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Identity Theft...Become the victor....not the victim of these fraudulent crimes

Identity Theft...Become the victor....not the victim of these types of crimes.

Last December 2006.....3 days before Christmas... I became the victim of Identity Theft. I actually found out about it before the bank did.

I am constantly looking at my bank account balances and just to make sure that when I write checks.... I do not have to go into overdraft mode. At first I really didn't think much about it until I started to see all these overdraft charges and also noticed all these very large withdrawals of cash from our bank account. When I mean large...I mean thousands of dollars just taken from our savings and checking accounts.

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Posted by Neal Bloom-Realtor ® Assoc.-CRS-Weston FL on 11/27/2007 06:30 PM

Comments (30)

identity, theft, victor, victim, fraudulent, crimes, fraud alert

Originally posted at: Weston Florida Real Estate Blog, Neal"The Real Deal"Bloom : Identity Theft...Become the victor....not the victim of these fraudulent crimes

Post is included in group: Weston FL Homes For Sale

30 Comments on Identity Theft...Become the victor....not the victim of these fraudulent crimes

NOV

2007

Neal - I'm very lucky not to have been the victim of this, it is important that we keep tabs on our accounts and are astutely familiar with what's going on in our credit reports.

Wow Neal - Luck you picked up on it so quickly. Thank you for the reminder to keep a close eye on our accounts, and steps we can take if this happens to us.

HI Neal,

I hope your identity is back to being your own by now. I was a victim of check fraud which isn't nearly as bad--but it still is a pain.

Neal - scary stuff indeed. I personally have never experienced this, however my brother & a friend did. Not only is it invasive but time consuming to jump hoops for the banks and creditors. I hope all has been recovered and you caught the bad guy! I hope this is not one of those big warnings like Adam suggested and I ignored it and now I have lost my laptop and didn't back it out!! Off to check my bank, I hope quite the opposite and someone made a deposit in my favor!! Great awareness post for sure!!

Neal,

Good Info here, because I knew a girl who had this happen to her, and she is still trying to fix everything after 2 Years.

I got your Message, and I didn't want to call late, so I will E-Mail or call you Tomorrow :0)

How awful that you would find this out so close to Christmas. I am so glad to read that the banks worked with you. Very good information for a consumer to have.

Neal - sorry this has happened to you. I have so many alerts on my accounts...first the IAR had a computer broken into with my information stolen (and they're not sure if it was my corporate info or my personal), then my son had applied to a job with Banana Republic and they "lost" computer information (along with his SSN & other info on his application). You can never be too careful. Thanks for posting.

Neal, you showed that we need to be proactive when it comes to our finances and personal information. This is a very timely post since we are here in the Christmas season when identify theft and check fraud is on the increase. I'm glad it worked out favorably for you because that's not always the case.

Neal, Sorry that happened to you. I posted a blog a few weeks ago about the rampant identity theft of children. I guess thieves wil stop at nothing. Good luck for the future.

Many banks and credit card companies now offer email alerts that can be customized to notify you if a) balance goes below a certain amount. b) charge is made for a large amount, etc. You get to set these alerts in most cases. This is a great service because it helps you from overdrawing your account and will pop up a red flag if unusual activity occurs on your account.

I have been victimized by credit card / ATM fraud on four separate occasions and have recovered with out any financial loss, just a lot of hassles and wasted time. These new alerts should help curb these problems in the early stages.

I have a service that emails me every time someone hits my credit, it works great. 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year!!!

That must have been a complete nightmare!

Jason,

They love to feed on people with very good credit scores.

Sandra,

Thanks for stopping by.

Leslie,

These were stolen checks with my account numbers

Candace,

Be lucky...identification fraud is world wide and they usually get away.....it is a regular job for them like waking up in the morning and going to work.

Tom,

Thanks...no problem

Alecia,

Thanks

Kelly,

Luckily..they didn't get my SS#

Linda,

I acted quick because I luckily found out before the bank did...I actually informed them.

Zen,

Identity theft is a world wide threat..this is actually the second time but only once did they get the bank account.

John,

Exactly what happened to me..lot more of the hassle but the money was returned quickly.

Elaine,

They call me now..they have both my numbers.

Monika,

It was but I was happily able to recover the money pretty quick

Always be careful! I remember your story Neal....that was really unfortunate it started happening although fortunate you caught it quickly.

Sally,

Thanks for reading the thread.

I put a comment...over there....make sure it went.

Sally,

I saw it thanks.

Hi Neal - thankfully you caught this quickly, and there wasn't more bad things done with your identity.

I tried to leave a comment *over there* but it wouldn't let me. Tried a couple of times.

You have some great resources listed on your outside blog.
Ann

Thanks Neal, and we love your new picture. We were wondering what part of Florida is that? Am thinking its probably Orlando.

Neal, that is scary. I also constantly monitor my bank account, this give me even more of a reason to continuing doing that.

NOV

2007

Neal,
I keep a pretty close eye on my bank account but nevertheless I have been meaning to take out identity theft insurance but keep putting it off. Maybe today is the day. Thanks.

Way to stay on top of it Neal! I guess a good due diligence is the best offense these days.

Ann,

Maybe you went to the wrong place...there were others that were able to leave me comments so unless you want to try again then ...oh well:)

Gary,Richard

It isn't really me..someone stole my body too...thanks..that was actually at the Grand Canyon....Orlando is too flat.

George,

Yes...I felt like they stole part of our lives...who knows what else they know.

Cynthia,

If they steal from your actual bank account they have to give you the money back...banks are already insured for that...not sure buying it separate makes any difference.

Frank,

Always watch your finances. Although I'm not the best at keeping records very organized...I still know where to find the information I'm looking for. Especially when it comes to our money....stealing is my worst enemy.

Neal, I understand your pain. I had the same thing happen about a year ago. It is never a good feeling.

Lydia,

If you had the chance to read the whole post on my other blog you would see that it had a happy ending. although i was lucky to have all of our money returned quickly. I was one of the lucky ones to have caught it int time.

Damn, we thought it was the back lot of some Disney imagination kinda deal, because don't you know they're not making enough yet.

Hope you are well...

NOV

2007

Neal, I did read it. It is still a pain in the butt.

Lydia,

How did yours turn out?

NOV

2007

The ending wasn't happy, but I was covered.

Meaning you got all your money back but they never caught the people...if that's so...it is normal...they usually don't get caught..if I could show you the six different pictures of the people you would see none of them looked like me or even fit my age.

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