Why Leaving Your Purse In The Car Is Not Safe
Identity theft stories are everywhere. Reading the following story might make you more aware of the danger of leaving personal information accessible. The story you are about to read is based on a true account submitted to a website by an anonymous author:
Wanting to enjoy a night club with friends, a woman decided to leave her purse in the car of the person she rode with. At the end of their night out, these friends arrived at the car to find that it was broken into and the purse, stolen. Imagine how terrifying it was to realize that not only the purse was gone, but her keys, credit cards and bank card! This poor woman went home and reported her cards stolen. After reporting the cards stolen, she logged in to her online bank account. Already, the thief was using her Visa debit card! She clearly states that this is not just a random credit card that she needs to make a payment toward, but her hard earned cash coming right off of her debit card! As this story unfolds, she decided to look at her account again the next morning and found that the thief not only had bought gas with it the night before, but also used it to go to the drugstore and out to eat. Even though she reported her card stolen, it was still being used for unauthorized purchases. Be sure to write “check id†on the back of your cards, near your signature. This could prevent thieves from being able to use your card Of course, this depends upon whether the cashier looks at the back of the card, but since many do, don’t skip this important step. The card continued to be used until Monday when this victim could call the bank and speak to someone. She had lost $2,000 at this point. This poor woman had to physically report to the bank to file a report of unauthorized use of her card and sign an affidavit that the charges were not hers. Fortunately for her, the bank did refund her money within two weeks.
This is not the end of her story, though. The checks that were stolen from her purse were used to buy pizza. She is still showing up in a check systems database and can’t write checks at certain stores, because of identity theft that she rightly refuses to pay for.
The thieves were finally caught when they went to a check cashing store and forged her name to cash one of her personal checks for $400. The police were contacted and this woman was able to press charges.
This woman was left in a financial hardship for over two weeks, due to the money that the thieves had taken from her. Can you go that long without the money you currently have in your bank account? It would be to your advantage to have a separate “emergency fund†that has no checks or debit card attached. These funds would only be accessible by physically going to the bank and filling out a withdrawal form and providing your ID.
For more tips on how to protect your identity, click here .
