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#1
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(OT) Identity Theft
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 |
#2
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(OT) Identity Theft
On 2/13/2012 7:04 AM, jmcquown 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 WoW!!!! Make sure that there aren't any other "pending" charges that you didn't make - most of the "smarter" criminals start with smaller purchases so the owner of the account won't notice! Glad Persia is (mostly) oblivious to your troubles! Give her some skritchies from me, and Weeble says you should give her nose-kissies from him! -- ^..^ This is Kitty. Copy and paste Kitty into your signature to help her wipe out Bunny's world domination. -- The ONE and ONLY lefthanded-pathetic-paranoid-psychotic-sarcastic-wiseass-ditzy former-blonde in Bloomington! (And proud of it, too)© email me at nalee1964 (at) comcast (dot) net http://community.webshots.com/user/mgcmdjeep |
#3
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(OT) Identity Theft
"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 |
#4
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(OT) Identity Theft
"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 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. DO file a police report. Just to have it on record that there was an attempt to steal from you. Credit card companies sometimes require it, from what I understand, if there is a successful theft. Jay Down the road, someone may ask you to show that police report -- your bank, your credit card company, npy you 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 |
#5
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(OT) Identity Theft
On 2012-02-13, jmcquown 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 |
#6
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(OT) Identity Theft
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 |
#7
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(OT) Identity Theft
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 |
#8
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(OT) Identity Theft
"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. That's scary. At least Walmart are giving your money back. I agree that you should involve the police. Identity theft like this is taken very seriously here and it would be great if the boys in blue were waiting for him when he picked his laptop up. |
#9
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(OT) Identity Theft
In article , "jmcquown" wrote:
Alternate pickup person, someone named William Nguyen in Westminster, The Vietnamese gangs in Westminster and Garden Grove (aka Garbage Grove) are well known here, especially for violent home invasion robberies. This is the first I've heard of identity theft, although there's no reason (yet) to associate it with the gangs. Good luck - I hope it doesn't snowball. Art, a few miles down the freeway from that area |
#10
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(OT) Identity Theft
Cheryl wrote: A lot of local businesses don't take cheques any more. I've gotten right out of the habit of using my chequebook. If they "don't take" checks (cheques) they do without my business! |
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