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Pedro

Guest
Techreef, you need to contact all three credit reporting agencies immediately so they can place an alert. That will prevent the thief from using your info to open up more accounts. You can even have them keep the alert for like up to 7 years. So give them a call. It's a pain, but unfortunately it's something you need to do. PM me if you have more questions.
 

techreef

Member
Location
Montclair, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
thank you very much Pedro. FYI to anyone else this may help, when I contacted Experian to put an instant 90-day alert on my credit report, Experian will notify TransUnion and Equifax of the alert for you, for free. They say that the other two agencies will confirm this alert with me, but we'll see about that. If I don't hear back, guess I'll call them too.
 

meschaefer

One to Ignore
Location
Astoria
Rating - 100%
30   0   0
i think there are legal reasons why he can't post it publicly. i may be wrong


Only if he was wrong...

If he outed the wrong individual it would be libel (libel is written defamation, while slander is oral defamation), and you can be sued for libel. While the truth of the statement is a defense to lible, it is only a defense to a lawsuit and doesn't mean the suit can't be brought. People get nervous about these issues as there was a case a couple of years ago where an online vendor sued someone who posted about their expereince, although the suit was friviolous, it had the desired effect of quiteing negative opinion of online retailors.

There is also a tort regarding intentional interference of economic relations, this is slightly harder when it comes to an online vendor as the action usually involves an individula who attempts to come between parties that have entered into a contract, although I think an argument can be made to extend this into the sphere of online retailers.


MES
 

techreef

Member
Location
Montclair, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks for the legal info Matt. I also don't want to drive the online vendor underground/into dormancy while I try and find the jerk. That's the main reason why I'm not publicly posting all the vendors I've shopped with.
 

Psycho graphic

Trouble Maker!
Rating - 100%
9   0   0
thanks House. having somebody named "House" in the alley w/ me would definitely be a good thing! ha! They don't have to know you're linked to HOF...
How about someone named Psycho? I have a lot of pent up anger to release! Sorry to hear about this. It looks like this person picked the wrong person to steal from,I bet they would've thought twice if they knew what you do for a living.
 

techreef

Member
Location
Montclair, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
House, Psycho, you're both invited to my dark alley meeting with my mysterious un-benefactor. Bring your friends Tiny, Twitchy, and Syphylis! Sheesh. I guess if we can't have some fun w/ life, it would be pretty overbearing. I'm just lucky to catch this activity only 3 days into it. I'm out no money of my own. My CC is crediting everything back to me. All I need to worry about is future fake accounts being set up in my name.

Thanks for the support guys. This is a great board. Once I narrow my list of possible vendors, maybe we can discuss specifics. I posted the same thread over on Reef Central, and instantly got 4 other leads from CC fraud victims, of which 3 have used the same vendors as I have. Some of this reef equipment is pretty esoteric, so that could just be a coincidence that we both wanted the flashy doohickey with the BLUE lights, not the normal red lights, but I'm looking into it. Another theory is that while the guy running the vendor business may be salt of the earth, perhaps his internal controls or back office practices are lax and someone swiped personal customer info from his trash, etc. One of the vendors implicated so far totally fits that description.
 

masterswimmer

Old School Reefer
Vendor
Location
NY
Rating - 99.6%
450   2   0
Sorry to hear your woes tech. I had fraudulent activity on one of my cc's a couple of years ago too. I immediately called the three credit reporting bureaus (as Pedro suggested). I also cancelled the card that was used fraudulently and they issued a new card right away.

Unfortunately I never found out who the guilty party was, as I doubt you will either. If the cc issuer finds out, they won't reveal that info to you. That person could be anywhere in the world. Many times the person that steals your personal info is only a front for the next level of criminal that actually uses the card. It's one way for the original thief to separate themselves from you and your info. to try to remain untraced.

I hope you're successful in your investigation so we can all benefit from this. Keep us posted.

BTW, the thief that stole my cc used it to buy loads of first class airline tickets all over the country. :mad:

swimmer
 

momof6kids

Member
Location
NJ
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Sorry to hear about this. I had the same thing happen to me this past spring. I was told that it is very common and that a lot of times your card was double swiped (at a gas station where they take your card) and the number kept for almost a year before they use it, to make it harder to find who actually got your number. They ran up over $3000 before I got a call from the company asking if I had made these purchases. I immediately canceled the card and they never found who took it. Unfortunately. They should come down really hard when they do find these people because ultimately we all are paying for these losses.
 

fishguttz

Member
Location
NYC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
whenever I make an online purchase I use a virtual account number. At least from citibank and probably other banks you can easily request a one-time-use virtual account number and you can attach a dollar limit on it as well. I do it online and it takes about 1 minute per new number. This way the number can only be used once, or by one vendor, or for only a certain dollar amount, or a certain amount of time, you set the preferences yourself. Check with your bank!
 

Tim

Tim`s Aquatics
Location
Rockland County
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
I just had this happen to me. Someone got my card # and used westernunion to foward cash. Does anyone have the #`s to call so I can let the credit companies know not to give out any more cards in my name. Thanks Tim
 

techreef

Member
Location
Montclair, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Due to specifics of my situation that I'd rather not post in the off chance that the perp reads these boards, I know that this CC fraud was linked to my aquarium-related online shopping. That's why I thought I'd put this warning out there. Swimmer's right in that I most likely won't find out the name of the person who did this. I'd need to be law enforcement to get that far. But what I plan on shooting for is to be able to pinpoint which vendor either leaked, lost, or had stolen from their records my CC info. Being able to name a vendor here on MR will save other reefers from going through the same BS with their CC's.
 

PalmTree

Senior Member
Location
CT
Rating - 100%
23   0   0
Hey tech.. sorry to hear about the troubles you've encountered. It seems like you know exactly what you are doing in handing the situation. I know how you feel even though I have never (yet) been a victim myself. Be are all backing you up!
 

Alfredo De La Fe

Senior Member
Location
Upper West Side
Rating - 100%
30   0   0
I would hope that someone would post the name of the suspected vendor once they have narrowed it down a bit. If anything, this is going to make me leary of purchasing from online aquarium vendors for a while.

-Alfred
 

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