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The phone rang a while ago , caller id states "unavailable" and a 000 area code, wife answers and its an auto call saying its the fraud dept from Citi. I tell her to hang up, thinking its a fishing type call. She checks her e-mail a couple minutes later and Citi has contacted her.

She calls the number in her bill, the system has her key in the last 4 digits and in seconds Citis fraud dept is asking about a $6 and change purchase at a hotel in Maine.

new cards will be delivered hopefully by Tuesday

Do an internet search for tips on what actions to take in the event of identity theft. Some are obvious, some are not (like filing a report with the Federal Trade Commission).

Aw come on..Zephyr just needed a beer.

file police report
call the bureaus and put a fraud alert on your file(i think they are required to notify the other 2 bureaus when you do this.... ask)
get a copy of all 3 reports from annualcreditreport.com

contact credit bureaus and put a credit freeze on your account.
cant open new accounts. does not stop credit card use till the CC "kills" the card.

My AMX was compromised due to Home Depot hack. got new card
Got text from AMX about a $700 charge from Microsoft to ship to Dallas Tx
immediately called. they stopped the shipment but it appeared on my bill.
called and they immediately issued a credit. the real issue is they charge for
the $700 was made to the old card AMX was supposed to have "killed".

We've had to have new Discover cards twice this year. Discover called about a charge in Mesa AZ. It wasn't us and we both had our cards. They got a new card to us very quickly. Then the Home Depot thing so another new card was issued. A couple years ago, my wallet was stolen. The big problem wasn't the credit cards in that instance. It was that I had checks in my wallet. I'll never carry checks again. I hadn't even used one out of the flap of checks, but the thieves used every one. What a mess. Thank goodness Wells Fargo had my back. But for each check they wrote, I had to file a report of fraud, have it notarized and faxed to the very same check verifier used by Walmart and Kroger. Fortunately, Wells Fargo notarized and they faxed it. I still consider myself lucky that we've had the same bank manager for over 20 years. When I walked into the band (as soon as the police were done with me) the manager said "Hi Ann...." I immediately told her and in one smooth move she swung around and closed the account. She led me through reporting to the credit bureau and they do report to the other two. A couple months later we were buying a car. I thought we were paying cash but my husband told the salesman we'd finance. WHAT!? When he asked if there was any trouble, the finance guy said "No, but your account is flagged. However, the sales manager knew us so maybe that made it go more smoothly.

Wife put a freeze on her "account" 10 or so years ago because of another issue. CITI told her its common for the initial purchase to be under $10 and if it isn't caught then $$$. They also believed the hotel in Maine is fake.

We've had to replace our main credit card twice in the last four months. The first time was because Sirius/XM put a recurring charge on there without authorization. The second time was because I did a poor job of discerning a website that sold counterfeit products. Citi was great to work with both times.

Like all crime, this will continue until the thieves are made to pay a price that outweighs the benefits. Right now this is considered childs play by the legal system who of course has bigger fish to fry, but the feds could put a stop to it if they really wanted to.

Build a fed prison in Montana, Utah, Dakota, etc for this type of crim. One count of ID \credit card theft? 10 years mandatory without probation. Second count 25 years, no probation. And really make them do the time, and publicize it. The price would be too high risk for the criminals and this crap would stop.

The prison wouldn't be very full; once they realized that the law was actually being enforced people would move on to something else. Quick and certain justice would solve a lot of our country's ills.

The feds are too busy rousting contributors to the GOP and then burying the evidence.

You're right. ...law enforcement and the banks don't seem too interested in catching these people. The woman who got to my grandmother's account about ten years ago got caught. Turns out she was working at c.c. young and had stolen from quite a few of the residents. It made the news when she was caught. C.c. young didn't do a very good hiring check as she'd done it before.

A relative of mine recently had fraudulent charges on a new card issued to her, that she had not yet received in the mail or activated. Many of these are "Inside Jobs" at the companies that service they card; especially offshore credit card service companies.