Identity Theft/Scam...2nd time in 3 years

SPEEDY MCCREADY

So I get a phone call last night at work from somebody who says they are calling in regards to an unpaid debt. They lady on the phone instantly starts telling me my employer name and number, my work phone number, she even had my social security number. She is trying to get me to send her $1100 for an unpaid debt, or they are going to pursue legal action. I tell the lady that I realize this is a scam, and that I am not a fool, she starts threatening me with legal action, and then repeats my information a 2nd time, then hangs up, When I get home from work, I search her number on the internet and find out I was correct in my assumption that it was a scam. These people try to scare people into sending them money, with the threat of court action. On the phone yesterday, this lady told me if I didn't pay her today or tomorrow that she was going to have legal papers served to me at my place of employment. I knew it was a scam, yet it PISSED me off that she had my work phone number and was able to repeat it to me.

Had to cancel my checking account this morning and open up a new account. Had to check the credit bureau and make sure there were no fraudulent charges. What a pain in the ass.

Who Princess

Speedy, that sounds annoying as hell. I wonder how many people get scared and pay up. Probably enough to make the scam worthwhile for the people pulling it.

RKCNDY

You can activate credit alerts with the 3 credit reporting agencies. Go online and look for 'credit alert', you can choose different levels, all free.

Makes it harder for someone to open accounts under your name.

SPEEDY MCCREADY

Who Princess said:

Speedy, that sounds annoying as hell. I wonder how many people get scared and pay up. Probably enough to make the scam worthwhile for the people pulling it.

For the 1st 5 minutes or so, I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I know damned well I don't owe anyone any money, but damned if she didn't sound legit. She was so professional, and had ALL my personal information. I was being nice about it all, and asking questions as far as who the debt was owed to, and how long have they been trying to contact me. Then after listening to her get somewhat hostile and rude, that's when I realized it had to be a scam. Im a pretty intelligent guy, and I can spot a bullshitter a mile away, but for a few minutes on the phone, I wasn't quite sure what was going on. She gave me a name, and I already had her phone number, but when I asked for a mailing address to contact her, that's when she started to turn rude. Up until that point she was professional. Then as I asked her more questions...The more rude she became. She realized I wasn't a blithering idiot who was going to give her a $1100 payment, using a debit card, over the phone. But I am sure there are people out there who fall for this scam.

She had ALL my information.

hedonist

There's been a rash of this bullshit here, with mostly elderly folks being taken.

I despise those fuckers (the scammers, that is).

WhatYouTaughtMe

SPEEDY MCCREADY said:

Who Princess said:

Speedy, that sounds annoying as hell. I wonder how many people get scared and pay up. Probably enough to make the scam worthwhile for the people pulling it.

For the 1st 5 minutes or so, I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I know damned well I don't owe anyone any money, but damned if she didn't sound legit. She was so professional, and had ALL my personal information. I was being nice about it all, and asking questions as far as who the debt was owed to, and how long have they been trying to contact me. Then after listening to her get somewhat hostile and rude, that's when I realized it had to be a scam. Im a pretty intelligent guy, and I can spot a bullshitter a mile away, but for a few minutes on the phone, I wasn't quite sure what was going on. She gave me a name, and I already had her phone number, but when I asked for a mailing address to contact her, that's when she started to turn rude. Up until that point she was professional. Then as I asked her more questions...The more rude she became. She realized I wasn't a blithering idiot who was going to give her a $1100 payment, using a debit card, over the phone. But I am sure there are people out there who fall for this scam.

She had ALL my information.

It's the worst. I've gotten these calls multiple times. Somewhere along the way my information was compromised and sold to one of these scam companies. Thankfully they only ever can tell me the last four of my social. They often spoof their number and then change it to try and stay ahead of the authorities. You are right, it is scary when they have that information, but I like to think they wouldn't be calling me trying to get additional info if they had everything they needed to do some serious damage. They always turn hostile when you ask them to verify their address and what not. I once played dumb and even offered my "new" work address as the old one was out dated. I proceeded to give him the address of the FBI building up the road from my house and told him it was my new job. At that point he must have had technical difficulties and the call dropped.

It is scary that over half of Americans banking info was potentially accessed in the last 18 months. It certainly is a new world we live in.

Rygar

It was probably the Machinists Union.

In all seriousness, I've never received a call like that and it sounds infuriating. Sounds like you did good though!

Amongst the Ani

Sadly all that info is available online on your credit report. Anyone can pull it now. They get your name and address from a spam service and then work from there. I just don't answer calls unless I recognize the number. Anyone I don't know can leave a message and then I take it from there.

mca47

Yeah, it is scary to know that it doesn't take much for someone to get almost everything about you. I guess those are just the times we live in. Speedy was able to call this person's bullshit, but what's really sad is how they pray on the elderly.
I truly think the punishment for such crimes should be increased. These assholes do so little, yet can cause so much disruption in someone's life. I mean, the theft alone is bad enough, but to ruin someone's credit that took years to establish, and if ruined...years to repair.
Fuckers should rot in jail!

SPEEDY MCCREADY

mca47 said:

Yeah, it is scary to know that it doesn't take much for someone to get almost everything about you. I guess those are just the times we live in. Speedy was able to call this person's bullshit, but what's really sad is how they pray on the elderly.
I truly think the punishment for such crimes should be increased. These assholes do so little, yet can cause so much disruption in someone's life. I mean, the theft alone is bad enough, but to ruin someone's credit that took years to establish, and if ruined...years to repair.
Fuckers should rot in jail!

I am the elderly! !

Hahaha

mca47

SPEEDY MCCREADY said:

mca47 said:

Yeah, it is scary to know that it doesn't take much for someone to get almost everything about you. I guess those are just the times we live in. Speedy was able to call this person's bullshit, but what's really sad is how they pray on the elderly.
I truly think the punishment for such crimes should be increased. These assholes do so little, yet can cause so much disruption in someone's life. I mean, the theft alone is bad enough, but to ruin someone's credit that took years to establish, and if ruined...years to repair.
Fuckers should rot in jail!

I am the elderly! !

Hahaha

Oh yeah....


Hahahahaha!
Well, you're still sharp for you advanced age! ha!

Who Princess

SPEEDY MCCREADY said:

Who Princess said:

Speedy, that sounds annoying as hell. I wonder how many people get scared and pay up. Probably enough to make the scam worthwhile for the people pulling it.

For the 1st 5 minutes or so, I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I know damned well I don't owe anyone any money, but damned if she didn't sound legit. She was so professional, and had ALL my personal information. I was being nice about it all, and asking questions as far as who the debt was owed to, and how long have they been trying to contact me. Then after listening to her get somewhat hostile and rude, that's when I realized it had to be a scam. Im a pretty intelligent guy, and I can spot a bullshitter a mile away, but for a few minutes on the phone, I wasn't quite sure what was going on. She gave me a name, and I already had her phone number, but when I asked for a mailing address to contact her, that's when she started to turn rude. Up until that point she was professional. Then as I asked her more questions...The more rude she became. She realized I wasn't a blithering idiot who was going to give her a $1100 payment, using a debit card, over the phone. But I am sure there are people out there who fall for this scam.

She had ALL my information.

That's the thing--you and I and most people are savvy enough to confront someone like this and ask the right questions. For people who are easily intimidated or may have a lot of debt anyway, I can see them falling for it. Somebody who knows that much about you could really seem to be on the level.

It does make me wonder sometimes, when you buy a house or get a car loan, exactly who works in those offices and what could they be doing with your information.

deadendp

Because the city that I live in didn't secure their tax database well enough, some Turkish hacker group stole all of the tax information and posted it on the internet. Some vigilante city dude who wants to be mayor to "fix" everything but everyone hates him, was thinking he was doing something by "giving the people information" and posted the website on his website, thus publishing the information in two different places now. Since then, I have EVERYTHING locked down with Equifax. We cannot open credit cards, lines of credit or get loans without calling the credit agency they check with, giving them passwords, paying $5 per social to lift the freeze, then calling back after all is okay'd and paying and additional $5 to freeze the credit again. When I'm at stores and they ask, "Would you like to save a minor sum on your bill by signing up for a card?" I say, "I have everything locked down." It may not prevent the stupid calls, but it'll prevent them from actually getting a hold of your money and causing damage. I even have our daughter's SSN locked down. Many adopted children get their social security numbers stolen and though K- was only a day and a half old when we got her, I didn't want to risk it. Those kids turn 18, it's time to start their own life and they are saddled with the past debts of a criminal-- generally the birth parents. Sad.

Amongst the Ani

deadendp said:

Because the city that I live in didn't secure their tax database well enough, some Turkish hacker group stole all of the tax information and posted it on the internet. Some vigilante city dude who wants to be mayor to "fix" everything but everyone hates him, was thinking he was doing something by "giving the people information" and posted the website on his website, thus publishing the information in two different places now. Since then, I have EVERYTHING locked down with Equifax. We cannot open credit cards, lines of credit or get loans without calling the credit agency they check with, giving them passwords, paying $5 per social to lift the freeze, then calling back after all is okay'd and paying and additional $5 to freeze the credit again. When I'm at stores and they ask, "Would you like to save a minor sum on your bill by signing up for a card?" I say, "I have everything locked down." It may not prevent the stupid calls, but it'll prevent them from actually getting a hold of your money and causing damage. I even have our daughter's SSN locked down. Many adopted children get their social security numbers stolen and though K- was only a day and a half old when we got her, I didn't want to risk it. Those kids turn 18, it's time to start their own life and they are saddled with the past debts of a criminal-- generally the birth parents. Sad.

Damn. Gawd Damn.

I have to check what is happening but my info was involved when the military had lost a shit load of people's names, SS #'s, DL numbers other info. They offered me 2 years of credit monitoring to not join the class action suit. I declined the monitoring as we already have a service but I never kept up with the lawsuit. I know those things take 10 years to payout and don't care about the money as it might be $100 to $500 per person anyways. It really wasn't even their fault. Some dork IT person broke the rules and loaded the database onto a portable hard drive to do some more optimization. His house was broke into that night and the info was stolen with the laptop.

WhatYouTaughtMe

There isn't a truly secure database these days. Even the Whitehouse gets hacked.

Jason P

Do you work for federal government? Well, the Chinese now have all of your personal info.

finance.yahoo.com/news/union-hackers-personnel-data-every-federal-employee-195138422--finance.html