I heard a story not long ago from someone my husband works with about how his credit was compromised. We live in a very small town and I never really thought about something like this happening to us, however now that I know how these people work I am going to be more careful.
Since this has been on my mind a lot I thought I would share the story with all of you.
Because I did not get permission from this person to tell their story using their name I’m just going to call him George. Anyway, George travels a lot for his job. One time while on the road for work he stopped to eat at a nice restaurant. Just like he had done many times before, he slipped his credit card in the little case with the bill and sent it back with his waiter. The waiter arrived several minutes later with his receipt and he left. About a month or so later he received his credit card bill in the mail, only there were more charges on the bill than what he had made. There was a charge for a camera and a tripod on the bill. He knew he had not purchased these products and called his credit card company immediately. The credit card company was able to give him the name of the person that the products were shipped to as well as the address and phone number. (The guy actually used his real name and address to ship the products to!) George was quite upset that someone would even think about doing this, so he called the number that the items were shipped to. A nice lady answered the phone, but stated that she had no idea what he was talking about. However, she did confirm that her husband had just given her a nice camera and tripod as a gift. She put her husband on the phone with George and rather than denying the claims he simply tells George that he needs to not worry about it because since he kept it under a certain dollar amount his credit card company would just write it off. Of course, George was not happy about this and now had a confession, so he called his credit card company with the info that he had just received. I really do not know what came out of this all in the end, however I do hope that the thief was punished for his actions.
I now feel that it is important for me to keep an eye on my credit score, especially since my husband does travel to other states for work sometimes. It is just scary to think that someone could easily get your information and use it to benefit themselves, leaving you to pay for a long time for their actions. We work really hard for what we have. I would hate to have someone steal from me.
I did have a similar incident happen to me a couple of years ago, however I believe it was more of a mistake on the credit card company’s end than someone trying to steal from me. I went to a department store to purchase some clothing for my children. The store was running a really great deal that offered a nice discount if you signed up for their in-store credit card. Since I couldn’t pass on the deal, I went for it and signed up for the card. (Who can pass up a huge discount!?) About a month later my bill arrives and there are my charges, along with some charges from the exact same day, only in another state (halfway across the country) for a bunch of little girl clothes! You know, I might not have noticed the extra charges, but they were all for GIRL stuff and I have all boys, so they really stood out. I’m glad I look over my bills before I pay them. I quickly called the credit card company, who said that the other person may have applied for and used their card as the exact same time as me and something may have messed up in the computer system. (I wonder if they received a bill at all?) After this incident I started signing up to receive my free credit score. I don’t want something like this to happen to me again. It’s scary to think that even a computer glitch can cause you to overpay for something! Be sure to really read over your bills.
Have you experienced anything similar?
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