Identity Theft attempt help?

At dinner recently, my wife’s debit card was declined. We checked on the droid at the restaurant and there was plenty of money in it, but 6-8 unauthorized charges (napster, etc.) for $1.00 and other amounts. We immediately called the bank and canceled that account, and she got a new card etc., got the unauthorized charges removed.

That was on 9/17.

Today (9/27) she checked and found another one that was put through on the old account on 9/23, several days after that one was canceled. The bank was unhelpful - Wells Fargo - in explaining how the charge went through a closed account. When she said “if you can’t assure me that you won’t put charges thru we’ll take our business and $$ elsewhere.” The response was “do you want to speak to a banker to do that?” serious customer service issues.

Two of the charges (including the most recent) were to identity theft protection sites… my wife was told it might be a bigger effort to steal her ID. Has both of us a little worried. She jsut spoke to one of the identify theft co.'s, was told that there was an account opened in her name on 9/17, but using a different SSN (I suppose that’s good) and different address.

We also received something in the mail a few days later, some natural product, that was illegally ordered under her acct. When that company was called they said they had to have the acct number as well as the security code on the back of the debit card.

Anyway, any advice on what to do at this point? We do all the supposed smart stuff for id protection but not sure what if anything we can or should do at this point. She is calling the credit agencies at the moment to put a fraud alert on her account

Happened to me a couple years ago with more minor stuff.

Contact LifeLock and enroll for a year for you and the wife: http://www.lifelock.com/?promocodehide=SHAREASALE&c3metrics=share&SSAID=409266

Then, go to FreeCreditReport.com and enroll in the paid service for a year to monitor your accounts: http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?SiteVersionID=988&sc=674032&bcd=cQ2h1dzz&mkwid=scQ2h1dzz&pcrid=7521883444&kwid=FreeCreditReport.com

Both are WELL worth the money and not really that expensive.

When it happened to me, I signed up for Lifelock and freecreditreport.com also.

The guy who was trying to steal from me got caught at Cabella’s. Don’t try to steal from them. The cops told me Cabella’s has 1,000 security cameras in the store and parking lot.

They let the guy open an account in my name and had the sheriff meet him at the door.

For some reason, the guy was let out on bail. I get a call from a police department letting me know they have someone posing as me under arrest. It was the same guy.

He is now in a federal prison because he would break into mailboxes to steal info needed for identity theft.

A credit freeze will stop identity theft before any damage can be done, credit monitoring only lets you know after the bad guys have opened credit in your name. A freeze is also cheaper. Biggest down side is that in can slow the process if you need new credit in your name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_freeze