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On Thursday I found out that someone had posted my name, address, cell phone number and a credit card number on a hacker's website and learned this by some good Samaritan  calling me.  I hindsight, after having gone through the process of notifying my CC company and getting fraud alerts put onto my credit thru the big three credit bureaus, I think this good Samaritan might have been a vendor who had been given the number and when it was declined he contacted me to let me know that someone was attempting charges on my card, but that is speculation on my part.

 

The important thing to me was that I learned about it within a few hours of the issue starting so that I could get on top of it and let the CC company know and hopefully **bleep** this in the bud before it gets bigger and uglier.

 

Since the announcement of the Sally Hack and also the big hack that was announced on the news that Federal Government sites were hacked, I'm not sure if it's all connected or not.

 

My question to all you very savvy computer folks is this:

 

Is there a site or organization where they investigate ID theft and cyber crime and go after the websites that carry this stolen information? 

 

The fellow who called me to let me now about my name and CC # being posted on line gave me the actual website where it was posted and I am not going to go onto it because if it is some sort of hacker clearinghouse, even with my WSA Complete I am afraid that I will pick up some kind of bug or worm or malware that will feed them additional personal information.

 

Also, do you have any suggestions about who else I should contact about this incident beyond the credit card company involved, the big three credit bureaus and notifying my bank to make sure that my savings is safe?

 

As you can imagine, this has been a very upsetting experience and I would rather go overboard protecting my personal information and my credit history rather than miss an opportunity to make sure that these people who do these things don't prosper from their actions.

 

Thank you all for letting me vent.    I still get that sinking, butterfly turmoil feel in my stomach as I type this!

 

 

 
 

I'm glad you caught this early. 

 

I had an employee who did not find out until the debt under his stolen id had reached an enormous amount and the sheriff came to the office and escorted him out.  It will take many years to clear his name and credit, if it can even be done.  

 

Just keep being proactive and review your credit statements, bank accounts, etc. frequently.

 

Best of luck,

Dave
Sorry to hear about this. Hope these links may help:

https://community.webroot.com/t5/Techie/Identity-theft-consequences-and-tips-to-stay-secure/m-p/118794#M3787

  Identity Theft  : FTC Advice

 
Thank you DJ and Dermot! I started doing some sleuthing on my own on line after seeing an article on my homepage that had to do with the big Federal hack and how to protect yourself so I went and filled out an affidavit with the FTC to get it on record with them that this happened to me so that I have documentation to go along with the police report I will be getting to keep in case the steps I have taken do not adequately protect me from future issues.



I actually got rid of the majority of the credit cards that I had had for years, mostly because I was trying to become debt free, but also because I didn't want someone getting hold of one of them and me not realize they were charging up a storm. Now I am down to 2 and they post one of them for all the world to see!



Anyway, thanks to you both for the input!

Wow. Sorry to hear about this. Good luck going forward.

I have an additional suggestion: I use Capital One (although I’m sure sone other banks have something similar) credit cards because they have a “one merchant virtual credit card number”you can create for online purchases. Rather than give your real CC number, a small chrome plugin will generate a new, virtual credit card number that can only be used on line at that merchant. If someone tries and use it elsewhere it will be declined and you get notified immediately. And if you have a serious merchant issue, you can quickly disable that merchant CC number so no other charges can be applied without effecting you main CC or any other merchant. And they also seem to survive a lost CC as well. 
 

Just makes giving a CC number over the phone or online a lot safer. 

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