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Ypsilanti Undead · June 17th, 2004, 10:21 AM

Hey guys, I haven't been on the boards for the last week because I've been cleaning things up after my run-in with identity theft. Long story, but the short version is that somebody used my credit card to register two web domains, through which they were running scam businesses. (They were claiming to sell ATVs at low low prices, but only accepted payments in cash via Western Union to an address in Luxembourg.)

I only found out about this because a couple of would-be shoppers smelled a fish and decided to see who was behind this scam. They searched the domain name in the WhoIs directory and came up with me!

I had gotten into the habit of only checking my credit card statements for large charges or an unusually high number of charges. But these crooks set up their web business with just three charges to my account, none of which was above $35.

Everything seems fine now. I've shut down their website and reported it to the local police, the FBI and the FTC. (Of course none of them will do anything since the damages were so low, unless someone got taken by the scam and reports it. If anyone finds out who was behind this, it will be my credit card company.)

So the lesson I've learned: make sure you check every line of every credit card statement! I know I will.

June 17th, 2004, 10:21 AM	#1
Ypsilanti Undead Feeding Frenzy Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ypsilanti, MI Posts: 840	Identity theft! Hey guys, I haven't been on the boards for the last week because I've been cleaning things up after my run-in with identity theft. Long story, but the short version is that somebody used my credit card to register two web domains, through which they were running scam businesses. (They were claiming to sell ATVs at low low prices, but only accepted payments in cash via Western Union to an address in Luxembourg.) I only found out about this because a couple of would-be shoppers smelled a fish and decided to see who was behind this scam. They searched the domain name in the WhoIs directory and came up with me! I had gotten into the habit of only checking my credit card statements for large charges or an unusually high number of charges. But these crooks set up their web business with just three charges to my account, none of which was above $35. Everything seems fine now. I've shut down their website and reported it to the local police, the FBI and the FTC. (Of course none of them will do anything since the damages were so low, unless someone got taken by the scam and reports it. If anyone finds out who was behind this, it will be my credit card company.) So the lesson I've learned: make sure you check every line of every credit card statement! I know I will.