In VA your DL # is your SS#. But you can request a random one if you want, which I did to try to evade some out of state traffic trouble and it worked. I also write with a Sharpie "PLEASE ID" on the signature strips of all my credit cards. US Postal Service always harrasses me about that and it was a headache last time in China. But it's been fine everywhere else and I always thank the folks who ask to see my ID. If they want backup ID I show them my concealed handgun permit.

thanks for posting this. probably wasnt easy to "air" your error. i am not net saavy and would get hosed. thanks for the heads up.

i couldnt put together 20k worth of BS from office max. that is alot of Sharpies. good luck.

It seems that is very plausible. I get spoof emails all the time telling me to click and go to paypal site to fix information. The phony sites look very real indeed.

Reminds me of a guy at work who use to run a mirror program on his terminal. Anyone logging in to that terminal just gave away his password.

Rick, I Do the same with "See ID" on the back of my AMEXs, Discover and Debit Card. Unfortunatley the majority of the merchants I've been to don't check...or they think my name is See Id. :)

http://www.discovercard.com/discover/data/home.shtml
http://www.discoverycard.com/

I had never heard of discovery card

good warning post. thanks, rick..sorry to hear about the misfortune. keep us posted on what turns up..
ryan

Will do.

The FTC collects info to further it's fight against ID Theft as well. I'm debating wether to report to them or not. Seems just another place that wants much of my PII...how ironic.

Question. Does every state now have the document/points system in order to apply/reapply for a drivers liscence? NJ does and it seems it will make it pretty tough for a crook to forge the proper documents.

That's correct. I almost never rely on a link provided to me.


BTW, here's a good informational link provided by the gov: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

rick, that address is soooo close to my house.... about 3 miles..

i'll do some research and see what i can find.... as far as the rope and tree i think we need something with a little more suffering....

steve

This has happened to me twice. The first was unnerving. Someone called my Visa carrier and knew all my personal info. Mothers maiden name, SS# etc.. They changed my billing addy to a Pak Mail in Anchorage Alaska. Then proceeded to order 10K worth of Computer gear. Dell was ready to ship when I called them. HP was the one that smelled a rat and tipped off my CC company. I called Dell a day before they shipped.

Its frustrating because the CC company will not disclose what has happened to the perp. I asked HP and they were shipping a drone package to the address to try to catch the perp. That was all they would tell me.

I used to have the persons name and real address. They used a valid E-mail address when they changed my CC info. I was able to back trace the E-mail addy and found it belonged to a home about 20 miles away from Achorage. I passed this info on the my CC company they were somewhat suprised I had the address and name of the perp. and warned me to stay clear while they handled it.

I was so tempted to fly out and "visit" the house.

My second one was my Amex. Some 15-17 girls bought 4 first class tickets on American from Madison to Ft. Lauderdale for spring break. I recieved an e-mail confirming my reservation complete with all their names.

I contacted AMEX and they said police will be at the ticket counter waiting for the girls. I decided to e-mail the local news and tip them off to the impending arrests. I figured any girl named Britteny with a friend named Ashley should be on TV while being arrested. :D

great story, jim..but end the suspense..what happened at the ticket counter and the girl!s??

Steve, If you're in the area can you take a ride by and tell us what you see?


Update:
I had a lengthy conversation with a tech from Discover's fraud investigation unit. I presented the two scenarios I thought likely and asked for his thoughts. He said that the "Evil Twin" site sounded very plausible however there was one problem....If I entered all the PII into the scammers spoof site during the application process they wouldn't have an account number. He went on to tell me that there was no way for him to access my account to change the address without that number. He feelt strongly that the scammer hacked his way into my account with a password generator or other tool.
He also said he'd try to get back to me if they determined the exact cause.....stay tuned.