Identity Theft

An "identity thief" steals your wallet. They could:

:shrug:

unless they paid the fees.

They used one of the credit cards to fill up with gas, then threw them away. (Mainly because cards can be cancelled and rendered useless within minutes.)

Where they really struck gold was with her checkbook full of checks. She was able to cancel the account with the bank, and get a new account number, but it is truly astonishing how few store clerks will even bother verifying the ID of someone writing a check.

To wit: we got copies of some of the cancelled checks. On one of them, the thief signed my wife's name and MISSPELLED it. Any moron taking the check needed only to compare the NAME ON THE CHECK with the SIGNATURE to have some tiny whistle or bell go off. But nope, they ripped Target off $250 with that particular check.

same thing here. Typically the thief will go to a gas station (that allows CC at the pump), and buy a small amount of gas to see if the card is still valid. They will ping the card in this manner until it is reported, then they dump it.

Credit card companies now look for patterns of frequent small purchases.

Cheers
Drifter

and write an essay on the moth.

I work in a high-security environment and my wallet is stuffed with security passes, so I've had to move less essential stuff to my back wallet.

Most of that is business cards, mine or others.

Man: Someone stole my wifes credit cards
Friend: Did you report it to the Police ?
Man: No
Friend: Why not ?
Man: The person who stole it spends less than my wife !

Cheers
Drifter

right where my finances are anyway.

peace,
dp

or renew my driver's license with an ugly picture of an identity thief on it. The only credit card I've got in there is pretty much maxed out, I never carry cash, I don't have any pictures...all I carry is my driver's license and my HMO ID card (which does NOT have my social security number on it).

Oh, they could get into Costco. Can't buy anything on the card, though. I suppose they could use my debit card as a credit card if the salesperson didn't check signatures - my signature's fairly hard to copy.