Wednesday 3 September 2008

MY STOLEN MONEY SAGA

The saga with my money continues.
It started with three payments made out to an American pizza place amounting to £150 ($300). So I told the bank, they were great and told me they would sort it.

Next day two more payments were removed one for £480($960) and another one for £735 ($1470). Again on to the bank and they were again brilliant. They assured me my money would be returned and the paperwork would follow.

On Monday I get a postal delivery, I sign for it. It's a large box and I am not sure what it is. On opening it it turns out to be,one leather jacket XL, one pair of jeans size 38, two pairs of trainers in different sizes and a watch. The parcel has been sent to my address but the name is not mine. But it is similar enough and it has come from the company that has had the £480 payment.

Again I phone the bank, they tell me that i should contact the company in California and ask them what they want doing with these goods as the postage had been £41 ($82) and there was no way I'm paying to return them. They also said that if I can't contact the company then I can do what I like with these clothes.

I've got through to the company told them what's going on and they are either righting the clothes off or will send UPS round and eventually they'll send me an email informing me of their decision

What they also told was the email address of the person who ordered and a phone number.The phone number is only one digit different form mine and in the same town.

So this is all feeling messy and a bit scary, as whomever has done this lives locally and knows where I live. So I phoned the police.

They cannot do anything till asked by the bank and so I now have to call the bank again tomorrow to tell them the phone number of the bastard whose done this to me. And hope that they think it is worth contacting the police as they can so easily locate the thief.

In the meantime one lot of money was repaid into my account followed today by visa insurance. This now means I've been overpaid by £740,and wouldn't I like to keep this money. Which says something about my integrity really, in that I'm outraged that I can be stolen from and not batting an eyelid at the thought of extra money.

Trouble is I'm basically an honest person and when I phone the bank I'll have to tell them.... Boo Hiss!! cause I don't want them catching up with me at a later date when I no longer have the money to repay.

So now currently for however long I'm the proud owner of some bling bling clothes and a ridiculous bling watch that's of no use to me or anyone I know. Which if the company write off will be hitting ebay any moment.

It's a salutatory lesson in how easy card theft is and how vulnerable we all our to becoming victims of crime, without our knowledge.

So it's taught me now to start being extra vigilant about hiding my pin number and my card from view when I use it in the future.

Apparently one in three people is done in this way at the moment. And being me and not hiding stuff about myself when I started telling people I have been amazed at how many others I know who have been caught out by unscrupulous thieves stealing our identities.

So as I said before check your bank accounts, it's so easy on the Internet and may just stop a whole load of horrid misery before it gets out of hand.

13 comments:

Trixie said...

holy shit! When you mentioned this, I thought it must have been in America when you visited, but in your AREA??

Annie Wan said...

that is a horrible thing to have happen to you. is it naive to hope the police will catch the thief?

Westerwitch/Headmistress said...

Berlimey what a horrible hassle - thank you so much for the warning - I am pretty vigilant - but will be even more so now.

Mel said...

But I feel so silly when I'm putting in that PIN number and shielding what my fingers are hitting from the people around me. Oy......no foolin'...used to be a swipe and no PIN--now it's about needing a curtained booth to enter the secret code that the whole world can watch you enter.

*sigh*
You poor thing.....

BenefitScroungingScum said...

Oh how horrid for you. Just a thought, but if all the details are that close, phone number etc is it possible there's been a mix up rather than a deliberate crime?
Hope it gets sorted out soon, hugs BG x

nitebyrd said...

I would think it happened in the US because of the pizza place. Your bank and the insurance company are truly awesome! It's very scary that it's someone so close to you.

Hemlock said...

Huh! a U.S. pizza parlor & some local cat? It might be time to replace the cards and have the account #'s changed. I don't know how it works over there but on this side we can temporary freeze our credit.
To hell with guilt. Sell the non-returnable items & send the dough to your favorite charity. Dobry.

Walker said...

I hear they have a magnetic card reader now that they could read you information off of your card even when its in you purse or wallet.
Criminals will always find a way.

At least you will not beresponsable for all those charges andwho knows, your reward might be a new leather coat.

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

Amazingly, something similar happened to us. We went with friends for lunch in Wales two or three weeks ago. There had been a burglary in the area and all the phone lines in the area were down so my husband had to sign the credit card receipt instead of using his PIN. When he checked the bank statement, the restaurant had put in the first bill, then gone back a week later and put it in again. Hubby phoned them, despite the bank saying not to, to let them know he was on to them.

trousers said...

Bloody hell, scary stuff - hadn't realised this was happening.

Hope it all get sorted out properly, ie action is taken. Nice that the bank is repaying the money and all the rest but obviously you don't want this kind of thing happening in the first place.
x

Fire Byrd said...

money is back in the bank, thankfully. .com sight in california can't be bothered to have their stuff back.... so anyone interested in an XL black leather jacket let me know!!!

as ever thanks for bothering.
xxxxxxxxxx

J.J said...

I had my identity nicked along with my handbag a couple of years ago and it was a major pain in the arse. I lost count of the number of mobile phone contracts I apparently took out at that time. So I know what you are going through and truly sympathise.

Merkin said...

Sorry to hear about that.
Can happen to anyone now.
Just got to keep chasing it up.

If, in the past, you have bought goods on the net I would do an anti-trojan check on your comp.

Keep the goods - do not return them.

Incidentally, whenever you publish a photo on the net which has been taken with a digital camera you are betraying a lot about yourself apart from date and time.
Camera make and serial number allows someone with access to identify your address if, and not only if, you paid by credit card - eg if you filled in the registration form.

It is a lot easier than you would think to be able to identify someone.

xx pal.