Identity Theft

"I thought it would never happen to me. After all, I'm very careful with my credit/debit cards."

That's a quote that has probably been made by a number of people. Then BAM!! Their hit with transactions they Didn't make. Up to this point I would've considered myself very safe when it comes to keeping my identity my own. Not anymore.

Today (November 5th) I received my statement from the Credit Union. Not the account Kristy and I share mind you. It's an account I use for business and gifts for Kristy. It didn't take me long, while looking over my statement, to notice something really, really wrong. Starting on the 24th of October, someone started using my debit card on various websites. There were charges from places like emusic.com, deeds4dollars.com, gmoney.com, spanishlangcds.com, and a few others I couldn't quite make out on the statement. The Deeds 4 Dollars one charges me one transaction of $86.97. After looking further, I noticed charges totalling over $130.

I quickly got on the phone to call my bank. Turns out the bank had already cut off my debit card after an independent company affiliated with M.F.C.U alerted them to. These charges were made on October the 23rd and 24th. The bank gave me the number to the place that looks for these things. Turns out they tried to contact me on the 24th, but had an old phone number.

Now remember, I got the statement on the 5th. Lucky for me, the company noticed there was a problem and cut the card off quickly. I could have had my entire checking account wiped out. That's a scary thought. I'm really happy with my bank for checking these things out. They told me the transactions were all made early in the morning, between the hours of 2am and 4am for example. I'm going to my bank in the morning to fill out the appropriate paper work. I'm almost sure I won't see a dime of the money back. The lady at the bank basically broke that to me on the phone.

I use my debit card for online purchases, business type transactions, and gifts. I thought I checked the validity of these companies thoroughly. I was wrong, and you could be too. All I can say is keep a record of when and where you use your debit card, especially when it comes to online purchases. Apparently I wasn't being as careful as I thought. I thank God I was only hit for around $130, versus being totally wiped out of my personal cash savings.