My wallet was stolen from my car 3 weeks ago presumably from the guy who towed my car. In it I had 3 credit cards. By the time I realized my wallet was stolen I called all my cards and canceled them all after having found that the thief had maxed them all out (they were all very close to their max out limit anyway). On one card I have 7 charges all made on the same day of about $30 to $45 at gas stations. (fortunately my CC company told me I will be able to get all of that money back). My other card immediately shut down before a $2000 charge was made at Nike.com. My question is this: If someone unsuccessfully tried to charge something online that could potentially mean that Nike.com has this guys name (if he is stupid) or AT LEAST address (of where he was going to have the shoes shipped). Do you think I may have a case to bust him? Even if I got his address somehow do you think I could bust him? How should I go about seeing if I can bust this guy? I just now sent an email to Nike.com to see if I can get access to any information that might identify him in some way. I realize that credit card thiefâ??s can be tricky and cover their tracks (i.e., the address that he could have used could have been an untraceable drop box somewhere). What should I do in this situation? I really want to make an effort to try to bring this guy down. I'd appreciate any ideas or advice that anyone might have. (Thanks for your help in advance! =-)
there are many ways to catch an online credit card thief and most online merchants should be glad you are interested in helping. When a credit card is used online, most reputable online companies use an address/zip code verification system. If the credit card billing address does not match the shipping address entered, this raises a red flag. Unless the merchant is willing to ship to a different address than the billing address of the credit card... The thief would have to be standing outside of your house to receive the merchandise he ordered. Also, many online merchants use i.p. tracking and can see the ip address of the computer used to place an order. This comes in handy with law enforcement as it helps identify the physical location of the thief. Of course, this isn't full proof as the computer could be at a library or internet cafe or at another public space. And then if the orders are placed via telephone, there would be no i.p. tracking. The biggest problem today is "friendly fraud" where for example, a child takes the credit card from his mother's pocketbook and knows everything as far as billing address, 3 digit security code and phone number associated with the account. A child could even call back from the home phone to verify they actually live there. But when mom get's the bill and disputes the charges, the merchant has a real problem.
You need to file a police report, both to protect yourself should either CC companies or merchants later attempt to claim you made the charges, and to have rights under FACTA to get information from the defrauded merchants. Also file an FTC report.
Need to contact all 3 credit reporting agencies activate fraud alert, also when you get credit reports in the mail (which will be provided for free) be sure to request a victims statement be added to the credit report - will need to forward a copy of your telephone bill with address / name / number showing. This way they can add your phone number to the credit report, if someone tries to open any new accounts, hopefully new creditors seeing the statement will call to verify that you didn't initiate the transaction. Also let the credit reporting agency know which accounts where opened fraudulantly, and ask that they supress the information off of the credit report. In order to do this, file police report, also visit www.ftc.gov on bottom left is link for ID Theft section, will need to complete an affidavit, which noterized copies need to be sent to creditor, police, and credit reporting agencies. Experian 888-397-3742 Equifax 800-685-1111 TransUnion 800-916-8800 This is just a start, recommend visiting www.idtheftcenter.com
Note that use of a stolen credit card, or stolen card number, is also id theft, since the thief is pretending to be you.
