And most likely they closed the account and a note was attached so your daughter won't be on the hook for the balance and it won't ding her credit record.
OTH, I seriously doubt they provided you any additional information concerning the account itself. Depending on the amount owed on the account, Comcast may/may not decide to go after the individual who created it and they have more information to try to determine that.
Most likely due to the different types of credit and amount of credit accounts in use because several different companies would all have to be on the same page? It's probably also why they can't monitor all transaction points in realtime. They don't have full cooperation with everyones network that plays a role in the process. Especially since some systems aren't billing you in realtime.
You may notice in the fine print, none of those services claim to be able to alert you in all cases as none of them monitor ALL possible transactions which can occur.
We shall see. It is currently noted as "under dispute" on her credit reports.
How could they not have provided me "information concerning the account itself"? Without account specific information, you can't fill out the ID theft forms that they require.
...and we may decide to go after the individual ourselves. They provided me with enough information to most likely identify the individual that opened the account. (I'm pretty good at social engineering) We are inquiring through other channels (unrelated to Comcast) as to whether or not we should pursue legal action on this.
You should probably look up what a "Credit Freeze" is. Credit Freezes are done through the credit rating agencies. No one has to be on the same page because a CF is set up with the 3 credit agencies individually. A CF prevents potential creditors from accessing your credit report, which may in turn cause them to refuse to open an account. Only a person with the PIN supplied by the credit agencies can lift the freeze and allow access. They can even allow access for a specific period of time and for a specific creditor. "Here is my PIN number. I authorize you to release my credit report to Verizon Wireless but only if they call you within 3 business days."
If a potential creditor decides to open an account without using a credit report, a CF won't prevent it, but that's not a reason for "assistance with setting up Credit Freezes" to not be listed as service that the banks/ credit unions provide. They offer to help set up Fraud Alerts, which are done in basically the same way - through the credit agencies - so why not offer assistance with the higher level of security?
Let's give them benefit of the doubt and say that, at least in the case of the two providers mentioned by T&S, they simply (coincidentally) left that item off the list of services that they provide. Let's say that they actually do assist with setting up a CF. I then have to wonder why they would accidentally(?) not mention such a powerful tool in their list of services. It makes me question their attention to detail which makes me question how much attention to detail they would provide if I took advantage of their services.
No. As I mentioned previously, I was trained in fraud detection/prevention. I dealt with unhappy people every day who had fraud on their account(s). Sometimes, the customer was responsible for it, but, most of the time, the customer had nothing to do with it.
When the customer was responsible for it, it was known as customer fraud. IE: you loaned your card out to someone and decided to fight the charges later. Or, you're a broke college kid and you 'sold your account' to someone else. IE: they asked you to deposit something and withdraw it and give them most of the funds with you taking a cut. You then call your bank and play stupid about it. OR, you call your bank when you figure out you're liable for the debt now owed on the account only to be told you are liable and the bank is going to come after you for it. I didn't like having to tell people that. Talk about a pissed off individual...
You could even be tricked? into selling your account without really realizing you were doing it, taking the customers word, per say. At the end of the day though, the bank would still hold you liable for the transactions.
Credit/debit card fraud is one type of ID theft. Another is a data breach which would have exposed your daughters personal records to someone who shouldn't have access. And, that individual, using such information goes and establishes accounts in the victims name.
I said it seemed off because you didn't mention (if you did, I didn't see the post, sorry) how the ID theft took place. Was your daughters information compromised due to a data breach with a company she did business with previously?
Hmm. Perhaps I wasn't clear in what I was trying to convey.... So, I'll try again. I seriously doubt Comcast provided you specific account details that you didn't already have concerning the 'bogus' account setup in your daughters name. Specifics about the account. If it's not using your daughters address, for example, I doubt Comcast provided you the address on file.
In the unlikely event they did, somebody f***ed up, and I hope that call isn't pulled for review. The associate will lose his/her job if it is.
At this point, I'm going to close with "I pulled a year or so working for a big bank via third party in debit/credit card fraud". I know how credit freezes work, thanks. I know a lot about the banking industry from the inside, actually. And, it's not a universal, click a button, ALL credit cards/credit based loans are 'frozen' until you say otherwise. It doesn't work like that.
There are multiple systems in play when you swipe the card and it's those systems that must be told NOT to allow the transaction to go thru.
They can be, to a point. Those types of freezes will stop the clients ss# from being used to establish new lines of credit, WHEN they are notified of it. It's not instant, it doesn't even happen on the same day in some cases.
As for your American Express and Discover cards, a freeze on one does NOT automagically cause a freeze on the other. The networks don't share information between each other like that.
It seems like your assuming that a credit freeze is a gloabl act and you only have to do it once and all credit cards, credit based lines of credit, etc, are 'frozen' until you say otherwise. If that were the case, various credit card companies wouldn't be rolling their own 'freeze/pause' options for their cards.
A CF using the agencies does exactly as you describe. However, it does not prevent accounts already established from being abused by someone other than your daughter unless they take additional steps to have those accounts 'frozen' as well. And, that process varies from CC and bank to bank.
A freeze like this works both ways, though. It delays reports of your daughters responsible use of credit from the agencies she conducts business with.
IE: Say you freeze her via the agencies. Her credit cards aren't frozen until/unless you contact the issuing companies and freeze them. She can't open a new one, but, she can still use the ones she already has open. The credit agencies are not notified real time concerning CC transactions and loan payments. Nor are they notified 'real time' when someone goes to establish a new account. It could take hours to several days before the request goes thru their network and is declined as a result of the freeze.
It depends on the merchant who's trying to establish the account on the individuals behalf. And, that's assuming they run a credit check beforehand. If the merchant doesn't (some don't for various reasons) then the fraudster temporarily has created a new account that your daughter is initially responsible for.
Don't take my word for any of this. Call the bank(s) you and your daughter deal with and ask them yourself. Freezing say your Discover card doesn't automatically freeze your American Express card.
It would be very convenient, super nice, and greatly reduce fraud if you could make a single call or use a single app and freeze everything, but, it doesn't work that way.
It would also greatly help reduce fraud if merchants took security seriously and checked ID when you're making a purchase with a cc/debit card too; they're supposed to! but, often they do not.
Prior to my leaving the company there were some rumours going around about the possibility of holding merchants liable for fraudulent transactions because they didn't check the customers ID to match the name given on the card. Chipped cards are supposed to greatly reduce the level of fraud, but, they haven't made a significant dent yet.
Oh, and just so you know, by default, Bank of America's policy is to deny your claim of fraud if a chipped card was used as it's supposed to be 'super secure'; IE: they doubt your word at that point.
I wish you the best of luck getting your daughters issues straightened out. I understand how much of a pain in the ass it can be.
Whether I mentioned it or not (I didn't) I still don't know why you think the part of my post that you quoted sounded "off".
mako made an irrelevant/inaccurate comment to which I responded to by saying that my daughter's ID theft had nothing to do with a "card". You said that "sounded a bit off". I'm still don't see how my response to mako would make some one say "Hmm. Something sounds a bit off here."
Doubt all you want...that's what happened. Like I said, I'm pretty good at social engineering.
I hope they don't. They were the only one willing to really help. If they lose their job, then that would be a real shame because without that information, it would have been really hard for my daughter to provide documentation that proved she didn't live at the address on the account during the time of the theft. Yes, the same person also told me the date that the account was open. Those were 2 pieces of information we needed and that person was the only one willing to provide it.
I never said it does, in fact I never mentioned anything about freezes on individual cards/accounts.
I never said that or even implied that. In fact, I detailed the *exact* type of CF that I said was left off the list of services provided by the banks/credit unions "fraud protection departments."
How you took that as a "global assumption" is beyond me.
Yep...there it is ^.
I knew I said it. Note the words "refuse to open an account." I never said or even implied that I thought it covered existing accounts.
In addition, I even used the words "may refuse" to show that I am aware that even that type of CF is not perfect.
Regardless, none of this matters as it relates to my original question.
Why isn't the specific type of CF that I am talking about included in their list of services?
Thanks for all that information, although I know all of that already. I specifically mentioned the type of CF that is done through the agencies and that prevents a potential creditor from pulling a person's credit report without that person expressed permission for that specific pull. Again, thanks for all that information, but none of it explains why the list of services provided at the links that T&S posted does not mention offering assistance with the specific type of CF that I am talking about.
The douche bag believes his own press, and will make you pay if you cross him. Fair warning ahead of time. Any discussion with this nutcase turns into lengthy bitch fests, but you've probably seen some of his lengthy rants already. He's one crazy son of a bitch. Run like hell before he sets his eyes on you to make you pay.
You're talking to RAID - infamous black hat - if you believe all his shit.
You may have succesfully socially engineered someone out of a job. That's on them, as training is provided to detect when you're being played and if they missed it (seems they did), well.. I hope the call isn't pulled for review.
I've seen several associates go down the tubes by trying to help customers. It only takes one little slip and some asshole in QA review to shitcan you for it. In those types of jobs, you're a warm body essentially. More than expendable.
It wasn't information they were supposed to disclose to you. They placed Comcast in an ackward position by doing so. In this case, it's fraud, but, if it hadn't of been and you successfully scored someones legit account information, it would have been Comcasts fault.
If the call is pulled, Comcast probably isn't going to take the circumstances into consideration. They'll see the associate provided you information they shouldn't have and they'll be walked out the front doors. I've seen it happen to otherwise, great associates one too many times. I found another job because I figured, it was only a matter of time before I'd get a call like that and want to help and do so, and violate some policy as I did. I felt terrible looking at one persons account, knowing what they told me was the truth, and not being able to help them. I couldn't even tell the person who the account was being 'shared' with.
You'd have to ask them. Company policies and their reasons for doing/not doing something vary slightly from place to place.
From: Raid Slam ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com.invalid)
"I gave fair warning what would happen. Some people apparently didn't get the hint. Maybe they are reconsidering it now. Misery loves company. Had nothing to do with self gratification.
*Purely revenge motivated*. Pure hatred for others, that is why I wrote it. *Simply because I hate people*, simply because they deserve the shit I dump on them, they earned it."
Sure. Now that I've re-read it. It was awhile ago (late 90s) when that was written. Why not disclose the date/time stamp and the associated thread you pulled it from, you know, for proper context? Incidently, in a few months, it'll be 2017.
Do you by chance have anything more recent? Maybe, within this decade?
Yep. Correction on my part, it's from 2000. You also were careful to do some editing work on it. Why, I don't really know. Personally, for public shaming purposes, it would have been more 'harmful' had you posted it verbatim. You DO want people to believe I'm an evil villain, right?
It was originally discussing the last virus I wrote, too. So... nearly seventeen years later, still no malicious code of any kind written/released by me since Irok.
We're coming up on seventeen years since I wrote that virus, d00d. That's a long time. If you still think I'm the same person I was back then (not that you'd actually know either way. As you can't really depend on usenet posts and forced interviews for reliable data), I've got a nice section of oceanfront view property in Arizona I'd like to sell you.
If you think everything I wrote back then was all true and none of it was intended as a diversion mixxed with misinformation to keep would be 'stalkers' (and by stalkers, I mean feds, not lamers like you) off my trail, I've got the deed to the Golden Gate bridge and it's for sale too. If you buy both, I'll cut you a really good deal.
I suspect you believe everything the National Enquirer has published too. You strike me as one of those types of people.
You're still the "purely revenge motivated", "pure hatred for others", "simply because *they* deserve the shit I dump on them, they earned it" asshole.
That's how you roll, s*****ad. Why don't you go crawl back under the rock you slithered out from?
You haven't changed. Still proud to be RAID?
This is who RAID is:
From: Raid Slam ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com.invalid)
"I gave fair warning what would happen. Some people apparently didn't get the hint. Maybe they are reconsidering it now. Misery loves company. Had nothing to do with self gratification.
*Purely revenge motivated*. Pure hatred for others, that is why I wrote it. *Simply because I hate people*, simply because they deserve the shit I dump on them, they earned it."
I realize you might be a little on the slow side, so I'll repeat a section of the reply I initially wrote you, that you snipped and completely avoided. If you're going to post bullshit about someone, atleast have a large enough package to do so using your normal handle/nick. I pose no threat to you or anyone else. I'm 'retired' blackhat, and, hacking in real life doesn't work the same way it does in the movies. ROFL!
We're coming up on seventeen years since I wrote that virus, d00d. That's a long time. If you still think I'm the same person I was back then (not that you'd actually know either way. As you can't really depend on usenet posts and forced interviews for reliable data), I've got a nice section of oceanfront view property in Arizona I'd like to sell you.
If you think everything I wrote back then was all true and none of it was intended as a diversion mixxed with misinformation to keep would be 'stalkers' (and by stalkers, I mean feds, not lamers like you) off my trail, I've got the deed to the Golden Gate bridge and it's for sale too. If you buy both, I'll cut you a really good deal.
Feel free to lemme know which part of the post wasn't/isn't clear for you and I'll try to dumb it down further. Ok?
Is your card RFID friendly? If so, you don't actually have to give it to anyone. I could walk within 30 ft of you and snag it without ever seeing the physical card. If you don't already have RFID protective wallet, I'd recommend acquiring one. Or, if you really like the non RFID wallet you have, acquire the slips that go between your cards. Some do block the radio signals and would stop me (and others) from getting it by walking near you with the right hardware on us.
The training at one job was very thorough. They taught us how the 'bad guys' work so we could assist in preventing it. The side effect, if someone wanted to abuse the knowledge, the gameplan was provided to them.
Which isn't a very wise decision on your part. Not only could a temp hold be placed on your card (if it's a debit card), your card can also be skimmed right there. A clone could be made with the information collected on the magnetic strip as a result. Btw, walmart gift cards are useful for dumping cloned card data onto. I kid you not.
There is one piece of information that isn't present on the magnetic strip that will let your bank or others who know how it works know it's a cloned card and not the original. The expiration date. [g] The cloned card won't have the correct expiration date, but, contrary to what you might think, you don't need that to be correct to use the cloned card for purchases.
The chip card system can only protect you if it's used in that mode. It still has a magnetic strip for supporting older systems, as well as the typical information on the plastic itself.
Passports are often RFID friendly. I keep mine in a protective holder and only remove it when I need to. It could still be skimmed at those times, but I'm doing what I can to protect my data.
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