Identity Theft

That's great information to have. I thought you could do this by locking your credit by using your bank/s. It makes more sense to do it at the main source... credit monitoring companies.

 

Agree, but I would do the freeze option vs the lock option, and is a government required option. The freeze stops a hard credit pull period. The “lock” is similar, but it is something the credit agencies have created on their own. Probably not as robust as a freeze but I really don’t know.

Should I lock or freeze my credit reports?.


Of course you have the 3 main agencies - experian, equifax and trans union. Also there is a similar type agency for bank accounts called Chex systems. You can do a freeze with them too. Also “Innovis” although I really don’t remember what they do.

The 4th Major Credit Bureau You Probably Overlooked.

The credit monitoring is probably better than nothing, but I don’t think you are notified in real time when a new account is opened.

The freezes can all be accomplished online - off and on. When I want to get a new credit card I go unfreeze then after application freeeze it back. Takes about 1 minute for each agency.

Also for your mobile phone company most of them have porting protection and account takeover protection / sim swap protection that makes it harder for people to steal your phone number and use it for 2FA to hack your other accounts like financial accounts.

SIM Card Swapping: The Dangerous Cell Phone Scam Everyone Needs To Know About

 

My wife had to deal with this. I can’t remember if we did the freeze or lock for her.

I don’t think they got her SS which is good. But the fact they were able to create a fake Florida Drivers License with her picture was scary. Some criminal tried to buy $10K of commercial construction glue with her business credit card. The purchase was odd to the vendor and they were the ones that actually contacted her as they Drivers License was pretty much correct except they used our business address (one of the pieces of why I think they did not have her SSN) as her the address on the license. The vendor with that information was able to find out she was a dentist and questioned why she would be buying that much glue in south Florida.

I can’t stand bad people. And I think unfortunately some form of her information is compromised as it feels like every 3-4 years her business card gets compromised. Just happened again. Though not for $10K lol.

Tip we learned from the first time. These criminals will typically make small purchases to see if it is noticed before they go for the bigger ones. That said the banks (credit card companies) have gotten pretty good with their algorithms in spotting even that kind of questionable activity. The most recent one they declined multiple attempts before contacting her about suspicious activity. We actually ignored BOA and their first attempt to contact us as I don’t like to open any links from messages (text or email) that are not expected or unusual to the normal. Then she could not make a purchase one morning at the office and I signed into our account and there was a purchase we did not recognize. So called and got it handled from there. They said the suspicious activity had started a week and a half earlier. They finally shut the account down. All in all BOA was great and helpful.

 

Pretty sure the one time mine got compromised it was our server at the Atlantic Grill. It took a longer than normal time to get my card back after that meal and shortly after someone tried make purchases with our card.

You are spot on that thieves suck!

 

This thread is scary. I have to look into this because thieves suck.

 

I may try to use Apple Pay more.

I have dozens of credit cards. I get new ones that have large signup bonuses, and have others that have high rewards or cash back for certain categories. Anything that can go on a card does.

Every year or two at the most we have to swap out a card due to number theft. It just happens. Usually I notice due to notifications. The charges are always reversed.

 

Bump

My wife and I had a CC compromised over a year ago and had it cancelled. This morning we saw where it was still being tested by whoever has the info. That’s numerous attempts in the last year.

Three weeks ago we ordered on line. The following day when my wife checked our account there were unauthorized charges and once again we cancelled the CC. We have 3 CCs so we don’t go without one if we have to cancel.

About 3 months ago we received alerts through our ID theft company about suspect activity. We had to freeze the credit rating company info. What a pain in the arse.

I have a question about allowing companies to save CC info on file or somewhere in their system. Does anyone allow it? And if so have you ever had an issue with it being compromised? I ask because we allow certain businesses, mostly medical to save our CC info. With businesses being hacked is this something we should keep doing and input the CC info each time? It’s a real pain in the arse to do it each time.

Comments and suggestions welcome

 

I have a couple of companies save CC info. Delta for one. Never had a problem.
I've been using CC freezes for years. On the rare occasion someone needs to check my credit, I ask which agency they use and I can unfreeze for 24 hours, takes seconds to do.

Just started using Apple Pay, I like it.

 

I don’t have an issue with the big apps/websites. If they are breeched, a bunch of info is already compromised, nothing special about a CC#. Much more worrying when you see they get your address, email, phone, etc and try to do stuff with that.

I think most hacks are from gas stations skimmers anyway?

Not really sure what is going on with Homer’s situation. He’s saying his card was hacked and closed out, but they persistently attempt charges? Then they got his wife’s number too? Could just be a coincidence to get two separate hacks in a short time, but that isn’t typical of major apps which seem pretty secure to me. I would always suspect a gas station or local business when such issues occur, on a few occasions I had “rarely used” cards get hacked so I could basically narrow it down to 2 or 3 places. Maybe next time you get new cards, have a card that you only use for gas, another that you just use online, etc.

I would also recommend having a bunch of alerts turned on (whether by text or app alert) on all your cards so you basically know right away whenever your card is used.

 

Apple credit card will automatically change your security code every month or so if you have it turned on.

 

In some instances for recurring billing I’ll let company save it but others not. It really just depends.

Gas stations and convenience stores seem to be worse than average. It happens to us every couple of years. To a degree it is unavoidable. Whenever it happens we get new card number. If it happens again at the same place I’d be concerned either someone there is selling it/using it or perhaps they are hacked.

I keep all of our agencies credit frozen all the time and only open them to get new cards. However freezing credit won’t prevent the stolen card numbers however that is happening.

 

Will Apple Pay work at most gas stations that take tap to pay cc payment?

 

Yes

 

My guess is if they stole your identity you will be voting Democrat next election. Maybe multiple times.

 

I let some companies keep it on file. At the end of the day it is protected if someone does get it. Like you most are medical and business related. Though we do have some personal like pest and lawn service. Amazon is pretty much everyone but you would assume they are going to do a good job. If I buy something from a small company that I dont expect a monthly bill from then I will always pay as a guest. Not saying I am doing it right and I am open to change.

Good post and question as these types of questions can bring knowledge some of us might implement.

 

Thanks!

 

The only saving grace from Covid is that Apple Pay became almost universally accepted everywhere. Now, if only Walmart would get onboard with the times. They still don’t take it, lol.