How could this happen?Stolen Identity

[sannyrut]

I recently received a message on my telephone from a credit card company which I hold an account with asking me to contact them.I did so,using the telephone number on the reverse side of the credit card as a precaution.The original message had indeed been left by a fraud investigator from the credit card company and I learned that someone had "Stolen my Identity".It transpired that the credit card company had received a telephone call from someone purporting to be me,indicating that I had moved address and that my credit card had been damaged,requesting a new one.After passing whatever security checks,he was issued with a duplicate card :oand proceeded to attempt to use it.The first attempt was successful £10 of fuel.The second £200 cash withdrawal was stopped and then I was contacted.The culprit,had changed my address,telephone number,password and even looked to see whether I had a savings account with the company which I hadn't.I shred all of my bank statements and correspondence.I do use the internet to buy goods but only on sites with secure credentials.Looks like some secure sites are not secure.None of my other bank accounts have been interfered with and my computer is clean of Malware etc.What a time I've had triple checking everything is still OK.I haven't been charged for the fuel by my CC company.Has this happened to anyone else?

[Liz 101]

It happened to a friend of mine a few years back. It was so obviously someone known to her, as they had forged her signature, though unbeknown to the culprit, she used a different signature in her private life to that she used at work. That saved her in the end, as her bank had to admit that they had not received correctly signed documents to change her address. It still took her some time to recoup, from the bank, the money that had systematically been raided from her account whilst she had been abroad on holiday

[heather07]

My husband refuses to have internet banking because he feels it is unsafe.
Looks like he is right:(

[hillside]

Yep - it happened to our friends in exactly the same way you describe. That was about 4 years ago so nothing has been tightened up since then then

[Jacqui Harvey]

You don't need to be on the internet to have your identity stolen.  My daughter had her cheque book stolen from a secure post box in her block of flats.  Her account was cleared, when she found out and complained, the Bank told her that they would investigate.  The investigation would take six weeks and they could not lend her any money because she had a bad credit record (that was because all her money had been taken from her account including her overdraft).  The Bank did not report it to the Police, we did. The Police told us they could not act because the Bank did not make a complaint, apparently they never do because they don't want bad publicity.  We found out that a man and his girlfriend had gone to the bank and written out my daugthers cheques and signed them, they had no proof of identity, but the bank handed over the money.  They were on CCTV in the Bank the Bank knew who there were but still would not complain to the Police. The couple had an account at the Bank.   We were furious.  Eventually, the couple turned up at bank branches  with up to 4 other cheque books over a two week period and the Bank decided to prosecute.  We were told  that we would never find out what happened to the couple. My daughter got her money back after 6 weeks and £200 as an apology.   However, if it had not been for us lending her money she would have been in dire straits for weeks, as with a bad credit record through no fault of her own no one will lend you money.  Needless to say she changed banks.