01 February 2009

Identity Theft!



We had our first brush with identity theft this week. Apparently someone got a hold of our American Express card number and went on a $7,000 spree somewhere in Europe. Nice.

Consider this a plug for American Express, however. One quick phone call to Amex put a hold on the romantic European vacation Mr. and Mrs. Bandit thought they were going to enjoy. 10 minutes later, at no charge to us, everything was off our bill.

Still not sure where they got our number, though. We don't throw away our bills, and we usually don't buy anything online from non-major websites (ebay, Amazon, home pork delivery services . . .).

It's dangerous out there on the Interwebs. Be careful.

11 comments:

Carolyn said...

Yikes! That's scary! Did you use it out to eat recently? My mom had that happen to her at this Chinese place. Just soo glad you got your money back!

Amy said...

One of my cards just got stolen too. They were easy to deal with too but the internet company that stuff was purchased at was NOT. I ended up filing a police report. When I worked in California, someone stole my payment check out of the mailbox and got my AmEx and my checking account info. I must say, AmEx was VERY great during the whole ordeal. Sorry this happened to you.

Lindsay said...

Wow, eerily similar... our amex was being used in France. Maybe it's one of our friends...oooo ooo ooo Or maybe it's amex wanting us to know how nice they are in theft situations.

Dave and Tricia Folsom Family Fun said...

What a pain! I just saw a thing on the news a couple of weeks ago about a big credit card breech. I think it was AM Express, Visa, and Mastercard (maybe Discover) and it was the biggest theft of numbers over the internet ever. I know there was a way to see through visa and mastercard if your number had been compromised or not. Dave keeps saying we really need to be vigilant and watch our cards for awhile now.

GO Gray's said...

scary. So how are you feeling? How much longer. I'm so excited for you guys.

Street Fam said...

YIKES! That would be kinda fun to go on a $7,000 shopping spree though. :)

JOCELYN & TODD (AND JM) said...

Interweb... you're hilarious. That's horrifying though. Three cheers for American Express and their awesomeness.

katieo said...

oh man. Good thing it was Amex. Don't you wish they also could somehow catch a snapshot of the person...like with an ATM camera or something. I'm so curious!

Heidi Miller said...

That is so very freaky! Thanks heavens the card company was so nice about it. BTW, I am so glad tha Warren is going through the same horrible eating thing Alex is . . . . I mean not glad that you have to deal with it, but glad that Alex isn't the only stubborn bad eater. Grrrrrr. Meals are the worst part of the day for me. Thanks for the advice. We are planning to start the go to bed without eating unless you eat your dinner thing now. I am sure it is going to be oodles of fun. I miss you Stephanie. I do look at your blog often, I am just really bad at commenting. Warren is so funny by the way. I can't wait to see what Caroline, Jane, Claire, Sophia, Rebekah, Olivia is going to be like. I want you to name her Rebekah so we can have matching kids. :o)

Anna said...

That is so scary!!! Glad that AmEx was awesome about it thought.

Crazy that we both order from the same home pork delivery service. Ha!

PS Just catching up on some of your latest posts, W is HILARIOUS, and oh so cute! I love reading your blog. You totally deserve that medal of awesomeness.

Dallas (司馬光) said...

Danggit!! I new I would get caught eventually. I was looking over Taylor's shoulder in Canada every time he used your card. It took me 5 days to finally get all the numbers, the expiration date and the little number on the back!
-Dallas

PS-Can I keep the postcards I brought back from Europe? How bout the chocolate? I totally understand if you want me to share :)