Thursday, May 8, 2008

Identity Crisis

Lately, I have been getting a number of automated phone messages on my cell phone... and I have been immediately hanging up on the caller. I frequently get these messages from the Red Cross, etc. Well, the pesky company started to call my work number... and I took notice... it was my credit card company.

When I called the company back, I was transferred to their fraud investigation department. The department starts asking questions, like: Have you recently been buying auto parts in Equador? Do you know someone in Equador? Have you been travelling out of the country recently?

Thank goodness for such flags on the account! Evidently, someone somewhere made a copy of my card and has been using it in South America. They had made 2 transactions to date on the account, little by almost any standard (totalling $50.00 US), but the second purchase was larger than the first and there were 8 additional purchaces that had not been posted to our account (as of the time of my call). It's kind of scary that my identity and the identity of my card could be stolen, even when I shred or burn mail, and don't make many purchases online. But, thank goodness for fraud investigation departments... and their willingness to harass the customer!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

gasp! that is so scary!

how in the world did they manage to photo copy your card if they live in ecuador?!?

Pete/Heidi said...

I have no idea! The lady from the fraud department said that the crooks stealing identities must be pretty smart, and would be very useful if they found a job to put their mind to... Heidi

Cami said...

Wow! That's crazy...I hope this can get resolved quickly for you. There are way too many people out there that aren't honest. good thing your company called you and that they were paying attention for suspicious activity.

Anonymous said...

Hi Heidi!

This is your cousin Angie. I just ran across your blog. I love what you've done to your house! Post a few more pictures when you can!

How crazy about this identity situation!!!! Did you call the number on the back of your card, or the number that they left a message on your phone to call?

Hopefully you nipped it in the bud!
-Angela

Yvonne said...

That is too weird, good thing you took the call!

Pete/Heidi said...

They were able to cancel my card, and thank goodness there is a clause in the credit card that identifies "the cardholder is not responsible for fraudulent charges". Heidi