1 EAGLETON NOTES: Identity Theft

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Thursday 31 July 2008

Identity Theft

I suppose that I should be flattered. I've had my identity stolen - again.

The first time was on e-Bay when someone hacked into my account (presumably meaning that the e-Bay password is easily bypassed or their site isn't as secure as it could be). My account was the subject of a fair amount of abuse which basically meant that it could no longer be used. With e-Bay that problem is easy to solve. You abandon your identity and create a new one.

Yesterday afternoon I received a call on my mobile from American Express. Apparently someone has been using my card details to do three of the things I am least likely to do: join NAPSTA, travel by National Express and make a donation to Christian Aid. I ask you. Apparently fraudsters tend to do this sort of thing on line to see if the details are correct and then try and use it for a larger transaction. Amex's security system kicked in when an online payment for £160 to Halfords was requested. It was declined and an investigation started. So now my card is dead and a new card will be issued. I'll get my money back but it does make one wonder how someone got hold of the details. It could have been a garage although I'm careful never to let the card out of my sight. Who knows.

1 comment:

  1. I had my card stopped twice in one year for suspisious transactions. The first as for a £1 payment on iTunes -- you can only buy tracks at a cost of 79p (or possibly at the time 99p for a DRM free track) so £1 was just an impossible payment. The second time was due to two 2p transactions to Carphone Warehouse. I know criminals try with small amounts to check the details before trying to empty an account but you would think they would try with more sensible amounts/company combinations.

    I also don't know when the details were stolen as I also try not to let me card out of my site, but any Internet payments could in theory be used to steal your details, or of course the worse case scenario of a bank insider.

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