Summary
With the rise in identity theft in the last few years, many people are finding strange charges on their credit cards, or unusual items in their credit reports. This is because stealing someone's identity is very simple through low-tech means. Simply copying down a credit card number or stealing a purse or wallet gives a thief an opportunity to use the numbers for their own purposes and they do not even have to hack a computer to do it.
Original source:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/03/21/m1a_idtheft_0321.html
Details
- Caren Bulmer's Visa bank card made a road trip last year to Manhattan, without ever leaving West Palm Beach or her wallet.
- In February of last year, someone used Bulmer's credit card to buy two $1,500 gift certificates at a Staples store, by having the cashier key in the numbers instead of swiping the card.
- Then they cashed them to buy computer laptops and printers.
- But while Congress lays out laws to protect Americans' personal information held by data brokers, only a fraction of identity thefts are pilfered from them.
- In fact, most ID theft results from decidedly low-tech schemes that range from a waiter's swiping your credit card through a pocket-sized imprinter to sell the number on the black market to low-lifes who Dumpster dive or fish for credit card receipts in a garbage container.
- That is a sobering fact, given that an estimated 9 million to 10 million Americans a year are victims of identity theft, and the number of complaints reported to the Federal Trade Commission has risen each year since 2000, sometimes doubling.
- The Medicare card "has your Social Security number on it and they tell you not to carry your Social Security number," Kornblatt said.
- In whatever order, call the bank, the police and one of the nation's three credit bureaus: Equifax, TransUnion or Experion.
- No new credit card accounts or other debt will be granted in your name for 90 days, a period that can be extended to seven years by request.
- If you file a police report, you can take it to creditors," FTC Assistant Director Betsy Broder said.
- A week later, she got calls from Citgo and Amoco, checking personal data for gas cards for which she never applied.
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