Identity theft is a scary thing. But I think that in the case of the daughter's tax return, it is much more likely that someone just made an error in keying in the social security number. Of course, that doesn't make it any less of a hassle, just saying. Hope everything gets straightened out.

HOpe they have both filed police reports and put fraud alerts on their accounts with all three of the credit reporting bureaus. And they need to keep track of the expenses they put out to get this sorted out, because they may be able to claim that as a loss down the road.

A gas fill-up though? you may be in luck--have you contacted the station to get copies of their surveillance tapes at the time the credit card was used? Since most stations have cameras, that could be a real lucky break that will help solve at least one of your dd's problems.

I've told my dd, that the way these young kids use those credit and debit cards makes it easier for anyone who gets their hands on the card (or number) to use them. I don't use my credit card except to rent a car occasionally, or to mail order our prescriptions. When my wallet was stolen, and someone immediately started using my credit card at: a gas station, parking lot, dept. store and Dunkin Donuts--it was cancelled after the 2nd transaction, because those are NOT things I would do and the computer kicked it out as potentially fraudulant. But when you normally make those sorts of purchases with a credit/debit card, the bank has no way of knowing who's doing the buying until someone complains after the next bill comes in.

Hope they get things figured out--any chance it could be someone close to the family? a very close friend or relative who might have had access to both their info? Because it is sort of an odd coincidence that this happened around the same time.

what was bizarre? mother had a check "washed"...and the dude was dumb enough to go to a check cashing place in vegas, where she lived at the time...they require a thumb print id on the check! the bank reimbursed her acct, and never pursued it...

what she did to protect herself? stopped using her mail box with out-going mail...

Saw a story on the fraud with tax refunds. It is a big deal these days. People somehow get your Social Security Number and quickly fill out a refund form so that they will beat your IRS application for a refund. Then when you apply, the refund has already been sent out. One news story was about a crooked employee at H&R Block. He/she got tax refund applications and had them sent to him.

Another reason to be careful about giving out your SS#.

No matter where you go now, it is so easy to be involved in ID theft. And what is sad about it many of the companies/stores etc refuse to do anything about it even if they know --example many times when I use my debit card, I use it as a credit especially at Walmart where there machines are so picky about the pin number. No matter how I sign my signature, it goes thru. I usually use cash for the gasoline, and will NOT just wave my card to pay for anything.

Dh and I had our credit card number stolen three years ago. Not sure how they got our number. We were still in possession of the cards. They made the theives made their own cards and were buying gas and groceries in West Virginia and another state.

I'm in the process of replacing all of my credit cards. I lost my wallet and car key on an amusement park ride this weekend. Got it back the next day. My fault for being stupid enough to carry stuff in my pockets on a ride that flips you upside down.

There are also certain scanners that can read certain types of credit cards through wallets, purses and clothing at a distance. They can get the number, expiration and CVV code without you ever missing your cards or having any idea what is happening. They now make special wallets that can block this information leak with some kind of metal lining, but it's only going to get worse as technology evolves. Some of it is common sense and some of it is luck. I pay for a credit monitoring service so at least I will know if major identity theft happens. I'm not as worried about credit/debit cards as I am not responsible and there's only so much damage that can be done, and the convenience outweighs the small chance it will be stolen. Now, Social Security identity theft is a much bigger concern.

Back to cash under the mattress!

I had my identity stolen a few years ago. The police knew all about her, and yet she was still running around stealing people's cc numbers.

I have my bank set up to email me if my credit card is used for anything at all.

OMG, these messages are terribly scary!! What is happening to our world anymore? It seems we can not trust anyone anymore~~and that is so sad! Good luck in catching the rats who did this!

I have my credit card thru my credit union. In a bill about six months ago, it said that it would not work in Florida (and another state) When I called the bank, they said that they have been having a lot of fraudulant activity from Florida so they are just being cautious. If I plan to go to Florida and use my card, I need to call first and give the dates I'm visiting.

I got a call from my Credit card company the day after Christmas saying that there was suspicious activity on it that morning. The first 2 purchases were small and were at a CVS and Walgreens in Las Vegas. Duh - I'm in Florida!
The third was also at a drug store in New Jersey - within an hour of the others(taking into consideration the time changes). The fourth was for several hundred dollars at a hotel in Las Vegas. That was when the CC company flagged it and it was not approved.

Funny thing about it was this credit card was fairly new and I had only used it once at Sam's and a couple times at
my vets office cause both places do not take the one card we usually use. Of course we closed out the card and had another one issued and we did not have to pay any of the charges.

I have for some years carried my credit card in an old cigarette holder, it is gold metal with a horse and carriage etched on the front.

Sue

Although it's annoying, this really isn't what's called identity theft. I know people who were victim of true identity theft, where someone actually assumed the person's identity, not just made a one-time use of a card or something, and the results are usually devastating to the person. You can't buy anything with a credit card, you can't get/keep a checking account, bank accounts can be frozen, retirement funds can be affected, your job is often impacted and you even risk losing it, your driver license is affected, insurance of all types and way more happens with an identity theft. That's some bad stuff.

I've had fraudulent use of my credit card attempted before. And I applaud the cc company for being on top of it. Sad part is with the way things are now, we don't completely control our private data. Banks, employers, stores, health people, pharmacies, hospitals, insurance companies and many others are in possession of the data and we see on the news seemingly weekly where someone is broken into and robbed of sensitive data on millions of people.

our daughter had hers stolen a few years ago. Used at several stores, mainly jewelry. It was a woman and she went into a tire place to get tires and the young man that waited on her recognized the name on the card and he knew my daughter. He went back and told his boss the lady was using a credit card that wasn't hers and the boss said, that's not my problem and told the kid to sell her the tires. The kid called my daughter, she worked at a local radio station. They called the police and the woman was caught. She had done it before so she's now in prison. The owner of the tire barn didn't even get into trouble. Since he OKed it knowing it wasn't her he should have had some kind of fine.

The owner of the tire whop (dratted computer - that was supposed to have been "shop") was complicit in a fraud ..

... so should be close to being judged as being within a hair of being as guilty as the perpetrator.

He'd have got paid by the credit card company ... as they'd assume that he'd been unaware (or he could claim that he'd been unaware) of the scam.

Which means that for business people to blow the whistle, even when they might be aware of the fraud, is something of a nuisance, for there's little benefit to them, and it can result in some substantial hassle.

ole joyful

In some cases, it is actual identity theft, cynic. When my credit card was used (just the number was used; the card itself was here in my house) the woman who used it also had a drivers license made up with my name on it. She was using that drivers license as if she was me.