Watch Out for Identity Theft

[AmirBagachelles]

I got picked off this week, my vulnerability was an easy identical password (and userids) in use at both Ebay and Yahoo. They hijacked my sellers acct which I just opened, and started listing items under my name. And Ebay and Yahoo are not known for their prompt live customer service.

So watch out, check your accts often, and use stronger passwords. Strong is defined as upper and lower case alphas, a number, and a special character. Also use the SSL options when logging in, whenever possible. SSL reduces the amount of info you transmit in clear plain text.

Also, auto bill pay w/ a credit/debit card is risky, switch to debits using your bank routing and acct number, this is safer than having your debit card info out there for possible misuse.

[BERIGAN]

Sorry to hear about this guys! Yes, people that do this are bastards! :angry:

AmirBagachelles, you bring up a good point, for the life of me, I don't know why ebay defaults to the non-secure sign in! It is a pain, but most of the time I click on the link that takes you to he secure sign in. Also, I don't have my credit card statement handy, but I do believe that whatever credit card you use for your ebay account should have a phone number for ebay...how good it is, I don't know!

If you dig around on their hard to navigate site(No fun, I know!) sometimes their chat areas will have good suggestions for various problems. Also, upper and lower case doesn't matter on ebay, correct? I don't know about Yahoo.....

[maren]

What. A. Drag.

I finally got my ID theft cleared up (I think) in August 03. In November 02, my wallet was lifted from my pocket in a sweet little restaurant near work that I go to at least twice a week. Cancelled all my credit cards immediately, BUT -- my health insurance card uses social security number as ID number -- SO stupid. We had been complaining about this at work for years. But I still carried it in my wallet for convenience -- don't do THAT anymore.

Well, anyway, with my SSN and birthdate/address (from driver's license), someone opened (and immediately maxed out) three store credit accounts: Best Buy ($1000), Lowe's ($2000 !!!) and Sam's Club ($750). In a way, I was lucky that the thief used MY home address and my name (reversing first and middle names) because the first bills came directly to me. Right after New Year's. The accounts had been opened a few days before Xmas. I immediately reported the fraud, and was told to call the credit-checking agencies (Experion and whatever) and told them not to allow ANY new accounts to be opened using my SSN. Filed an addendum to the police report from original wallet theft. Mailed this all with notarized forms. Sam's Club and Lowe's accepted my story and cleared it all up by March, but the first Best Buy investigator "didn't find it plausible" and they kept billing me (with growing interest and penalties) until August -- I really had to work hard on that one. The final break came when I found an investigator who listened when I said "look, I don't even KNOW where Holmdel New Jersey IS, and I can prove I was in Manhattan on that day; my mother's maiden name is "**********", you can look it up, and I'm sure this imposter didn't know her name; my work number is ***-**** -- is that what the thief told you? -- and I've worked there for 18 years; and I've lived at my current address for ** years."

Thank God I reached someone who was in a mood to listen and consider the possibility that I wasn't scamming THEM, and who took the time to evaluate my evidence. It really was awful having that hanging over me. Since there are so many ways people can get your info, it's a good idea to get your credit report every so often to make sure there's no nefarious activity going on under your name or SSN.

[Rooster_Ties]

For years the state of Missouri used your SS# as your Drivers Licence number too. (Meaning your DL# was your SS#, so it was on your DL for all the world to see.)

Then, two or three years ago - they started giving people the option of having some computer-generated number, instead of their SS#. In fact, now, I suspect you can't even use your SS# as your DL#.

Anyway, I can remember a time when every application (for anything) asked for your SS#. EVERY video-rental store I've ever belonged to (in three states!!!) has my SS#. What the hell can you do about that????