The worst thing that could possibly happen for Christmas happened to a friend of mine. Identity Theft! That’s right my boyfriend was taken advantage of! His credit card was comprimised by some THIEF! We aren’t sure yet how they got the card but there are many possiblities.  He is not frivilous with his card in the least. 

He uses it at restaurants around town, online to buy software etc., and of course for the pizza guy.  Most recently we ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut, we ususally order from Round Table but it’s so greasy it’s nice to take a break from it from time to time.  Anyway, we ordered the pizza, paid by card over the phone and then when they came to the door, they wanted to run a pencil over the card with the receipt in between. I didn’t think much of this, as it’s happened to me on occasion when I’ve ordered a pizza and not just from the “Hut” but from other establishments as well.  Well, I thought it was weird cause the kid wanted to then turn the card over you know where the security code on the back resides? Well, he looked there, I thought maybe to see that it was signed, why he would care? I didn’t know just kinda thought it was strange.   We always give a good tip more than required so there is no reason to hate.

I came over to his house this afternoon and he was sitting down to pay some bills online, he had just put a large sum of money in the bank the other day and when he logged in he noticed it was ALL GONE!  He began looking at the charges there were over $500.00 pending from places like iTunes, Vonage, and some internet sites that sell video game downloads. The theives even set up a landline phone with Vonage in my boyfriend’s name and ran up a bill of almost $500.00.  They had since called vonage back to report the account that they set up to be fradulent, we found this out from the rep who spoke with us from Vonage.  They told him that they were already investigating this account for fraud!  We were shocked. It seemed that they were trying some really weird tactics in theft.

He immediatley called the bank and reported it. The bank lady barely spoke engrish, that’s right engrish! Anyhow, she took his testimony and assured him that the card would be cancelled immediately and another would be issued. Within 10 business day! That’s like 5 days before Christmas!

In the meantime, he is out about $4000.00 right before we were about to go Christmas shopping this weekend too! BUMMER! Well, he doesn’t use his card foolishly only to trusted internet sites and for dining around town.  We really think that it was the pizza guy, we don’t have anyone else to suspect, we get fairly good service at restaurants and even if we don’t he ALWAYS gives a good tip, even if I protest, doesn’t matter, he’s not cheap or skimpy and will not short the tip.  There is no reasonable explanation for this to happen to good people like my boyfirend.

Unfortunately, it happens to the best of us. The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to check your bank account frequently and make sure that you are VERY observant of who you give your card to.  There is not always much you can do to stop this from happening but at least if you catch it early you can keep from having a “Sad Christmas.”

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