Identity Theft!

So the Oscars are over.

In the middle of the telecast, I get a call from my bank. It was an automated call. They wanted to confirm some activity on my account. The charge to Spin? Yep, I did that. The charge to the Outdoor Grill? Yep I did that. A $1 Paypal charge...I don't recall doing that...but I suppose it wasn't a big deal...A$1472.01 charge to some random place in Barcelona...um...I'm pretty sure I didn't do that.

So I call the fraud people. There is a charge to some travel agency/ticket place in Barcelona. I tell the bank I didn't do it. They tell me the charge hasn't gone through yet. I tell them to stop payment, they tell me they can't. We have to wait for the payment to clear, then an investigation can go through. I ask more about this place where the charge went to. There is no contact info. Just a name and a location. In the course of looking into this, I'm checking my bank account online. I notice that someone transferred all of the money in my savings account into my checking account, and then they made the charge. The first transfer was made on Tuesday...the day I'm in school all day and certainly not making any transfers. The second transfer was made today. I didn't make either one of those transfers. I tell them this, and they tell me the transfer way made on the computer...I told them I didn't do it. So someone has had access to my computer self and used it to get the little money I had in my savings account and send it to Spain.

So I take this matter into my own hands and do a Google Search for this ticket place in Barcelona. I find a web site and a phone number. I've been waiting for them to open, and I just called them. They have no account under my name, but they'll be searching for the charge under my credit card number and when they find it, they promise they'll delete it. They are having a hard time finding it, because there is no record under my name, and the amount I told them is in dollars and all of their transactions are in Euros. I asked them what exactly they sell? Tickets to football games and concert tickets. Looks like someone identity frauded me to get to the UEFA Cup. Hopefully they will find the charge and stop payment on it. I'll have to call them back.

In the meantime, I've been told to shut down my checking and savings accounts. This looks like it'll be a real mess. How did whoever it was get access to my online banking and my debit card info?

Bah! Tomorrow will be a day of lots of errands...going to the bank and so on errands.

I'm unhappy that someone did this to me. I'm happy my bank called me right away and that I'm working on taking care of it before the jerks even get their tickets. I hope they get caught and go to prison.

Identity Theft Update

Well...an update. It turns out that the perp also opened an account at epassporte.com using my info and took out $300. So currently, the criminal took all the money I have and has left me penniless. But, the bank will refund the $300, I called epassporte.com and cancelled that account, and the mass of my money is still pending and so not actually gone.

I found the company on the internet this money was supposed to go to (in Barcelona) and called them up. They found the charge and it was made by a guy in London. They did further checks, and this guy placed orders using other credit cards as well...so the Barcelona company called the London police and will try to get ahold of the other credit card holders. They said they wouldn't process the charge if I sent them a fax saying I didn't place it and sent in a copy of my ID proving who I am. So after faxing away, hopefully the money won't actually be taken out of my account. I did further Googling on the guy's name (I don't want to say in case the London police are doing some sort of sting) and I found people complaing of him doing ebay scams. So all around this guy seems like a piece of work.

More good news. Going into the branch today I learned that the villian didn't have access to my online banking. The transfer was an automatic one to cover the large order he placed...so that, at least, is not compromised. The blackguard *only* had my checking account number and debit card info.

So I opened a new checking account, have to wait for all my pending charges to clear before closing my old account (and hope the swine doesn't take my paycheck that will soon be arriving) and doing the long, involved process of switching over my direct deposits and autopay stuff.