ID Theft
ID theft question: what happens to people who use your credit card number?
I recently had my information stolen and used to make purchases costing, in total over $200. I was able to get the perpetrator who turned out to be my neighbor. I filed a police report, the bank and VISA are processing fraud reports so I will be credited. But, here is where i'm confused: I got the detail of the perp by asking one of the companies in dispute what address was used and by whose name. It wasnt mine except for the credit card number. Therefore, this is only based on evidence shown by the company and not some investigation. Anyone can use an address and a fake name of someone but still use your credit card numbers to make purchases. In other words, it may not really be the neighbor. Put another way - my neighbor, in addition to myself, are victims of ID theft: their address but my numbers were used. Does the FBI take on these cases where total loss is only 200 dollars? Advice? Suggestions? Answers?
Public Comments
- call your prosecuting attorneys office and see what they are doing about the case
- Find out where the purchases were made. If it was at a store...get there quickly and ask for surveillance tape of the time the transactions were made. If it was online, see if you can find out where the items were shipped. It was obviously someone digging in your mailboxes, not some international hacker. Hopefully the card companies will help you with this info.
