Anyone ever had there Identitiy lifted?

[kansasdad]

Old thread, with lots of old names with lots of posts replying with good advice.

20 years ago when my brother (conspiracy freak ) suggested that the day would come when pets being microchipped would then lead to humans being chipped to prevent identity theft, I laughed. Not laughing now.

 

[PonoHunt]

Came close, Today my credit card company called about a pair of transactions that raised a red flag. They said they got a $1 charge from I-tunes, followed by an $1800 on-line attempt at Bed Bath and Beyond. Lucky they did their job, and denied it until I called to verify it. So, I need to get a new card number sent to me. Question is, I wonder where they lifted it. I have my best guess, A Mexican food place me and the wife go to. One of the few places that I can think of that takes the card from me and goes into a different room to ring it up. Most other places I scan myself or do on-line with secure transactions for what that is worth.

Anyone ever had a similar thing happen?

I traveled 90% of the time for 5 years for business. I couldn't go 3 months without having to get a new card. It was kind of a running joke with my wife and me.......She would receive an overnighted letter from American Express and she would ask "so what country were you buying stuff this time"........and usually I got to reply with "$4K at a surf shop in Brisbane, or $1,200 in a watch shop in Tokyo", or my favorite, an "online sex store for about $600". I did some investigating and it is not just the numbers they can get from you when they take your card. There are scanners that can retrieve CC info by just getting close to you wallet. Amer Express was absolutely awesome, and was shocked everytime about how apologetic they always were and how the charges were instantaneously removed from my account each time, with very little question from them. Just "sorry about that Mr. P, there will be a new card at your home tomorrow". Probably didn't hurt I was well over $75K / year in expenses on the card, but still they were awesome. Now true identity theft is much more serious, and can ruin your life for years.