SS: Fraudulent credit card charges

[ufcrusher]

I received a lovely wake up call from Southwest Airlines at 7:30am asking me if I had bought a ticket for someone from LAX to FLL. They were calling because although the person had all the correct information regarding my name and address, the ticket was in someone elses name and that seemed odd. Especially since it was bought less than 24hrs in advance.

Of course, I had not bought any tickets...in fact, I havent been using my card at all wtih only 2 exceptions. 1 exception was last night where I bought some books online from a vendor I have used previously....the other time was a purchase for my wife on her birthday at the beginning of the month.

Southwest learned that this was a fraudulent purchase well before the flight was even able to board, yet they didnt have the person arrested they just told them they had to pay cash or use a credit card in their name. Of course, the thief didnt do this so now the thief knows I am aware f it. Fortunately, the idiot used a name and their own email address....I just have to hope its not a hotmail or equivalent account where there is no real verification.

Frankly if the flight had been several hours in the future, I might have driven up to LAX and gotten my own brand of justice by collaring the bitch and dragging her by the hair to the cops.

The credit card is cancelled and the company is in a holding pattern until certain things happen. First, the 2 things need to post. (There was a second charge for a hotel where I had actually stayed but well after all the charges had posted and over a month after I had been there! -- which leads me to believe that the thief originated from there!) Secondly, they are waiting on a form from me (which they have to send me first)

I dont understand why they just didnt send the police out to get the person..they KNEW WHEN and WHERE to catch the thief and let the person get away. This is freaking ridiculous.

Now I have lost a card number I have had since 94! I had to put fraud alerts out and I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. MOFO!

Now I am waiting for the local police to show up

[kgsilvas]

That sucks! At least SWA contacted you in advance. Good luck with this.

[speedracer120]

Identity theft is a bitch to correct. Hope she gets prosecuted with the full force of the law.

[ufcrusher]

Police decided to do a phone interview instead...now its just a waiting game. This just blows.

[Butch]

Around Christmas of 2004, I had an $800 charge on my credit card from Walmart . . . clearly not mine . . . filed my complaint, charge was wiped, but never got the satisfaction of knowing what happened to the person who made the charge.

I never found out how they got my number either. I assume it had something to do with the BofA purchase of Fleet and some information being left a little unsecure during a system transfer or something.

Anywho, for a few months, I paid for a credit monitoring service, then through some other unrelated issue with a minor breach of an online store, I got a free year of a credit monitoring service. Thankfully there have been no further issues.

[Paymaster]

This happened to me a few years back:

I moved, and updated my address with my credit card company immediately. A few months later I get a bill with a 1,000 charge on it, identified as a "balance transfer check". Those are the checks that they keep sending you, trying to get you to spend more on your credit card.

I call, they put a hold on the charge, and send me some forms, along with a copy of the check that someone had written & deposited. The check had a recent date on it, but had my old address. Now my old address had been in a crappy part of town, with an even crappier post office. They didn't forward my mail like they were supposed to, and obviously this item didn't get forwarded. I asked my credit card company why it was sent to the old address, and they said that "the marketing department database doesn't get updated as often as the billing database".

Anyway, I'm thinking that they've pretty much got the address of the perp (my old address), plus they have a handwriting sample (they check was handwritten, though they signed my name), and they might even have the person who received the check be able to ID them! I tell them all that... but of course I never get the satisfaction of knowing if they even did anything or not. They cleared the charge for me, but I would sure love to know that they tracked down the source of the fraud...

[ufcrusher]

Received another call from the Police this morning....the case is proceeding forward exceedingly well. A ton of information has been gathered and the "pieces are all fitting together extremely fast".

The only thing I dont like is since its an on-going police investigation, I havent been told any of the information...just told that it has been gathered. From the sound of it though, they have the name, address, and identity of the perp and think they know how my information was obtained. Hopefully this will be a quick case and the book gets thrown at them. I would be super happy if this was a 2x loser and this would be life imprisonment for them. (Yep, I am still furious about this entire thing)

[nickel]

Received another call from the Police this morning....the case is proceeding forward exceedingly well. A ton of information has been gathered and the "pieces are all fitting together extremely fast".

The only thing I dont like is since its an on-going police investigation, I havent been told any of the information...just told that it has been gathered. From the sound of it though, they have the name, address, and identity of the perp and think they know how my information was obtained. Hopefully this will be a quick case and the book gets thrown at them. I would be super happy if this was a 2x loser and this would be life imprisonment for them. (Yep, I am still furious about this entire thing)
at least it sounds like justice will be served.

such suckage though.

[ufcrusher]

Got another call from the police today.....apparently although they have plenty of information and would be able to get this biatch if she was here, the fact is that she is outside of their jurisdiction and they are having to transfer it to either LAPD or the FLPD. The officer told me that "unfortunately, there is a good chance that those other police departments wont want to go through the trouble of trying to track her down and probably wont keep you informed."

I was also told that this biatch apparently is known by Southwest airlines as a repeat offender and they have a LARGE indepth file on her - she is tied to/suspected in over 30 instances of this. So this really makes me wonder why when she tries to buy a ticket with someones credit card they dont just get the police involved right away. He informed me that its unclear where she got my information from. The history at Southwest seems to indicate that she might be getting it from there. In fact, the officer felt that maybe the ticket purchase was to test the validity of my number...although that doesnt make sense given the other charge.

The officer also stated that these identity theives routinely get jobs as cleaning people at hotels/car rental places and go through the files at night when no one is around. This way, they are able to get everything...the card number, your address, and in some instances even a social. If they dont get the social that way, they usually use an online background check company to get it for them.

As much as I would like to list her name on here, I am going to hold off for the time being. The police believe she is in Florida at the time being.

[kgsilvas]

If you posted her name, wouldn't it be a shame if somebody got her info from here and scammed her back!

[guiseppewv]

Anyone have any recommendations on credit protection/monitoring companies/services? I have been thinking about doing this for a while and the piece of mind is worth it.


That sucks! At least SWA contacted you in advance. Good luck with this.

FYI: Southwest had to contact him. If the ticket is purchased within 48 hrs of the flight the charge card and the charge card's owner must be present to check the person in unless you go to the airline's counter and pay for the ticket there. I found this out when trying to book a last minute flight for a friend of mine.

[MJordanash]

Received another call from the Police this morning....the case is proceeding forward exceedingly well. A ton of information has been gathered and the "pieces are all fitting together extremely fast".

The only thing I dont like is since its an on-going police investigation, I havent been told any of the information...just told that it has been gathered. From the sound of it though, they have the name, address, and identity of the perp and think they know how my information was obtained. Hopefully this will be a quick case and the book gets thrown at them. I would be super happy if this was a 2x loser and this would be life imprisonment for them. (Yep, I am still furious about this entire thing)
Sorry I used your card. I just felt like flying somewhere. Consider it an IOU:pfft: :D

[kgsilvas]

...FYI: Southwest had to contact him. If the ticket is purchased within 48 hrs of the flight the charge card and the charge card's owner must be present to check the person in unless you go to the airline's counter and pay for the ticket there. I found this out when trying to book a last minute flight for a friend of mine.

I had no idea. Thanks for the info.

[Ladogaboy]

You should also ask about a photograph. I thought they have cameras everywhere at airports now.