I don't have a shredder but anything related to credit or checks I tear into
tiny shreds and put in different trash bags.  They'd have to be a jigsaw
puzzle genius and regular trash divers to figure out what my account numbers
are.

Good luck to you.  You might consider changing your SSN too, although from
what I gather that is a major PIA as well.

Jill

God, that's awful. Do you know how they got the number?

One of the merchants involved gave us the name, address, and telephone
number of the person who received the package.  Apparently they used my
physical address but the wrong email and had the package sent to themselves.

I'd be even more proactive; check your online statement as often as possible
throughout the month.

I do this and caught a $3000 charge the day it happened.  I'm glad I caught
it; it was apparently a "fishing" expedition, because the same "company" tried
to charge $17000 on the same card three days later.  By that time, the card
had already been frozen.  Unfortunately, the charge was from Hong Kong, so I'd
be surprised if they ever make an arrest for it.

This is one reason I don't believe in check/debit cards and insisted on a
plain ATM-only card from my bank.  Yes, great, your bank will refund your
money, but in the meantime, how many checks will bounce and how many creditors
will be annoyed?  I also figure that credit card companies have a greater
incentive to take care of the problem because it's *their* money being stolen;
in the case of the checking account, it's *your* money.

What a mess, huh?

The reason I'm so proactive is because I noticed an odd $8 charge on my credit
card a few years ago.  I managed to sleuth out the phone number of the company
online and talk to someone who agreed to reverse the charges.  I have to
wonder, though; do they simply charge $8 to a massive list of cards and simply
reverse the charge for those who complain?  I can imagine that most people
wouldn't take the time to figure out why they'd spent eight dollars somewhere.

Lots of purrs and best wishes,

Yup, this just happened to my friend in Bangkok.  They check their US
credit card online and she noticed 2 charges, one for a bit over $100
(make up or spa) and one over $300 (camera store).  She said she'd
definitely remember buying a new camera or that much make up!  Both
her and her husband never lost the cards.  It was a huge hassle to get
new cards to Bangkok from the US.  They were without a credit card for
over a month and her husband goes on tons of business trips.  What a
hassle.  I'm glad I pay cash for everthing except really large
purchases.
--
Britta
"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album

You might want to request a copy of your credit report as well just to
be safe. Good Luck.

rrb

Litterbox offerings and hurked-up hairballs are wished upon the thieving
%#*@!&+ who put fraudulent charges on your credit card.

I hope that the false charges are removed pronto and the crook goes to
jail.

Donna, and Captain and Stanley who are ever at the ready to put some ammo
in the litterbox, if needed

Someone was charging US$10 a month to my credit card a few years ago, and I
hadn't noticed for a few months because it wasn't allt hat much. Once I
noticed it, it turned out to be an internet porn company. Contacting the
company was useless, they wanted to know 'my' password to stop the account,
despite the fact I explained to them that I had never opened an account with
them and they had no right to charge my card without permission.

I got my bank to refuse any charges from that company. The next month I got
a charge for another US$10 from another company. I got the bank to trace who
they were, and surprise surprise, they were a *subsiderary* (sp?) of the
parent company. At that point, I had to change credit card numbers.

And from that point on, I have checked every single charge against my credit
cards, and only use one particular one for things like internet purchases
and mail orders.

Yowie