Swiped and double-swiped!
On Thursday morning I discovered that my credit card number had been stolen. I don't know exactly how this happened as I still HAVE my credit card. Here's how the story unfolded . . .
The first thing I do upon waking up every morning (and some afternoons) is boot up my laptop so that I can check my email. On Thursday, I had a voice mail (yes, our voice mails are sent to us via email) from a woman calling from someplace called "Chimpfeet" saying that she just needed to verify my recent internet transaction.
Huh? WTF is "Chimpfeet"? In my mind's eye I'm having visions of bloody African poachers. It can't possibly be that bad, though. Naturally, I look it up and learn that Chimpfeet is apparently a California based company that sells pet-related items. Whew! Still - I definitely did not purchase anything from these people, so I give them a call.
Turns out someone placed an order using my credit card to be sent to a woman in Massachusetts. Thank goodness the Chimpfeet people are on top of things and noticed the fishiness (no pun intended) of the transaction. They canceled the order and said they'd be happy to work with the police, if I was going to report it.
I spent the next three hours on the phone with my credit card folks, a couple other vendors who charged my card, and the police. And an hour after that online reviewing free credit reports from Equifax, Transunion, and Experian to make sure that it was ONLY a case of a stolen credit card number and not my entire identity.
Of course, what REALLY bugs me is that I have no idea how my credit card number got out. Anyone else out there got any horror stories about credit card or identity theft?
The first thing I do upon waking up every morning (and some afternoons) is boot up my laptop so that I can check my email. On Thursday, I had a voice mail (yes, our voice mails are sent to us via email) from a woman calling from someplace called "Chimpfeet" saying that she just needed to verify my recent internet transaction.
Huh? WTF is "Chimpfeet"? In my mind's eye I'm having visions of bloody African poachers. It can't possibly be that bad, though. Naturally, I look it up and learn that Chimpfeet is apparently a California based company that sells pet-related items. Whew! Still - I definitely did not purchase anything from these people, so I give them a call.
Turns out someone placed an order using my credit card to be sent to a woman in Massachusetts. Thank goodness the Chimpfeet people are on top of things and noticed the fishiness (no pun intended) of the transaction. They canceled the order and said they'd be happy to work with the police, if I was going to report it.
I spent the next three hours on the phone with my credit card folks, a couple other vendors who charged my card, and the police. And an hour after that online reviewing free credit reports from Equifax, Transunion, and Experian to make sure that it was ONLY a case of a stolen credit card number and not my entire identity.
Of course, what REALLY bugs me is that I have no idea how my credit card number got out. Anyone else out there got any horror stories about credit card or identity theft?