Lynn Beattie, a columnist for a British newspaper, suffered identity theft and discovered a huge scam.
“I always thought it was him Identity theft it was something that happened to other people, until it happened to me, a personal finance expert“. The sentence belongs to Lynn Beaticolumnist for a British newspaper who accidentally received a package at his home and ended up inadvertently discovering a monumental scam.
The woman, also known as the Mrs Mummypenny, he found that his identity had been completely stolen by accident. It was then that a random item was delivered to her home, she opened it and thought, “Interesting, I don’t remember ordering a solar security light system.”
Identity theft and fraud
Since the documents were all in his name and his address was correct, he thought there was an error on the part of the online retailer. Fortunately, she has made up her mind Contact Customer Service to report what he had received.
Lynn never suspected that she could be the victim of such a fraud,
“It was then that I discovered that several items had been ordered: they had been bought $ 3,600 worth of assets using my name, address and date of birth. This debt is now in my name “confided the mother Mirror.
The offender had requested that most of the items be delivered to a local “drop off and pickup” location, but apparently accidentally requested that an item be delivered to the victim’s actual residence.
“If that hadn’t happened, I would never have known about opening the account, perhaps until I had made a applications for credit or overdue letters of payment have started to arrive at my house “explains the British in a first-person column.
They had purchased items for $ 3,600 under their name and ID. Photo: iStock.
How the online deception was solved
The online retailer quickly resolved the situation, blocked the account and eliminated any association or debt connected to it.
“What followed was confusion, anger and vulnerability. All it took to create an account was my name, address and date of birth, ”says Beattie to alert others to the easily obtainable information on social media.
Suddenly, he says, his data was there, available to anyone. And she felt scared, mostly because of her home address.
“I’ve spent countless hours on the phone and on the Internet trying to do that protect my identity and delete information. My first call was a Fraudulent action where I recorded that I was the victim of a fraud “, says the editorialist of the traumatic event.
Lynn began investigating whether all of her accounts were in order and deleted personal data from the networks.
They then protected their identity, ensuring that further verification was done for any account / service set up in their name.
criminal investigation
He also reported the crime to the police who were very helpful and launched an investigation into the perpetrators. They checked cell phones, IP addresses, and security cameras to investigate the identity of the scammer.
Amidst the uncertainty, he began to speculate if it could be someone he already knew or if his name was just part of a list of hundreds of people whose data is on the web. “That’s why I went to all the social networking sites and removed the place and date of birth,” she admits.
He even convinced a journalist friend of mine to do an online investigation and share everything he found about me, including the projects from an earlier time when I sold my house.
The theft of her identity and the virtual scam made the woman very vulnerable. Photo: Shutterstock
It brought fear that the virtual scam could give way to a more traditional robbery Lynn Beati invest in double locks on doors and windows and a private security system. “I have also entered into a service that alerts me to suspicious activity on the networks and if my personal data appears on the dark web,” he says.
So to top it off, he reviewed all of his credits, cards, and wire transfers to make sure there wasn’t anything more suspicious. Fortunately, he assures her, it was the only identity fraud. But she left her vulnerable.
Source: Clarin