Have you ever been a victim of identity theft?

[swagsurfer02]

Saturday morning at about 4am I received the following text:

We look forward to your arrival to Hilton Queenstown Resort & Spa! Here is a link (http://kipsu.co/5kzA) with some useful information about hotel facilities. Please reply here if we can provide any assistance or you have any suggestions! - Aldrich

Thinking it was spam, I rolled back over and went to sleep. Then 3 minutes later I get another text:

Dear Mr. Swag, thank you for your loyalty as a Hilton Diamond Member, we are happy to welcome you please drop by the desk upon your arrival so we could explain to you your benefits. Thank you and see you - Aldrich

I thought it was kind of weird but just went back to sleep. When I woke up, I decided to check my Hilton App. Sure as shit it said so had a reservation for April 8th-April 11th. I checked which hotel the reservations were made for and it was in New Zealand. Also, for guests names was mine and some Asian sounding name. It also looked like the mobile key had already been used.

I contacted Hilton. They put me in contact with the General Manager of the hotel. This person had checked in and used 218,000 of my 280,000 points for a stay. Fortunately they didn’t have any of my other info and they used what I presume is their own credit card. Long story short, they disabled the room key and when the person came to the front desk to get into the room, they kicked this individual out.

Took a few days for the Hilton Fraud team to get me another account and restore my points. What a pain in the ass, also these types of people should be hung.

 

[bhawk24bob]

Twice, once including my fingerprints. T's and P's.

 

[Hawkman98]

Saturday morning at about 4am I received the following text:

We look forward to your arrival to Hilton Queenstown Resort & Spa! Here is a link (http://kipsu.co/5kzA) with some useful information about hotel facilities. Please reply here if we can provide any assistance or you have any suggestions! - Aldrich

Thinking it was spam, I rolled back over and went to sleep. Then 3 minutes later I get another text:

Dear Mr. Swag, thank you for your loyalty as a Hilton Diamond Member, we are happy to welcome you please drop by the desk upon your arrival so we could explain to you your benefits. Thank you and see you - Aldrich

I thought it was kind of weird but just went back to sleep. When I woke up, I decided to check my Hilton App. Sure as shit it said so had a reservation for April 8th-April 11th. I checked which hotel the reservations were made for and it was in New Zealand. Also, for guests names was mine and some Asian sounding name. It also looked like the mobile key had already been used.

I contacted Hilton. They put me in contact with the General Manager of the hotel. This person had checked in and used 218,000 of my 280,000 points for a stay. Fortunately they didn’t have any of my other info and they used what I presume is their own credit card. Long story short, they disabled the room key and when the person came to the front desk to get into the room, they kicked this individual out.

Took a few days for the Hilton Fraud team to get me another account and restore my points. What a pain in the ass, also these types of people should be hung.

So they had the people in the room and possibly their personal credit card info and didn't call the police? They will continue to do this to others because there are no consequences.

 

[Gonolz]

I've always wondered how @FSUTribe76 gets to travel so often to exotic places. New Zealand is his favorite!

 

[Tenacious E]

Saturday morning at about 4am I received the following text:

We look forward to your arrival to Hilton Queenstown Resort & Spa! Here is a link (http://kipsu.co/5kzA) with some useful information about hotel facilities. Please reply here if we can provide any assistance or you have any suggestions! - Aldrich

Thinking it was spam, I rolled back over and went to sleep. Then 3 minutes later I get another text:

Dear Mr. Swag, thank you for your loyalty as a Hilton Diamond Member, we are happy to welcome you please drop by the desk upon your arrival so we could explain to you your benefits. Thank you and see you - Aldrich

I thought it was kind of weird but just went back to sleep. When I woke up, I decided to check my Hilton App. Sure as shit it said so had a reservation for April 8th-April 11th. I checked which hotel the reservations were made for and it was in New Zealand. Also, for guests names was mine and some Asian sounding name. It also looked like the mobile key had already been used.

I contacted Hilton. They put me in contact with the General Manager of the hotel. This person had checked in and used 218,000 of my 280,000 points for a stay. Fortunately they didn’t have any of my other info and they used what I presume is their own credit card. Long story short, they disabled the room key and when the person came to the front desk to get into the room, they kicked this individual out.

Took a few days for the Hilton Fraud team to get me another account and restore my points. What a pain in the ass, also these types of people should be hung.

Once about 5 to 10 years ago. My USAA account was hacked and they changed the notifications email address, so I had no idea someone opened a bank account in my name. Damaged my credit for a bit but USAA got it sorted out. It was then the first place/website I used that then required dual authentication.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

Two attempts, two failures.

I was a CFO for a company. The controller got an email from the CEO and me telling him to wire $380k to a bank in China. Only the emails to him were fake.

He said an email to the bank to initiate the wire and then left for the day. The Bank needed verbal verification and couldn't get a hold of him to they called me. I stopped it ... but that could have been a disaster.

On the personal side, someone tried to get my bank to send them $30,000 from my HELOC. When the bank called to verify that transaction, my phone had been forwarded to the crook. He didn't have my passcode, and the dumass had an english accent. The bank ended up calling my wife (no pics) who handed me her phone and got I got that one stopped.

 

[QChawks]

 

[Derekd3408]

Once about 5 years ago. Full on identity theft. Had my SSN and made CCs in my name, purchased a camper with a loan in my name, and so on. Was a pain in the ass. I've had people steal my debit card info and clean my account out about 5 times in the last 15 years, that ones also fun to get fixed.

 

[nolesincebirth]

Nothing major but yeah.

1. Few years ago I get the mail and I have a check from US Treasury for more than $20k. This is interesting because I never get a refund, I always owe, and I hadn’t even filed taxes yet. Someone stole my SSN and filed a fake return.

2. Last year I get a call from an attorney forwarding me some paperwork from another “attorney” who was using my name and Bar number.

 

[Hawki97]

No, but I get confused for Peter North all the time.

 

[lucas80]

No, but I get confused for Peter North all the time.

Didn’t he die of AIDS? Plus, he was a switch hitter, Bro.

 

[lucas80]

So they had the people in the room and possibly their personal credit card info and didn't call the police? They will continue to do this to others because there are no consequences.

Sure, but then they’d have to be involved and use their resources to help out. Walmart is the worst about this. Have you run into this at work? They call the police and press charges over the smallest theft, but if your card gets hacked and someone drains your account at a Walmart they don’t give AF. It happened to my wife. Hills Bank contacted the local police in a suburb of Minneapolis where the account was drained and they couldn’t even be bothered to assist the officer with looking at the security footage. The person used the card five times at the customer service desk before the theft protection kicked in and Visa called us about the usage. Walmart doesn’t care because they aren’t out any money.

 

[lucas80]

Two attempts, two failures.

I was a CFO for a company. The controller got an email from the CEO and me telling him to wire $380k to a bank in China. Only the emails to him were fake.

He said an email to the bank to initiate the wire and then left for the day. The Bank needed verbal verification and couldn't get a hold of him to they called me. I stopped it ... but that could have been a disaster.

On the personal side, someone tried to get my bank to send them $30,000 from my HELOC. When the bank called to verify that transaction, my phone had been forwarded to the crook. He didn't have my passcode, and the dumass had an english accent. The bank ended up calling my wife (no pics) who handed me her phone and got I got that one stopped.

No offense, but it amazes me how far along some of these scams get. We have layers upon layers, and it’s drilled into everyone to question everything at work. We have had multiple cards hacked, and multiple employees have their identities stolen. It seems like the hotels are the weak link.

 

[Hawki97]

Didn’t he die of AIDS? Plus, he was a switch hitter, Bro.

NTTAWWT

 

[onlyTheObvious]

Yes. $100k on a credit card that had a $15k max.

Credit card investigator told me how they pulled it off. Created bank accounts under my name to make payments in the credit card. Credit card company freed up the credit before the checks cleared. Changed our address so we didn’t get any of the bills.

From an outsiders point of view, truly a thing of beauty. They bought dozens of phones and expensive clothes from Europe.

Eventually it all caught up and we paid nothing and never hired a lawyer to help.

Investigator told us they have all your info and in a few years they will try again. I really don’t care. It’s up to the credit card companies to do better. Dipshit Capital One didn’t think it was odd somebody was buying 6 to 8 iPhones at once or buying stuff from Europe when we never had before. All after our address changed. Guessing their IT dept Fraud software sucked ass at the time.

Probably 3-4 other times for a couple hundred dollars on credit card. Interesting thing was it happened to me and another after dining at Buffalo Wild Wings on Cedar Falls. Perhaps somebody had a side gig.

 

[Derekd3408]

No offense, but it amazes me how far along some of these scams get. We have layers upon layers, and it’s drilled into everyone to question everything at work. We have had multiple cards hacked, and multiple employees have their identities stolen. It seems like the hotels are the weak link.

Hotels are definitely the issue. Never had problems before or after I was staying 180+ nights in hotels a year.

 

[swagsurfer02]

So they had the people in the room and possibly their personal credit card info and didn't call the police? They will continue to do this to others because there are no consequences.

I specifically asked about my credit card being used because it was the first thing that crossed my mind. According to the GM the individual used a credit card with the other name on the guest line. I also checked my credit card. There were no charges to it.

I did mention I wanted the person prosecuted.

 

[PoopandBoogers]

Twice, both probably 10 yrs ago. Once found 3 or 4 bogus charges on my cc at gas stations 50 miles away in Ft. Pierce, Fl. Got reimbursed for those. Another time my cc alerted me and asked if I was making a purchase at a gamestop in Orlando, told them no. I have no idea if they busted the lowlifes on that one. Had to get new cards and deal with the hassle of changing the #s on all my accounts, but was happy Chase reacted like they did.

Looking back on it at the time, there was an incident a week before at a Wendy's, where I remember one of the workers telling me that the card reader at the register wasn't working, so he bent down and used a "temporary" one under the counter. Mfr probably skimmed mine right there.

 

[Nole-4-Life]

No...probably because if they did they'd run me down to give it back.

 

[TJ8869]

Didn’t he die of AIDS? Plus, he was a switch hitter, Bro.

I’m pretty sure Peter North is still alive. You might be thinking of John Holmes.

 

[lucas80]

I’m pretty sure Peter North is still alive. You might be thinking of John Holmes.

So he is. Peter North is in his 60s and retired after 2558 credited roles. Basically the Cal Ripken of porn.

 

[TJ8869]

So he is. Peter North is in his 60s and retired after 2558 credited roles. Basically the Cal Ripken of porn.

Little known fact about Wally Pipp - after losing his job as the Yankees’ starting first baseman in 1925 to a young Lou Gehrig, Pipp spent three moderately productive seasons with the Cincinnati Reds.

He then transitioned to a career in pornographic movies and was featured in 2169 credited roles. It was thought to be an unbreakable record and it stood for several decades.

 

[prlyles]

A local church hired a contractor to do some remodeling. The contractor sent the church a bill with a link to do a bank transfer. Th church got the bill on Friday but didn’t pay until Monday. The pulled up the contractors email and done the bank transfer. A few days later they got a call from the contractor wanting to know when they were going to pay it. They check their account and $875,000 had been drained from the account. They had gotten two emails from the contractor.
the second one was fake and was just like the real one, only the link was to a http address instead of a https address and the email address was one letter differen. So far the church has not been able to get any of their money back.

 

[JRHawk2003]

Yes. With my tax return. Someone filed a return with my SS and my CPA caught it.

Now when I file I get a PIN mailed to me snail mail in order to file.

 

[BubsFinn]

If you’re ever victimized again, send me your SSN, address, mother’s maiden name, the name of your first pet, the street you grew up on, and your DoB and I’ll fix it for you.
I’ll give you a discount too because I’m a nice guy.



May as well include your blood type and the make and model of your car.

 

[Urohawk]

Seven times I think:

1. Called Sprint and changed my account with last 4 of SS#. Changed address and ordered 3 palm Trios to NYC. I only found out after Sprint texted my cell saying my bills weren't paid for 3 months. I didn't pay attention because I just wrote the check when I got the bill. No bill=No checks. Called NYPD. They sent a car out the residence the phones got mailed to. Was put on a watch list for other stolen goods. Said most likely the thief lives nearby and watches fedex/ups drop off the packages and intercepts them because they know when the person goes to work. Couldn't get a warrant for a search unless the person answered the door with a palm trio in their hand. (Circa 2007-8 when ring doorbell didn't exist). 3 months later they called and were closing the case due to lack of new evidence. Said they only follow cases with 50K or more of money lost.

2. Took out loan for 5K at Michigan Indian casino using a faked paystub from Wichita dental office (apparently I moonlight as a hygenist) and wired money to a bank in Missouri. I found out about it because the collection agency got my number from my mom. I was on vacation and she thought "United Legal" was from United Airlines and had some issue with my flight. Threatened to sue me for the 5K unless I paid the loan and a 2K penalty. My neighbor was an attorney and said he would represent me in court. Said the judges get ultra pissed at these lawyers. A lawyer will get 50+ cases that have gone to collections. Most are real and the people are too afraid to show in court because they fear jail time but the lawyer just wants their wages garnished. People like me (a doctor in the community) with identity theft show up to court and the judge berates the lawyer for wasting my time and not doing the due diligence required. This took 9 months to fix. I had to back trace through five collections agencies because they all bought my debt very cheaply and it kept getting sold. The Indian casino wouldn't give me any of the application information for police evidence (because I could be doing identity theft). I argued they cared about that but not giving me 5K. They did give me the account the money was deposited into but that bank wouldn't cooperate either for fear of giving information used in identity theft. They would only hand over documents to a subpoena.

3. Three fake credit cards. I have a credit monitoring service now and preemptively called home depot to tell them I didn't ask for a credit card. They were confused because the guy on security said no one ever preemptively prevented an identity theft.

4. Bought land in Pennsylvania even though I've never been there. Never found out if this was a credit report error or an identity theft.

5. Had my credit card skimmed and bought some "gangsta clothes" in Long Beach, CA. Not really identity theft but fraud.

6. Had my taxes filed for a refund. I owe every year.

 

[HawCory]

If you’re ever victimized again, send me your SSN, address, mother’s maiden name, the name of your first pet, the street you grew up on, and your DoB and I’ll fix it for you.
I’ll give you a discount too because I’m a nice guy.



May as well include your blood type and the make and model of your car.

 

[ping72]

Seven times I think:

1. Called Sprint and changed my account with last 4 of SS#. Changed address and ordered 3 palm Trios to NYC. I only found out after Sprint texted my cell saying my bills weren't paid for 3 months. I didn't pay attention because I just wrote the check when I got the bill. No bill=No checks. Called NYPD. They sent a car out the residence the phones got mailed to. Was put on a watch list for other stolen goods. Said most likely the thief lives nearby and watches fedex/ups drop off the packages and intercepts them because they know when the person goes to work. Couldn't get a warrant for a search unless the person answered the door with a palm trio in their hand. (Circa 2007-8 when ring doorbell didn't exist). 3 months later they called and were closing the case due to lack of new evidence. Said they only follow cases with 50K or more of money lost.

2. Took out loan for 5K at Michigan Indian casino using a faked paystub from Wichita dental office (apparently I moonlight as a hygenist) and wired money to a bank in Missouri. I found out about it because the collection agency got my number from my mom. I was on vacation and she thought "United Legal" was from United Airlines and had some issue with my flight. Threatened to sue me for the 5K unless I paid the loan and a 2K penalty. My neighbor was an attorney and said he would represent me in court. Said the judges get ultra pissed at these lawyers. A lawyer will get 50+ cases that have gone to collections. Most are real and the people are too afraid to show in court because they fear jail time but the lawyer just wants their wages garnished. People like me (a doctor in the community) with identity theft show up to court and the judge berates the lawyer for wasting my time and not doing the due diligence required. This took 9 months to fix. I had to back trace through five collections agencies because they all bought my debt very cheaply and it kept getting sold. The Indian casino wouldn't give me any of the application information for police evidence (because I could be doing identity theft). I argued they cared about that but not giving me 5K. They did give me the account the money was deposited into but that bank wouldn't cooperate either for fear of giving information used in identity theft. They would only hand over documents to a subpoena.

3. Three fake credit cards. I have a credit monitoring service now and preemptively called home depot to tell them I didn't ask for a credit card. They were confused because the guy on security said no one ever preemptively prevented an identity theft.

4. Bought land in Pennsylvania even though I've never been there. Never found out if this was a credit report error or an identity theft.

5. Had my credit card skimmed and bought some "gangsta clothes" in Long Beach, CA. Not really identity theft but fraud.

6. Had my taxes filed for a refund. I owe every year.

Wow… i’m starting to suspect those vampire girls you were trolling weren’t actually vampire girls.

 

[Joes Place]

Bears........Beets.........Battlestar Galactica...

 

[Urohawk]

Wow… i’m starting to suspect those vampire girls you were trolling weren’t actually vampire girls.

No they were Nigerian princesses.

 

[SF HAWKEYE]

Luckily no, but I've had friends get burned. One had 400 pairs of sunglasses purchased. They were able to see the last time his card was used to the the fraudulent use and track it to a restaurant in SF. They found one of the waiters had a thing called a cricket or something like that.
It was basically a wallet sized card reader he kept in his pocket. Everytime he took someone's payment he ran their card through the machine. He then sold all the cards he collected to some fraud people for $10 per card.

 

[Hawkman98]

Saturday morning at about 4am I received the following text:

We look forward to your arrival to Hilton Queenstown Resort & Spa! Here is a link (http://kipsu.co/5kzA) with some useful information about hotel facilities. Please reply here if we can provide any assistance or you have any suggestions! - Aldrich

Thinking it was spam, I rolled back over and went to sleep. Then 3 minutes later I get another text:

Dear Mr. Swag, thank you for your loyalty as a Hilton Diamond Member, we are happy to welcome you please drop by the desk upon your arrival so we could explain to you your benefits. Thank you and see you - Aldrich

I thought it was kind of weird but just went back to sleep. When I woke up, I decided to check my Hilton App. Sure as shit it said so had a reservation for April 8th-April 11th. I checked which hotel the reservations were made for and it was in New Zealand. Also, for guests names was mine and some Asian sounding name. It also looked like the mobile key had already been used.

I contacted Hilton. They put me in contact with the General Manager of the hotel. This person had checked in and used 218,000 of my 280,000 points for a stay. Fortunately they didn’t have any of my other info and they used what I presume is their own credit card. Long story short, they disabled the room key and when the person came to the front desk to get into the room, they kicked this individual out.

Took a few days for the Hilton Fraud team to get me another account and restore my points. What a pain in the ass, also these types of people should be hung.

So they had the people in the room and possibly their personal credit card info and didn't call the police? They will contniue to do this to others because there are no consequences.

Sure, but then they’d have to be involved and use their resources to help out. Walmart is the worst about this. Have you run into this at work? They call the police and press charges over the smallest theft, but if your card gets hacked and someone drains your account at a Walmart they don’t give AF. It happened to my wife. Hills Bank contacted the local police in a suburb of Minneapolis where the account was drained and they couldn’t even be bothered to assist the officer with looking at the security footage. The person used the card five times at the customer service desk before the theft protection kicked in and Visa called us about the usage. Walmart doesn’t care because they aren’t out any money.

No that's not the response we get from our Walmart or any other business. I'd be pissed if the business made no attempt to help out.