Victims of Identity Theft: Tell your story

[SemiCharmedQuark]

Thursday, I went to Target to buy a greeting card for Sweetest's Day. Walking back to the car, I checked the receipt and everything was fine. I got in the car and couldn't find my debit card. My car is a mess, so I lose things all the time. I went to Target and asked if they found a card, and they said no. So I cleaned out my car completely and couldn't find it. So I called the bank to cancel the card and I found out that someone had already run up almost 200 dollars on my card. Eighty dollars worth of gas at one place.

Now, if the person was genuinely a poor person who was desperate, ok. But since they bought 80 bucks of gas at one place, I doubt it. I feel violated. They got away with using it without using the pin number by using it as a credit and because gas stations don't require you enter it.

At work, I see people write "see id" on their cards instead of signing them. Has anyone does this? Does it work?

[RoyGBiv]

1. See ID

That works only to the extent that the employees responsible for completing transactions are willing to ask. Some companies have a policy of requiring ID for the use of a debit/credit card. Others don't. So basically it doesn't work at all because there's no consistency.

Strictly speaking, putting "See ID" where the signature belongs invalidates your card. That is, the card is not valid unless it has a signature on it. I have never encountered a merchant who wouldn't accept an unsigned card, however. If they do anything at all, they simply ask that you sign it before they accept it.

As for a story, someone apparently got my debit card number while I was traveling across the country. I had forgotten to bring a calling card with me and needed to make a phone call while on a layover in Atlanta. I pulled it out and typed the numbers into the phone to place a call. By the time my plane landed in Florida, my bank account was wiped out. Thankfully I was staying with a friend for several days and had time before I needed any cash. My bank reversed all the charges, all of which were for long distance calls to places in South America, and cancelled the card immediately, but it was a frustrating few days.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. My checkbook was stolen last year

They wrote $10,000 worth of checks in 4 weeks.

I wrote 'see ID ' on the back of my debit card. Very few stores even check for the signature.