Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Dealing With Ongoing Suspected Identity Theft?
njnnja writes: My wife receives periodic emails (about once every other month) from a cable company that is not in our service area that purport to confirm that she has made changes to her account, such as re-setting her password. Her email address is not a common one so we do not believe that it is someone accidentally using it; rather, we believe that an identity thief is subscribing to cable services intentionally using her name and email address.
Whenever we have gotten an email we have called the cable company, been forwarded to their security department, and we are assured that her social security number is not being used and that they will clear her name and email address out of their system. Yet a few weeks later we get another email. Our concern is that when the cable company goes after my wife for the unpaid balance on the account I am sure that neither they nor a collection agency will care much that it's not her social security number — it's her name and they will demand she pays.
We have a very strong password (long, completely random string of chars, nums, and symbols) and 2-factor authentication on the email account so we are fairly certain that no one is currently hacking into her email (at least, it's not worth it for however many thousands of dollars they can actually steal off this scam), But we think that the cable company should be doing more to not be complicit in an attempted identity theft. We have made it clear that we don't live in the area they cover so we should not have an account, but the fact that they keep setting up an account in her name means that they just don't care. Which is fine; I don't expect a cable company to care that they inconvenience us, but I would like to know if there is any way that we can make them care about it (liability, regulations, etc). I know YANAL but does anyone have any ideas about how to handle this? Thanks. Have a question for Slashdot's readers? Take a look at other recent questions first to see if someone else has had a similar question. And if not, ask away! The more details and context you include, the more likely your question will be selected.
Whenever we have gotten an email we have called the cable company, been forwarded to their security department, and we are assured that her social security number is not being used and that they will clear her name and email address out of their system. Yet a few weeks later we get another email. Our concern is that when the cable company goes after my wife for the unpaid balance on the account I am sure that neither they nor a collection agency will care much that it's not her social security number — it's her name and they will demand she pays.
We have a very strong password (long, completely random string of chars, nums, and symbols) and 2-factor authentication on the email account so we are fairly certain that no one is currently hacking into her email (at least, it's not worth it for however many thousands of dollars they can actually steal off this scam), But we think that the cable company should be doing more to not be complicit in an attempted identity theft. We have made it clear that we don't live in the area they cover so we should not have an account, but the fact that they keep setting up an account in her name means that they just don't care. Which is fine; I don't expect a cable company to care that they inconvenience us, but I would like to know if there is any way that we can make them care about it (liability, regulations, etc). I know YANAL but does anyone have any ideas about how to handle this? Thanks. Have a question for Slashdot's readers? Take a look at other recent questions first to see if someone else has had a similar question. And if not, ask away! The more details and context you include, the more likely your question will be selected.
Is anyone living in the cable company's service area who has your wife's first and last name? It is generally easier to be certain of a "yes" than a "no" answer on this, of course, but it is worth checking for if you haven't already. I'm not sold on this being intentional fraud, as it is generally not worth the effort to steal someone's identity just to get free cable for a couple months.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
It happens to me all the time, I have a relatively common Gmail address using my first initial and last name. I frequently get misdirected email from a variety of vendors where someone gave them my email address by mistake. I used to try to contact the merchant and tell them, but they rarely respond intelligently (usually they tell me to log on to my account and change the address... duh, I don't have an account!). So now I usually just flag them as spam and ignore them.
Comcast has been sending me monthly bill notifications for someone else's account for over a year, I emailed them, but they told me to call and I didn't feel like calling, so I've been ignoring it.
Some guy keeps sending me his flight reservations, I could screw with him and cancel his flights online or maybe keep changing his seat to put him next to the bathroom.
One guy said he was going to sue me for stealing his email address when I told him that he's using the wrong address, he swore that he'd been using that address for 5 years and that I stole it from him.
My wife has a common first and last name... her email address is her first name and last name @gmail... She gets everything from electric bills to HOME MORTGAGE CLOSING PAPERS for other people. When she emails back and explains that this is not that person's email address... the idiots become hostile and accuse her of being a hacker.
Now any time she gets a bill for any service, her first step is to recover the password, then schedule service disconnect. Seems harsh, but it is the only way. She has dealt with this for years... Hell if she were malicious, she has the account balance, social security number, bank account numbers, credit history, and/or University staff login credentials for half a dozen people who have targeted her for "reverse identity theft." No matter how much she begs them to stop.
Oh by the way... other woman who lives in NYC, 5 guys burgers emailed and said your order is ready for pick-up.... Maybe eating burgers and fries 6 times a week isn't the best for you though.
When people sign up for things using one of my email addresses, I simply recover the password through email, then login, cancel the account, change the password and move on.
There is a jackass in NYC who shares my name, and has signed up for things like Spotify and Netflix using a variation of my gmail address (minus the periods, which do not matter to gmail). I cancel everythng he orders using my email address.
This aligns with my question, so he feels there is some malicious person doing identity theft.... except that for some reason they used his wifes real email address? An identity thief does everything they can to ensure the original person isn't aware that someone is using their identity, not use an address that goes directly to the original person.
Just document your communications with the cable company, especially their security department. Always get a case / incident number from them in addition to the names of everyone who you talk to. Figure out what the legal rules are recording telephone conversations in your state and theirs and make recordings of your calls. Even if you do not have to notify them that you are recording (assuming you both are in "one party consent" states), do so anyway.
If you want to go the extra step, write up a summary letter after you contact them and include all of the information and let them know that you are retaining a copy for your files. Make sure to date it. Mail it to them and request a delivery receipt to keep in your files.
If it happens again, do the same thing again but include some additional verbiage about it being the second time that you have dealt with this with them. Explain that you are not doing business with them, do not ever intend to do business with them, and will not be held liable for the cost of any services that they provision with your wife's information. Keep a copy for your files and forget about it.
If a collection agency ever contacts you,
1. Send them a copy of your file and let them hash it out.
2. Hope and pray that they continue to pressure you for payment
3. ???
4. Sue them for fraud, plus attorney fees. (PROFIT)
I did similar. One day I got a metric crapton of emails letting me know that my mortgage had been pre-approved. Only problem... I never applied for a mortgage. I found that someone had used my email on a brokerage web site to get a ton of quotes. now my name is unusual so I doubt someone picked my email at random.
The brokerage house would not help me saying I needed a subpoena for more information. But I am concerned about identity theft so I had "my" password reset (I am probably guilty of some hacking crime now). I found some personal information there and did some digging.
I got an address and did a phone number lookup. A lady answers. After convincing her that I am not a scammer, I find out her son has the same name as me and this guy with the same name used his name dot gmail dot com as a false email account just to set up this brokerage account. So no identity theft, but about 60 minutes of me doing detective work and a story that I get to tell.
Just something to beware of with security freezes. A few months ago I did freeze my accounts at the credit reporting agencies because my tax preparer recommended it as a proactive move to prevent identity theft.
I have a credit card that reports my current FICO score monthly. The month after I froze my accounts my FICO score dropped by 57 points. Looking back over the last year, my rating had moved up 11 points before this unexpected drop, so I think it's likely that the change was caused by initiating the credit freeze.
It doesn't matter as my credit history is frozen, but if I do need to give someone access to my credit ratings for any reason (buying a new car, getting a new job, whatever) then I presume the much lower score will be shown.
Every so often, I get email intended for some 40+ year-old guy who has [myemailaddress]@yahoo.com (instead of at gmail). Most of it is spam or websites that he's trying to sign up for, but occasionally it's a human being on the other end.
The first time this happened, it was information about his ongoing domestic violence court case (legal documents, copy of police report, etc). I notified them that they had the wrong address, and they proceeded to email me three more times with more information. Eventually I yelled at them enough and they corrected it.
The second time this happened was a few years later - it was some tiny ~20 year old girl who desperately wanted to convince him to get back with her (by sending him nudes). I can't say that I didn't take a little joy in telling her to check out his domestic violence record. I got a really angry email from him a couple days later (subject line: FUCKING IDIOT), so I think she must have heeded my advice (and dodged a bullet).
It was kind of wild.
I get something occasionally, though usually through the phone. I have a very common first/last name combo (and even more, my father has the same name). There's like 42 other guys in the city metro phone book listed, and Lord only knows how many unlisted folks bear the same name. I even have a coworker with the same name (though he's in another department), and have put up with that little phenomenon about every other job.
So - once in awhile I'd get a phone call from some collection agency. Says I owe them some $hundreds or $thousands, usually in New Mexico (never lived there in my life), then claims that I moved in order to avoid paying up. At first this was frustrating in trying to convince them to go away w/o divulging any personal info of my own. After some research a couple of years ago, I've gotten to the point where I just tell them "I am not the person you are looking for. According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I demand you leave me the hell alone. My lawyer's name is {the lawyer who handled my Chapter 13}, and he resides in Portland, Oregon, where I live. If you pursue this any further, I will countersue for time and trouble at $350/hr if it's in small claims court, or countersue for $50k on account of harassment if not. See you in court, sucker." Then I hang up. I have yet to see a summons from any of them, and my lawyer has received no contact.
As far as identity theft? My wife's hospital bills shoved us into Chapter 13 (one year left - yay!), so good luck with that...
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Recently I looked over my account information at the car dealership I bought my auto from 7 years ago. They had a completely made-up email address for me. I asked a sales guy about this, and he said they got a $15 bonus for every email address they entered. Hmm.