Useful tips if you are robbed

[Jody]

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate Attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.
 
1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put "PHOTO ID REQUIRED."
 
2.. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card Accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.
 
3.. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home Phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your h ome address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.
 
4.. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to Call and cancel.
Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a Photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad.
We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards. Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my Wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieve(S) ordered an Expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had A credit line approved to buy a Gateway comp uter, received a PIN number From DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.
 
 But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know: 5.. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card Numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.
 
6.. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit Providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an Investigation (if there ever is one). But here's what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)
 
7.. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations Immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over The Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your Credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by Phone to authorize new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the Credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks. Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, etc., has been stolen:
 
1.) Equifax: 800-525-6285

2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 888-397-3742

3.) Trans Union : 800-680-7289

4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 800-269-0271

[Dan J.]

Thanks for the useful info, Jody. Did something happen to you?


 

[Jody]

No Dan...Just thought I would print it out and pass it along, thanks for asking.

Jody

[dad1216]

One more little tip on checking accounts...don't have your full name printed on the checks, use your initials with you last name, however sign your checks with your full name.  This saved me a lot of problems when my checkbook got stolen, and I had to prove I didn't write the checks.  All my checks had my full signature, and the stolen ones were signed with just the initials and last name.

Bob

[poz1970]

After working for equifax/certegy in australia for a few years, all I can say is NEVER GET A CHEQUE BOOK

We were paid to make people's life's difficult (I took up knitting, coz I found the workplace so destructive and obstructionist)

J

[bear60]

I listen to NPR a lot and this is what someone said :
She keeps two wallets....and if held up would give up the dummy one first. It contains money and cards but no cards are current and just 10 bucks or something.
My next door neighbor was held up at gunpoint a few weeks ago...she was getting out of a car and her husband didnt even know it had happened. zip zap

[emeraldize]

She keeps two wallets....and if held up would give up the dummy one first. It contains money and cards but no cards are current and just 10 bucks or something.

After a self-defense course, I started doing this---keeping an extra old wallet in the car. The teacher suggested that if you are accosted on the street, throw your money, or wallet (fake or otherwise) so the robber goes after it. This give you a chance to run which is not guaranteed to you if they open your nearly cash-free wallet and take you at gunpoint so you make your ATM card work.

[fearless]

And, if someone breaks into your house throw out your old toothbrush immediately and buy a new one.
Nothing worse than receiving a letter in the mail a week later containing a picture of your toothbrush up the burglars butt hole 

[emeraldize]

The burglars in your country are evidently more creative and better time managers than ours. Boy, that's a gross one, fearless.

[allopathicholistic]

And, if someone breaks into your house throw out your old toothbrush immediately and buy a new one.
Nothing worse than receiving a letter in the mail a week later containing a picture of your toothbrush up the burglars butt hole 

bizarre yet sensible 

After working for equifax/certegy in australia for a few years, all I can say is NEVER GET A CHEQUE BOOK

We were paid to make people's life's difficult (I took up knitting, coz I found the workplace so destructive and obstructionist)

poz: it's sad you were paid to make life hard on customers. i totally expect that here in america, but now you're saying that for australia. ugh. how do people sleep at night? (not you, i mean the people who make the policies)

[David_CA]

And, if someone breaks into your house throw out your old toothbrush immediately and buy a new one.
Nothing worse than receiving a letter in the mail a week later containing a picture of your toothbrush up the burglars butt hole 

Is that why they call us 'Butt Burglars'?   

[david25luvit]

Thanks Jody for the useful information....
although here in Alabama we just shoot them when they try to rob us.


Fearless.....that's halarious!  If I'm ever robbed (my house) I'll definitely throw away my old toothbrush
and any oblong vegetables in my crisper.  God only knows what they'd do with a big cucumber