(OT) Identity Theft

Matthew wrote:
that named you mentioned is a named used in Nigeria scams

Actually, the name itself is Vietnamese. It's my doctor's name, but he
pronounces it "Win" ( just to confuse everyone).

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:



Matthew wrote:
that named you mentioned is a named used in Nigeria scams

Actually, the name itself is Vietnamese. It's my doctor's name, but he
pronounces it "Win" ( just to confuse everyone).

I think it's actually pronounced "nwin", but it's hard to hear the initial N.

--
Joyce

audiophile, n:
Someone who listens to the equipment instead of the music.

"jmcquown" wrote in
:

Don't ask how or why but some idiot hijacked my bank check card and
ordered himself a laptop computer from WalMart. I received email
confirmation from WalMart stating my "order" is ready to be picked up.
Primary pickup person, me. Alternate pickup person, someone named
William Nguyen in Westminster, CA. I thought surely this person
wouldn't be stupid enough to use my email address... but yes, they
were. No one said criminals are smart. Heh.

Just to make sure this wasn't someone's idea of a joke I checked my
bank account. Sure enough, there's a pending debit against my account
for that exact amount. I'm waiting for the bank to open so I can call
and dispute the charge.

I've already reported the card (online) lost or stolen, which f***s me
up no end since I don't carry cash. Meanwhile, I contacted WalMart.
"Do not let anyone pick up this merchandise! I didn't order it. I
don't know anyone named William Nugyen in California." I've already
gotten an email back from WalMart stating they've credited the money
back to my account. (That could take two billing cycles. Meanwhile,
I've got bills to pay! Dammit.)

Now I just have to wait for the bank to open so I can get them to try
to reverse the pending transaction. Grrrrrrrrrr.

OB Cats: Persia's curled up on her crackle sack behind me, oblivious
to any of these financial worries. She got her Sunday Fancy Feast
dinner last night and is happy as can be

Jill


What a pain! I never use a debit card any more, only my credit card. I
pay in full by the due date to avoid interest, and get cash back once a
year (over $100 depending on total spent) just for using it. That way,
nobody can access my bank account.

Bobble

"MaryL" wrote in message
...


"jmcquown" wrote in message ...

Don't ask how or why but some idiot hijacked my bank check card and
ordered
himself a laptop computer from WalMart. I received email confirmation
from
WalMart stating my "order" is ready to be picked up. Primary pickup
person,
me. Alternate pickup person, someone named William Nguyen in Westminster,
CA. I thought surely this person wouldn't be stupid enough to use my
email
address... but yes, they were. No one said criminals are smart. Heh.

Just to make sure this wasn't someone's idea of a joke I checked my bank
account. Sure enough, there's a pending debit against my account for that
exact amount. I'm waiting for the bank to open so I can call and dispute
the charge.

I've already reported the card (online) lost or stolen, which f***s me up
no
end since I don't carry cash. Meanwhile, I contacted WalMart. "Do not
let
anyone pick up this merchandise! I didn't order it. I don't know anyone
named William Nugyen in California." I've already gotten an email back
from
WalMart stating they've credited the money back to my account. (That
could
take two billing cycles. Meanwhile, I've got bills to pay! Dammit.)

Now I just have to wait for the bank to open so I can get them to try to
reverse the pending transaction. Grrrrrrrrrr.

OB Cats: Persia's curled up on her crackle sack behind me, oblivious to
any
of these financial worries. She got her Sunday Fancy Feast dinner last
night and is happy as can be

Jill



I think I would also file a police report. They might not do
anything...but this guy sounds foolish/stupid enough to try to pick up the
laptop. If so, it would be nice to have a "welcoming committee" waiting
for him.

As MMJ said, these crooks sometimes start with small purchases (*not* the
laptop) just to see if the account is active and they can get away with
it, then move on to larger purchases. I once found a charge of $2.00 on
my credit card that was a "donation" to the UN Children's Fund. That was
followed a day later by an attempt to secure round-trip air fare from
California to London. The credit card company took immediate
action--cancelled the phony charges and sent a new credit card, but it did
take more than a week to receive the new card. The card had not been out
of my hands, and the charge was made by computer by someone in still a
third location (a small third-world country)! One possible explanation is
that various stores and credit card companies have managed to lose large
amounts of our personal information, and crooks have sometimes gained
access to that information. In a different (and smaller) vein, a friend
of mine found that someone had actually had checks printed with her
account number and had passed those checks in a town she had never
visited. In that case, the final assessment was that someone working in a
department store had "fed" the information to a friend. The bank did
cover the cost, but it took awhile.

MaryL

A few years ago, a man was arrested for credit card fraud. He worked at a
local department store, and stole the numbers of customers who made
purchases from his department. It didn't take long to catch him,
particularly as he was so stupid as to use the numbers to charge things at
the store where he worked.

Joy

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On 2012-02-13 11:17 AM, William Hamblen wrote:
On 2012-02-13, wrote:
Don't ask how or why but some idiot hijacked my bank check card and
ordered
himself a laptop computer from WalMart. I received email confirmation
from
WalMart stating my "order" is ready to be picked up. Primary pickup
person,
me. Alternate pickup person, someone named William Nguyen in
Westminster,
CA. I thought surely this person wouldn't be stupid enough to use my
email
address... but yes, they were. No one said criminals are smart. Heh.

Just to make sure this wasn't someone's idea of a joke I checked my bank
account. Sure enough, there's a pending debit against my account for
that
exact amount. I'm waiting for the bank to open so I can call and
dispute
the charge.

I've already reported the card (online) lost or stolen, which f***s me
up no
end since I don't carry cash. Meanwhile, I contacted WalMart. "Do not
let
anyone pick up this merchandise! I didn't order it. I don't know
anyone
named William Nugyen in California." I've already gotten an email back
from
WalMart stating they've credited the money back to my account. (That
could
take two billing cycles. Meanwhile, I've got bills to pay! Dammit.)

Now I just have to wait for the bank to open so I can get them to try to
reverse the pending transaction. Grrrrrrrrrr.

OB Cats: Persia's curled up on her crackle sack behind me, oblivious to
any
of these financial worries. She got her Sunday Fancy Feast dinner last
night and is happy as can be

Jill


A similar thing happened to me, except someone withdrew rather a lot
of cash from a couple of ATMs and I got the call from the bank first
because of the unusual activity. The bank replaced my debit card
on the spot and I did get the money back. Apparently it is possible
to collect data wirelessly from bank ATMs and use it to create a new
ATM card, complete with PIN. I had never allowed anyone to borrow my
card and I keep my PIN only in my head. The police told me there was a
ring active. Maybe they've moved to SC. I ought to only write checks,
I guess, but the ATM is so convenient.

Bud


A lot of local businesses don't take cheques any more. I've gotten right
out of the habit of using my chequebook.

--
Cheryl

I use my credit card for just about everything. However, a doctor I
recently visited had a sign in the office saying that anyone who had a copay
was expected to pay it at the time of the visit, and that only cash or
checks would be accepted. I was a little surprised when they accepted my
credit card for my hearing aids.

Joy

Nugyen is a very common Vietnamese name. I think it's their equivalent of
Smith.

--
Joy

Treat each day as your last. One day you will be right.

"Matthew" wrote in message
ng.com...
that named you mentioned is a named used in Nigeria scams

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
Don't ask how or why but some idiot hijacked my bank check card and
ordered himself a laptop computer from WalMart. I received email
confirmation from WalMart stating my "order" is ready to be picked up.
Primary pickup person, me. Alternate pickup person, someone named
William Nguyen in Westminster, CA. I thought surely this person wouldn't
be stupid enough to use my email address... but yes, they were. No one
said criminals are smart. Heh.

Just to make sure this wasn't someone's idea of a joke I checked my bank
account. Sure enough, there's a pending debit against my account for
that exact amount. I'm waiting for the bank to open so I can call and
dispute the charge.

I've already reported the card (online) lost or stolen, which f***s me up
no end since I don't carry cash. Meanwhile, I contacted WalMart. "Do
not let anyone pick up this merchandise! I didn't order it. I don't
know anyone named William Nugyen in California." I've already gotten an
email back from WalMart stating they've credited the money back to my
account. (That could take two billing cycles. Meanwhile, I've got bills
to pay! Dammit.)

Now I just have to wait for the bank to open so I can get them to try to
reverse the pending transaction. Grrrrrrrrrr.

OB Cats: Persia's curled up on her crackle sack behind me, oblivious to
any of these financial worries. She got her Sunday Fancy Feast dinner
last night and is happy as can be

Jill

"Bobble" wrote in message
...
Jill


What a pain! I never use a debit card any more, only my credit card. I
pay in full by the due date to avoid interest, and get cash back once a
year (over $100 depending on total spent) just for using it. That way,
nobody can access my bank account.

Why do you think your credit card is safer than a debit card? It isn't.

Christina Websell wrote:


"Bobble" wrote in message
...
Jill


What a pain! I never use a debit card any more, only my credit card. I
pay in full by the due date to avoid interest, and get cash back once a
year (over $100 depending on total spent) just for using it. That way,
nobody can access my bank account.

Why do you think your credit card is safer than a debit card? It isn't.

If you claim to the credit card company that a false charge appeared on
your bill, you don't have to pay that amount until the issue is resolved.
(If it's resolved in your favor, then obviously you won't be charged for
that purchase at all.) Meanwhile, you haven't lost any money. Whereas with
a debit card, the money comes out of your account at the time of the purchase.

I haven't had this happen with my debit card, but it does worry me. My bank
has assured me that they would put the money back into my account if there
was a dispute about a purchase, but not all banks do that.

--
Joyce

Fluffy Mackerel Pudding - "Once upon a time, the world was young and the
words 'mackerel' and 'pudding' existed far, far away from one another. One
day, that all changed. And then, whoever was responsible somehow thought
the word 'fluffy' would help." -- Hilarious recipes at: www.candyboots.com

"Bastette" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:


"Bobble" wrote in message
...
Jill


What a pain! I never use a debit card any more, only my credit card.
I
pay in full by the due date to avoid interest, and get cash back once a
year (over $100 depending on total spent) just for using it. That way,
nobody can access my bank account.

Why do you think your credit card is safer than a debit card? It isn't.

If you claim to the credit card company that a false charge appeared on
your bill, you don't have to pay that amount until the issue is resolved.
(If it's resolved in your favor, then obviously you won't be charged for
that purchase at all.) Meanwhile, you haven't lost any money. Whereas with
a debit card, the money comes out of your account at the time of the
purchase.

I haven't had this happen with my debit card, but it does worry me. My
bank
has assured me that they would put the money back into my account if there
was a dispute about a purchase, but not all banks do that.

--
Joyce

Right. With a credit card, you definitely have recourse. With a debit
card, money can actually be withdrawn from your account. You may get it
back, but it will probably get time.

Joy

"Bastette" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:


"Bobble" wrote in message
...
Jill


What a pain! I never use a debit card any more, only my credit card.
I
pay in full by the due date to avoid interest, and get cash back once a
year (over $100 depending on total spent) just for using it. That way,
nobody can access my bank account.

Why do you think your credit card is safer than a debit card? It isn't.

If you claim to the credit card company that a false charge appeared on
your bill, you don't have to pay that amount until the issue is resolved.
(If it's resolved in your favor, then obviously you won't be charged for
that purchase at all.) Meanwhile, you haven't lost any money. Whereas with
a debit card, the money comes out of your account at the time of the
purchase.

I haven't had this happen with my debit card, but it does worry me. My
bank
has assured me that they would put the money back into my account if there
was a dispute about a purchase, but not all banks do that.

--
My bank assure me that they will refund anything on my debit card that goes
wrong. I've never had a credit card.