(no subject)
Oh my gosh. The Dutch part is very weird, but I'll get to that.
I was just registering for my 2006 Commencement ceremony at Cuesta's website, so that I can participate in the graduation. When I was going to type in my address, I went to type in "Paso Robles" in the field where it asks for my city. You know how your computer stores things that you type into different fields, and then it will pop up with those things when you try typing them in again, so you don't have to type the whole thing all over again? Well, when I started typing in Paso Robles, it popped up with the word "Plauen". I've never heard of that word before, nor have I ever typed it before on my computer (until just now). I was like, what the heck, where did that come from. I googled it, and guess what, it's something German. German & Dutch are pretty closely related, no? It's quite the coincidence to me that my computer would suddenly just randomly have the word "Plauen" saved in its system, and then someone had created a website in Dutch under my name... it had to have been when I was on vacation, and I left my computer in the hotel room each day. Someone saw my computer, and saw a window of opportunity to steal my information. I don't have a file with my information in it or anything. But just like I was just talking about, my computer stores things that I type in different fields, so I don't have to re-type them all the time. So all the person would've had to do would be to go to some website, their choice being www.ipower.com, pick some domain name they wanted, and then when they went to register it, they just had to try different keys on the keyboard and see what popped up. They might not have even taken the time to write it down; maybe they were paranoid we would come back into the room... so maybe that's why they only did that one thing with it.
The Dutch/German part is what throws me off. Maids are generally either American or Mexican... but I guess there could've been a Dutch or German maid at any of the hotels we stayed at. I'm tempted to investigate this further, but I don't think I'd probably get very far, and it'd be hard to really pinpoint things.
I have learned two things from all of this, though:
1. NEVER LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER IN A HOTEL ROOM!
2. PASSWORD-PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER!
*sigh* I just hate how naïve all of this makes me feel. This person has caused me a lot of aggravation and stress. Identity thieves are definitley some of the lowliest people out there, that's for sure.
EDIT: Well, I was wrong... or at least partially wrong. I was DYING of curiosity about all of this, so I called up www.ipower.com again, and asked for the date that the domain account was made (which was actually http://www.spinelime.com NOT http://www.stineline.com - I hadn't heard the letters over the telephone correctly) and I guess whoever did all of this made the account on April 27th. That would have been after I already got back from vacation. So I could still be partially right, in that whoever did it could've stolen the information off my computer, from me leaving it in the hotel room, but whoever did it had to have had my information written down somewhere, because my computer was on my desk in my room all day on April 27th. Another puzzling thing is that, while this person isn't necessarily Dutch, the question remains, how did the word "Plauen" get in my computer's memory? I kinda wish I had super-hacking skillz cos I would totally get to the bottom of this if I did. But at least I'm starting to put some things together.
2nd EDIT: AAAH, never mind the "Plauen" thing... I manage Lyambiko's myspace, and I put tour dates up for them once, and forgot about it! Now I feel silly. But I still don't know how someone got to my information, German or not... it could've still been the hotel thing, though.
I was just registering for my 2006 Commencement ceremony at Cuesta's website, so that I can participate in the graduation. When I was going to type in my address, I went to type in "Paso Robles" in the field where it asks for my city. You know how your computer stores things that you type into different fields, and then it will pop up with those things when you try typing them in again, so you don't have to type the whole thing all over again? Well, when I started typing in Paso Robles, it popped up with the word "Plauen". I've never heard of that word before, nor have I ever typed it before on my computer (until just now). I was like, what the heck, where did that come from. I googled it, and guess what, it's something German. German & Dutch are pretty closely related, no? It's quite the coincidence to me that my computer would suddenly just randomly have the word "Plauen" saved in its system, and then someone had created a website in Dutch under my name... it had to have been when I was on vacation, and I left my computer in the hotel room each day. Someone saw my computer, and saw a window of opportunity to steal my information. I don't have a file with my information in it or anything. But just like I was just talking about, my computer stores things that I type in different fields, so I don't have to re-type them all the time. So all the person would've had to do would be to go to some website, their choice being www.ipower.com, pick some domain name they wanted, and then when they went to register it, they just had to try different keys on the keyboard and see what popped up. They might not have even taken the time to write it down; maybe they were paranoid we would come back into the room... so maybe that's why they only did that one thing with it.
The Dutch/German part is what throws me off. Maids are generally either American or Mexican... but I guess there could've been a Dutch or German maid at any of the hotels we stayed at. I'm tempted to investigate this further, but I don't think I'd probably get very far, and it'd be hard to really pinpoint things.
I have learned two things from all of this, though:
1. NEVER LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER IN A HOTEL ROOM!
2. PASSWORD-PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER!
*sigh* I just hate how naïve all of this makes me feel. This person has caused me a lot of aggravation and stress. Identity thieves are definitley some of the lowliest people out there, that's for sure.
EDIT: Well, I was wrong... or at least partially wrong. I was DYING of curiosity about all of this, so I called up www.ipower.com again, and asked for the date that the domain account was made (which was actually http://www.spinelime.com NOT http://www.stineline.com - I hadn't heard the letters over the telephone correctly) and I guess whoever did all of this made the account on April 27th. That would have been after I already got back from vacation. So I could still be partially right, in that whoever did it could've stolen the information off my computer, from me leaving it in the hotel room, but whoever did it had to have had my information written down somewhere, because my computer was on my desk in my room all day on April 27th. Another puzzling thing is that, while this person isn't necessarily Dutch, the question remains, how did the word "Plauen" get in my computer's memory? I kinda wish I had super-hacking skillz cos I would totally get to the bottom of this if I did. But at least I'm starting to put some things together.
2nd EDIT: AAAH, never mind the "Plauen" thing... I manage Lyambiko's myspace, and I put tour dates up for them once, and forgot about it! Now I feel silly. But I still don't know how someone got to my information, German or not... it could've still been the hotel thing, though.