $40k in 3 days and going for more.
Good luck.

[ROZ]

:supp:

[Tinkerer]

Did they get your pin number??
If not how did they get your $ ???
Last I knew I had to sign to get $ out of my accounts.
Where is your signature???
In order to get $ out of my checking account I have to write a check.
In order to get $ out of my saving I have to sign a withdrawal slip.
Bottom line is where did they get your signature??
If someone can just transfer your $ by computer than I would say that the bank is liable for the loss.

[C-2]

Online banking and shopping are probably safer than giving your credit card to a retail establishment.
This is very true.
No matter what you do, you are succeptible to ID theft. Doesn't matter how well prepared you think you are.
Kinda like computer security/networks - you can build the best firewall or system money can buy. But if a dumbass tech or other employee is dooped into coughing up a password - you're security system isn't worth much.
We can never get around the human element - good thieves know that!
And for the record, nothing was hacked at ChoicePoint. They were greedy and started sellling info to pretty much whoever claimed a need for it. In fact if you shopped at Costco - apparently those were sufficient credentials since they were selling background investigations for $49.

[IN2-IN2MX]

:( F&*%. Sorry to hear this. This gives me chills. I hope you recover your money TT.

[NorCal Gameshow]

this really is a growing problem...like C-2 says it sounds more like they hacked your bank account and not what we're used to hearing as traditional "ID theft"
they don't need your D.L. or even your name, just a few numbers... :mad:
this could be all on your bank...
I wonder how many other customers have been hit the same way and they're not telling you. you're jumping through hoops, maybe it's them that should be handling it... :idea:

[Essex502]

This is very true.
And for the record, nothing was hacked at ChoicePoint. They were greedy and started sellling info to pretty much whoever claimed a need for it. In fact if you shopped at Costco - apparently those were sufficient credentials since they were selling background investigations for $49.
You are right...Choice Point was victim of its own lack of security when a couple fraudulantly posed as a real estate broker. That was in 1992. Sililar fraud happened again recently.

[Sherpa]

just out of curiousity, have you had any accounts using an "auto-pay" system?
do you complete any online transactions using CC or bank# info?
have you recently applied or updated any banking/mortgage/CC info?
And lastly, I thought all the banks were FDIC insured for up to 100k per
account-? are you actually out these monies??
--Sherpa hope you get through all this without further issues.

[Tremor Therapy]

Okay, after 48 hours, the bank has some additional info, and I have closed, cancelled and suspended everything I know of. My accounts were accessed at the Bank of China in Shanghai China, and they were able to access all of my B of A accounts that are linked, and they drained them all.
What I have found is that because they are listing this as an apparent case of fraud (ya think?), my checking and savings accounts have been temporarily credited with the funds that were taken (whew!), but I only have limited access to them at this time.
The over-draft protection and home equity lines have been cancelled (to prevent further fraud), and I have been told that the same fraud protection laws will govern them. I haven't found out if I should file a report with the police yet, but I am awaiting a call from the lead fraud investigator at the bank.
Now the rub in all of this is that all of my information is still tied to these accounts, and I need to close them and open new acounts.....but when you don't have access to your money, it makes it kind of difficult. All in all I am now of the feeling that everything will eventually be taken care of, and although I may be out a few bucks to cover adminstrative fee's and the like, I should be able to recover most of the funds.
And to answer a number of questions:
Yes I did have outside entities automatically debitting my account
Yes I did pay bills on-line, on the individual account websites
Yes I did use the web for a recent home re-fi, but that was back in August

[bigq]

Do they have no idea how they got access to the account? Did you use the same PIN for all the acconts?
One thing I have received a lot of lately is extreamly official looking e-mail that ask to take care of an account issue immediatly and log on to your account at whatever bank and respond to the e-mail. I went to one of these sites from a protected computer and it looks identical to my banks website. It is 1st rate spoofing and you enter your username and PIN/pass and they can access everthing. Usually all accounts are linked to one to view on the website.