Tell that to me - I had my Amex card cloned and several hundred quid run up on it.
Ali
That's not identity theft, though, just common or garden card fraud.
I've just had Barclaycard on the phone - seems they've had some attempted uses of my card that aroused their suspicions. A large sum to an internet gaming company, top up phone card, and two sales from a South American firm. My recent last statement is ok though and I've not checked the online one. But it means a new card and all the palaver associated with it.
I once had them call me and say that someone had tried to use my card in Brazil. Yes, I said, that would be me. :) I have no problem with them checking, of course. The Amex card was cloned in a BP or Shell garage in Baldock. They then used the clone in Tesco's Watford and Hatfield petrol stations. No PIN or signature needed at the pumps, you see. Amex reckon it's very common - and all they do is charge back to Tesco.
Ali
The last two times I've used my Texco VISA card for relatively large amounts in the US, they've contacted me almost immediately, once by letter and once by phone within half an hour of me buying a video camera in NYC.
It's very easy to clone a card for "customer not present" transactions. I have a merchant account and could clone credit cards using a mobile phone (and nothing else) when a customer makes a payment. What stops me from doing so is that I'm basically honest as are the vast majority of retailers. It's when a rogue member of staff gets into the loop that things go wrong and they go wrong because the entire credit card system is inherently lacking in security.
There's no PIN or signature needed on the internet for example and it's very easy for a fraudster to launder credit card payments via PayPal on ebay and ebay/PayPal have shown themselves to be completely unwilling to address the problem.
Wouldn't you agree that losses resulting from plastic cards being used by criminals pretending to be the rightful owner is indeed ID theft?
Well, as if by magic... today, I had ID fraud or theft or whatever again. A letter from my card company - not Amex - saying please call them forthwith. SO I did. Some scrote had called them pretending to be me, said I had got divorced and was moving house. Oh, and the two cards had been stolen. So, please cancel the cards, remove my husband from both accounts, and send a new card. To a different address. Card company got a tad suspicious. Scrote who phoned was *male*. Now, as there is no financial loss, they tell me they can't really send Plod to this new address, which is a pity. Nor would they tell me it, so that I could hire a hit man. Anyhow, cards cancelled.
But here's the weird thing. These are two separate cards with different brands, but from the same provider. One has never ever been used - it's a spare, kept in the house in case of. The other card is also kept in the house and has not left it for, oh, three years or so. I haven't used it in all that time, except for one Amazon transaction last month, 'cos I suddenly recalled having a ten quid credit sitting on it. So, I've had no receipts or statements for one card at all, and only one very recent statement for the other - which is in front of me, so that I can pay it. I shred *everything*. And I mean everything. Card company thinks that scrote got one number from someplace, then guessed on the phone to customer services that there might be another card.
Possibilities? An inside job at the card provider, I suppose. Or perhaps the fact that when I got this recent statement, I vaguely thought that the envelope looked as though it had been opened. Hm.
Ali
Well it may just be splitting hairs, but no, I don't think so. ID theft, to my mind, would entail someone obtaining driving licence, passport or other 'ID', presumably with a mind to use these forged, stolen or duplicated documents to commit fraud. Just using someone's credit card number, nasty as it may be for the owner, isn't really the same thing.
Agreed.
Actual 'ID Theft' is very rare. 'ID Theft' is a buzz word that many business's are now using for commercial reasons.
Barclaycard rang me on my home number in Yorkshire to check that it was me who was using my card in Belgium. Astonishingly, I wasn't there to confirm that I was in Belgium (on account of being in Belgium), so they put a stop on the card.
Class.
I know someone who got a call from their provider saying that someone had charged several hundred pounds to their credit card in a strip club in Lithuania. Unfortunately that was him, too!
Christian.
I hope you cancel the card because of that, and tell them why. Otherwise they'll carry on doing it to other people. It's one thing to perform sensible checks on transactions which don't follow your normal pattern, but quite another to behave like idiots.
No doubt they'll be on the phone again soon trying to sell you their identity fraud insurance as they did to me the other night.
...Ludwig
Was it him or his wife though? That's when it could get a little more tricky to explain.
Or you could *not* throw your toys out of the pram, and: a) Provide them with your mobile number, and b) Let them know when you're going abroad so they can put a note on your file to that effect.
When went skiing in Andorra, I did a bit of shopping in Spain one day and France the next, including some new skis and boots. When the shopkeeper couldn't get the card authorised after 3 attempts, Barclaycard rang my mobile and asked if I was abroad. I said yes, answered a few security questions and my card was unlocked on the spot. At which point they told me that the shopkeepers PDQ unit actually had a message on it saying "Pick up the phone!", so they could have spoken to me directly. He just hadn't bothered reading it and kept cancelling/retrying.
It says quite clearly on the details that come with the card that you should notify Barclaycard if you are travelling abroad and intend using your card. It goes on to say there is a risk of transactions being declined if you don't. I notified them this yearand had no problems using my card in France.
I know full well that most people don't read all the gumph that comes with cards, statements etc. On this occasion I was lucky that I did.
...Ludwig
Theft - "the dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving that person of it" who did you become if you were deprived of your identity?
Very funny. Hope it happens to you, you little shit eater.
Ali
*127*.0.0.1. Sheesh, can't even get a joke IP right.
*applause* Nice one, Alison.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.