Personal information stolen!!

[Blondie70]

Is Lifelock chasing that down for you? To help to catch who ever did this. Why didn't Lifelock get wind of this when the address was changed? Wasn't it a drastic enough alarm of the address change for LL to call you to ask you if you changed it?

 

Lifelock told us if someone is using our SS# and the transaction requires any kind of credit check....new car, mortgage, etc, then they are on it. With this transaction, from everything the cc company believed, it was us, the account holder, making the address and phone number changes. They believed that because the only piece of personal information they did NOT have was the one little security password...which I'm sure folks forget all the time....but WE have never forgotten. There were no charges out of the ordinary (which is what happened to us before when our Discover card # was stolen) for amount or geographical area that would've flagged the account changes for anyone. Lifelock added all the appropriate flags to our account to keep an eye out for future further action....as clarea mentioned previously, "for something bigger"... but except for the account info change allowed by the cc company, there was no "use" of the cc and no "use" of our personal information...yet.

[Blondie70]

My co worker was just contacted by the State of Michigan (where they have never lived or visited) to provide tax information for them to complete their return. The crooks had their names, DOB, SS# etc just not a W2. There was no fraudulent CC activity just their identity stolen to get tax money. They have never been on a cruise or out of the country. There are very clever people out there working hard to get our identities.

 

I completely agree and hope this had nothing to do with a cruiseline employee! Both my husband and I are in professions that we're familiar with cc abuse and identify theft offenses. Plus, we've previously twice had other credit cards fraudulently used. The cc companies both times caught that activity pretty quickly because it was out of the ordinary geographical area or spending amount for us. (That was a good feeling!) Unfortunately, as Karen mentioned above, LEAs are still hesitant to investigate identify theft, and I think still a bit lost as to how to go about it since the actors are so technologically savvy and it's easy to "get lost" in the web space.

 

If we are able to track down the source of this, I will surely come back and share--and would likely delete my entire post! I would NEVER want a known false allegation to continue being shared about a cruise line. I love cruising too much!! :)

Edited March 15, 2015 by Blondie70

[Big_G]

 

Law Enforcement couldn't have cared less. I had the address in St. Louis where the camera was supposed to be shipped but neither St. Louis PD or my local PD wanted to be bothered with it :rolleyes:

 

In cases of long distance identity theft, sometimes it's better to make the complaint with the Secret Service than you're local PD. More resources and larger jurisdiction. They are charged with those types of investigations and may take it up if they feel it's an organized group or a part of a large scale hack. Credit card companies can be difficult to deal with at the local level because usually it's small scale and they don't care to pursue it. Once they cover the loss, you become a witness and the card company becomes the victim.

 

As for why the OP's card was never used? Once they establish a new address they can apply for more cards in the OP's name using the card only as reference and not tipping the OP off by making purchases. One other poster alluded to this when they suggested checking your credit report for any new credit applications.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Big_G

[Blondie70]

As for why the OP's card was never used? Once they establish a new address they can apply for more cards in the OP's name using the card only as reference and not tipping the OP off by making purchases. One other poster alluded to this when they suggested checking your credit report for any new credit applications.

 

I agree, Gregg. We already contacted LifeLock and they have all hands on deck watching for future activity. It's just very frustrating when we've done all the experts say to do to keep your info safe (i.e., calling the cc company when making a large purchase or going on a trip, being a member of LifeLock) and something like this still happens.

 

This particular instance is ALL because the cc company allowed the person to make changes on our account WITHOUT that one little security password. That's what that stupid one little word is for!!! We're also, of course, calling our other cc companies to let them know of the breach. If it's completely unrelated to our cruise, then the person might have our other financial information also.

 

I really appreciate all the feedback. One MORE reason I love CC!

[Aggravation]

28 posts and nobody has hung this on Dynamic Dining - slipping out there, Cruise Cynics.

[sjb317]

Just wondering if you have any thoughts, then, why a typical "hacker" would not use the cc (in a month's time) AND would change the cc mailing address? Thanks for the input.

 

Possibly to use the new address to get new credit cards in your name?

 

Sherri:)

[Blondie70]

Possibly to use the new address to get new credit cards in your name? Sherri:)

 

Thanks, Sherri! We have LifeLock on notice to keep an eye out for new accounts. I understand the "flag" to that happening is that a credit report will be run. If anyone knows any different please let me know.

[Life is Good Cruising]

I am sorry to hear about your misfortune with your personal information. I know the feeling. Hackers have scanning devices in which they can copy your cc info without your knowledge. I highly doubt it had anything to do with RCI. You may never know how they were able to obtain all your personal information. We've been a victim twice of Identity theft. First time about 10 years when they somehow obtained our cc# and was able to get an AM X replacement card sent to their address along with cash withdrawals on our Discover card. I won't get into how that scam happened but AM X said it was new to them.

 

Again last year someone filed **OUR** IRS return and received our tax refund. When a hacker has your cc#, they can sit back for months before trying to use the card. Don't know what goes through a hacker's mind in waiting to use a cc. When they have your ss#, they can also hold onto that number for many years before applying for cc, loans or even a car purchase. By changing the mailing address, there's a possibility that they will apply for new credit cards and make the minimum payment and rack up those charges. We file a police report and even gave them the address where the new cc was sent and they couldn't do much as the address was a huge housing project.

 

We were not liable for any purchases and the cash advances they made, but it was a total PITA. We now use a pin # to file our taxes and have alerts set up with the credit bureaus.

 

Also, all those pre approved cc applications you receive in the mail need to be shredded.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Life is Good Cruising

[Blondie70]

Also, all those pre approved cc applications you receive in the mail need to be shredded.

 

It really is crazy, Linda, how much havoc one little breach can cause. Since we do ALL of the things the experts recommend to protect our info, it was really just too much of a coincidence regarding the timing of the breach and our cruise. We shred everything with personal info on it...we are members of LifeLock....we have security passwords on all our cc accounts....we call our cc companies before large purchases or trips, etc, etc, etc. Due to my profession, I've even given speeches on protecting your identity. In the end, all of that is only as reliable as each individual employee at each business that has your personal information--yes that includes the cruise line, along with your cc company, your dr's office, and your financial institution. If one rouge employee along the way wants your information, they can get it. I'm convinced that to have both my husband's and my information, it would have to have been something outside a regular merchant transaction. It would have to be garnered from a complete database of some sort, containing all our info, that was hacked or accessed legitimately by an aforementioned type of employee.

 

Again, if my warning helps one other person catch a breach in their information security, it's worth mentioning.

[woldig120]

I know all the replies have been about American credit cards. I live in England and the following information may be of interest.

I have not had any credit card stolen or the address changed.

If I make an online purchase, one of the banks will send a text message to my cell phone with a pin number which I have to insert in a box on the invoice on the screen. This pin is only valid for that purchase and expires after ten minutes.

With another card, I have to put randomly selected letters or numbers from my password. These are changed for each purchase so a hacker would only have three digits from my password and would have great difficulty getting the rest of them.

I also tell my CC issuers if I am going to use them abroad.

[setsail]

All I can think of is that they were setting up for something bigger.

 

Pretty much. New address is set to receive tax refunds, part of the tax fraud going around. Its reported that these address can be receiving several tax refunds. OP has not filed taxes yet, I would be all over that, especially if a refund was given in your past refunds

[RDC1]

Anthem? Anyone?

 

Medical records is one of the major sources of identity information. It is one place that has cc information, ss numbers, date of birth, etc.

[CruisinDawn]

Sorry this happened but we have NEVER had to give SSN to anyone for a cruise. So I am surprised / confused who you gave yours to.

Was my first thought :eek:

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[cruisinfanatic]

I believed we had to list our SS#s when making reservations online. From your input, though, it sounds like I am remembering that wrong.

 

However, the other information the person had to have for the credit card company: current address, BOTH our names, BOTH our dobs, etc, could not have been garnered by a regular merchant pre-cruise. Additionally, the lack of fraudulent use of the card was really a give-away. We've had our cc info stolen before, and they immediately USE the card, of course. This had been over a month, with NO activity. We were thankful for that, but it is not typical credit card theft behavior.

Never is this info asked for

[mollyeilis]

"We've had our cc info stolen before, and they immediately USE the card, of course."

 

No way to know this. Most of the time, from what I've read and been taught, they will take the info, sell it, and months later it starts being used.

 

Just wondering if you have any thoughts, then, why a typical "hacker" would not use the cc (in a month's time) AND would change the cc mailing address? Thanks for the input.

 

Could be someone biding his time.

 

But they got the SS# somehow, and THAT needs to be figured out ASAP.

 

 

 

This particular instance is ALL because the cc company allowed the person to make changes on our account WITHOUT that one little security password. That's what that stupid one little word is for!!!

 

But if you ever forget that one little word, you'll be seriously glad they DO have other ways to change the info.

[Blondie70]

Pretty much. New address is set to receive tax refunds, part of the tax fraud going around. Its reported that these address can be receiving several tax refunds. OP has not filed taxes yet, I would be all over that, especially if a refund was given in your past refunds

 

Unfortunately, we haven't received a refund in over 10 years! If the actor would like to pay my $1600 IRS bill, though, he/she is perfectly welcome to. :p

[Life is Good Cruising]

Pretty much. New address is set to receive tax refunds, part of the tax fraud going around. Its reported that these address can be receiving several tax refunds. OP has not filed taxes yet, I would be all over that, especially if a refund was given in your past refunds

 

It really is crazy, Linda, how much havoc one little breach can cause. Since we do ALL of the things the experts recommend to protect our info, it was really just too much of a coincidence regarding the timing of the breach and our cruise. We shred everything with personal info on it...we are members of LifeLock....we have security passwords on all our cc accounts....we call our cc companies before large purchases or trips, etc, etc, etc. Due to my profession, I've even given speeches on protecting your identity. In the end, all of that is only as reliable as each individual employee at each business that has your personal information--yes that includes the cruise line, along with your cc company, your dr's office, and your financial institution. If one rouge employee along the way wants your information, they can get it. I'm convinced that to have both my husband's and my information, it would have to have been something outside a regular merchant transaction. It would have to be garnered from a complete database of some sort, containing all our info, that was hacked or accessed legitimately by an aforementioned type of employee.

 

Again, if my warning helps one other person catch a breach in their information security, it's worth mentioning.

 

Setsail is correct with the IRS, it was all over the news a few weeks ago. IMO, I would also notify the IRS about your stolen identity. We had to fill out forms and it took over 6 months to get our tax refund.

 

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Indications-your-identity-may-have-been-stolen-and-how-to-report-it-to-us

[Blondie70]

But they got the SS# somehow, and THAT needs to be figured out ASAP.

 

But if you ever forget that one little word, you'll be seriously glad they DO have other ways to change the info.

 

Sorry for all the confusion regarding the SS#! I know it's difficult to read through ALL the previous posts. I realized after the numerous posts on this thread, and checking my acct on RCI, that ss# is, indeed, not something the cruise line asks for.

 

However, as stated previously too, the person who changed my cc acct info would have HAD to have known I, not my husband, am the primary card holder, and had a female make the call or be available to take the phone. If a male called, the cc company would've asked to speak to "your wife, the primary card holder" before any changes could be made! Unfortunately, we've been through that several times with this cc company. (And yes, we've sent in all the paperwork to make him an equal card holder. The LAST answer we got about that is that Texas requires that permission every six months. That was new :rolleyes:.) That female who took the phone would've had to have known my name and dob. The cc company doesn't "confirm it" they "ask for it". That kind of information knowledge leads me to believe the information had to be garnered from a database or source that contained both my husband and my information. The timing of the cruise, and access to that kind of information, is what makes the phone call to the cc company suspect.

 

Molly, I also stated in my original post that there is a part of me that understands the allowance of "other" information to qualify for changing info when someone forgets that one little word. Good grief, who could possibly have ALL this info about the card holder if it wasn't the card holder herself, right!!? Well, unfortunately, that's what allows for identify theft. In speaking to my other cc companies, I've learned after changes are made with them, they send an email to the OLD email and the NEW email (if changed) stating that account changes were made. THAT''s the way to do it!

[Life is Good Cruising]

Unfortunately, we haven't received a refund in over 10 years! If the actor would like to pay my $1600 IRS bill, though, he/she is perfectly welcome to. :p

 

We don't get refunds every year. IMO, I would still notify the IRS because someone can still claim a tax refund using your SS#. The TV news indicated the IRS does not have enough staffing to under take all the fraud that is going on with their refund checks. Even if you don't get a refund, at least there will be a record in your IRS file of identity theft, the last thing you want is an IRS audit :eek: You have nothing to lose (but time) by contacting the IRS and advising them what happened.

[Host Jacquelyn]

Another possibility...

 

Something very similar happened to me a few years ago with my cell phone account. The name, address, etc was changed over to a stranger. The Cell phone company refused to even talk to me as I was no longer named on the account, and needed to escalate it just to get information. What ended up happening was they had my account open when someone else called customer service, and somehow messed up my account royally by transferring the other customer's information onto my account. There was no ill intention, it was the error of the customer service rep at the cell phone company. As you can expect, I am no longer their customer! Maybe a similar mess-up on the part of your credit card company? Especially if no fraudulent charges appeared?

[garycarla]

Now that at least 10 people have indicated (over and over) that the cruiseline does not collect the SS#...maybe we can move on?

 

Has anyone even considered it was just a user error (not the OP) by some cust service person somewhere?

Edited March 15, 2015 by garycarla

[BND]

Unfortunately, we haven't received a refund in over 10 years! If the actor would like to pay my $1600 IRS bill, though, he/she is perfectly welcome to. :p

 

It doesn't matter whether you are due a refund or not. People are filing fraudulent W-2's and claiming dependents, etc using someone's ssn and getting refunds. If they get to the IRS before you do, they can claim anything they want to for that year.

[Big_G]

Unfortunately, we haven't received a refund in over 10 years! If the actor would like to pay my $1600 IRS bill, though, he/she is perfectly welcome to. :p

 

If the intent is to defraud, they will be defrauding the IRS and I did say IF. The fraud is filing a false tax return so while they won't get your refund, they will get a refund check and it will cause problems for you with the IRS. But that's a big IF. ;)

[BecciBoo]

We had a fraud incident a number of years ago in which a woman had checks printed with our bank routing number and acct # but our address and her name on the top. She went Christmas shopping at 4 or 5 Wally Worlds around the state (TX) and it went to our bank. They caught it and notified us and we were not out any money...but Wally World began harrassing us and we had to deal with them to get it stopped, luckily we had the police report # so that fixed it after a few weeks.

 

We finally figured it was someone working for the check printing place. But we never heard if they caught her. I wanted to go after her myself...the name on the checks was Elizabeth Crowder....if you ever run into her, tell her I would have wrung her neck if I ever found her!! I'll never forget that name!!!!!!

Edited March 16, 2015 by BecciBoo

[Jan_In_Maine]

It doesn't matter whether you are due a refund or not. People are filing fraudulent W-2's and claiming dependents, etc using someone's ssn and getting refunds. If they get to the IRS before you do, they can claim anything they want to for that year.

 

Lately there have been a lot of fraud federal taxes ... but they can only do federal once .... unfortunately they have also been doing state tax returns also ... and they can do 50 different states ... My son's partner has had returns done on his old ss# for at least 12 different states ... some have not been nice ... such a mess. Jan