Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Rockrivr1 on August 12, 2005, 04:21:46 AM
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Ok, due to my own stupidity in answering a bogus Paypal email my identity has now been compromised. They have information on me and I've just completed cancelling all my credit cards and changing pin numbers etc.
So my question is this. What now? What should I do to make sure they don't start ordering Credit Cards in my name and social? What other precautions do I need to follow to make sure I'm covered besides calling my bank and credit card companies?
Has this happened to anyone else? Damn, I'm usually pretty good about this stuff, but this one caught me off guard. They were pretty damn sneaky to. THey had the right web site name. It was just off by a very little. Grrrrrrr. Stupid stupid stupid!!!
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Well, I'm sure we've all encountered e-mail like this. Basically, never answer them again. If a company really needs to contact you, you DID give them your phone number. No legitimate company I've dealt with asked for CC numbers or SSN over the internet, that's usually done all over the phone.
Next time you see a message like that, wait 24 hours before reading it again, contact the company and ASK if they sent it, etc.
I hope you get things straightened out soon.
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Go to one or all of the credit reporting agencies and put a fraud alert on your credit report. This will make it harder for thieves to open new credit in your name without you knowing about it...
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Also contact the federal trade commision by telephone 1-877-438-4338. Go to this link as well. http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/
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RaqgedClaws beat me to it.
In addition, take advantage of being able to order one free credit report per year. Every 4 months order one from one of the three big agencies, rotating through them. Read it carefully and keep doing it.
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When you get emails that you don't trust (or asks for this information) click on the TO: FROM: SUBJECT bar (usually gray and it's not in the text of the email) and then left click for properties.
Then read where it came from... it will most likely be a yahoo or some third party address.
Forward that email to the ISP where it came from, the FBI, the FTC, (and if you're me, I forward it to Customs).
Also, don't reply through email. Go to the bank, ebay, whereever it came from and then go into your account (login). If they need information they will send you a message within their system and will give you a number to call.
Hope everything works out well for you, and put the fraud alert flag on the three credit places.
Wayne