Paying bills online = identity theft???

[Jaxspra]

One of the planners here has had his credit card numbers stolen and used in London for currency exchange. He figures someone got his credit card number from spyware on his computer. I pay a lot of my bills on line, figuring its secure and nothing like that could ever happen to me (well there probably isnt enough $$ in any of my accounts and definately no credit cards but still...).

Anyway, has anyone around Cyburbia had a problem with identifiy theft? How many pay their bills or bank online??

[jmello]

I pay all of my bills online, but I do it through the bank website which does not require me to enter any credit card or account information. I use McAfee on the computer at home which scans for spyware and other junk. I also frequently check to see what "processes" are running in the Task Manager. If I see something that I don't recognize, I run a search to find out what folder it is in. I have found a few unauthorized programs this way.

I also change all of my passwords every few months.

[JNA]

I had been a vicitim of ID Theft.
Apparently preapproved credit card applications are not forwarded by mail but the bills were, and that is how I found out about it.
So to clear myself it involved: 2 credit card companies, the 3 credit report companies, 2 Police Departments, U.S. Postal Inspectors, and an Attorney (my cousin )
Not to mention the numerous letters, documents, and phone calls.

I do not pay bills on line.
I have bought plane tickets on line using that airline's frequent flier credit card.

[imaplanner]

I had been a vicitim of ID Theft.
Apparently preapproved credit card applications are not forwarded by mail but the bills were, and that is how I found out about it.
So to clear myself it involved: 2 credit card companies, the 3 credit report companies, 2 Police Departments, U.S. Postal Inspectors, and an Attorney (my cousin )

I've always wondered where the liability is in fraud resulting from those pre-approved and unsoliticited stuff they send out. I get tons of stuff sent all the time and have called telling them not to but they still do it. Even checks which are actual checks they won't stop sending.

[jmello]

I've always wondered where the liability is in fraud resulting from those pre-approved and unsoliticited stuff they send out. I get tons of stuff sent all the time and have called telling them not to but they still do it. Even checks which are actual checks they won't stop sending.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/.../prescreen.htm

It works, we did it last month.

[imaplanner]

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/.../prescreen.htm

It works, we did it last month.

That's awesome jmello! Thanks for the link.

[Planit]

I'm with ya JNA. After a year of paperwork, phone calls, etc. things got cleared up. It's not fun and very time consuming. I'm still very gunshy, but the system works and I didn't have to pay anything.

When I was on the phone with the CitiBank person working on my case, she gave me the address they used and I Goggled it for fun. It was in South Chicago and the lady siad - "Please do not go there and try to resolve the issue yourself." I just chuckled, I had no intention of going to the southside of Chicago (except to a White Sox game).