A cautionary tale of identity crisis (x3)

Normally I'm quite the perky, happy, "I love everything!" blogger. But tonight I might have to be a bit more serious. (gasp)

You see, after spending 45 minutes on the phone with an IRS agent today and finding out that once again my tax refund is being withheld due to identity theft, I'm a bit irate. Last year was literal hell on my credit and identity, and I'm not happy at all to see that I have to deal with it again this year. Apparently I have so many red flags in my file that I will probably be dealing with this for years and years to come. AWESOME.

This post is not intended to get sympathy or anything of the sort. I'm hoping it will just kind of show you how important it is to take care of your credit. You have to keep an eye on it at all times because you never know who can get their hands on it. I never, ever thought anything would happen to me, but I was wrong (dun dun dun)

December 1, 2007. The day my troubles began. I was at a bar watching the Marquette vs.Madison basketball game at a bar here in Chicago, when my phone rang. It wasn't a number I recognized, so I let it go to voicemail and then walked outside to check it right away. I had an inkling something was wrong and boy, was I right. It was my credit card company letting me know there had been suspicious activity on my card.

I quickly called back and the customer service rep asked me to verify charges—almost $900 at a cell phone store in Montreal. I practically screamed, "What?! That's not mine!" into the phone, in a very panicky, high-pitched voice. 

Turns out someone got my credit card number and was using it to their heart's content up in Canada. It was an awful feeling. I had to cancel my credit card, file a police report, report identity theft, etc. It took months to figure out and get everything back on track. What a pain. And just when I finally had the charges cleared and got my new card...

March 2008. One day when my brother, sister and I were home, my Dad mentioned that our family accountant had filed all our tax returns. Except mine. There was a "glitch" when he tried to submit it electronically, so he had to mail it in.

The glitch? Someone had already filed taxes under my social security number. 

The accountant swore it wasn't a big deal. He said someone must have mistyped their own social security number, and that it would all get figured out. Right.

April rolled around and my brother and sister got their nice little tax refunds. Me? Not so much. Then it was May...then June...then July. Finally our accountant had an update: I was being investigated. I was given about 10 different numbers to call, affidavits to sign, more police reports to file and various people to check up with. It was a disaster. I sat on the phone for hours almost every day for weeks trying to figure it all out. I went through so many automated systems, I was ready to flip. 

Long story short, I didn't get my tax refund until late October, when they finally realized I was the REAL Pam. Turns out, someone was pretending to be me. Sounds cool...or not. But it all worked out and I was happy, until...

November 22, 2009. After watching the holiday lighting on Michigan Avenue, my friends and I went to a nearby bar in the Loop. I was sitting at a high top table, with my purse hanging next to me, against my arm and under my coat. We were enjoying our drinks when all of a sudden the waiting area (right by my seat) got really crowded. My chair got bumped a few times and then I felt a sharp tug on my purse. I immediately knew something was wrong. 

Sure enough, I opened my purse and my wallet wasn't there. My debit card, my credit card, my drivers license—everything—was gone. Luckily, the manager of the bar (a very nice Irish man), let me use his computer to cancel everything immediately. And thank God he did, because I later found out that only minutes after I cancelled my cards, there were failed purchases totaling $900 at Target, numerous ATM attempts, charges at gas stations, etc. The list went on and on. I have never felt so violated in my entire life, but I was so lucky I caught it quickly.

And now I'm dealing with the IRS for the second year in a row. They even called my CFO at work to check up on me and confirm my identity. I suppose I'm glad, but really? It's me. I wouldn't ever touch a fly, let alone commit tax fraud. And now all this checking up makes me feel like a criminal...

So please be careful. Trust me, you never, ever want to deal with this. It's completely unnerving and so unnecessarily stressful. Check your credit reports (listen to those lame commercials and visit freecreditreport.com), keep your personal info safe and NEVER say your credit card numbers out loud in public places—especially if you're on a very crowded city bus (I've heard it more than once, which is absolutely ridiculous). 

In the immortal words of Charlie Brown, "Good grief."

So lucky. So violated.

Today I found out how truly lucky I was on Saturday night. 

When I got into work this morning, I called and filed a police report for my stolen drivers license. I knew I should call and check up on my credit card and debit card, but I just couldn't do it. I was too nervous. I thought I had cancelled the cards quickly enough, but I couldn't be sure. And once I called and heard the fraudulent charges, there was no going back.

So I waited until the afternoon, and then I couldn't take it anymore. I started with my credit card company. As expected, the woman asked me to verify my last purchases. 

8:40pm, Saturday, November 22nd. $1,544.19 at Target in Chicago. DENIED.

I nearly wept with relief. That was the only fraudulent charge and it was denied. Thank God. I had cancelled my card only 25 minutes earlier. I would have loved to been at that Target to see that smug little thief get rejected.

So that was that. I was lucky.

I checked in on my debit card online and it didn't look like there were any fraudulent charges, but my intuition told me to call my bank anyway. And after this weekend, I know to definitely trust my intuition.

So I called my bank and the woman told me my card was cancelled, but she still had to verify my last charges.

$25 at BP. Rejected. 

$150 purchase. Rejected. 

$275 purchase. Rejected.

ATM attempt $100, incorrect PIN. Rejected

ATM attempt $200, incorrect PIN. Rejected.

And there were about five more attempts to get my money—all of which were rejected. They were ALL within a 50 minute window, and all only mere minutes after I cancelled my card. 

By the time she finished reading the charges, I was shaking. I had never felt so violated in my entire life. I couldn't believe how far those people went to try to get money from me. It's so wrong and it makes my heart break a little that people could be so dishonest. 

At the same time, I realize how incredibly lucky I am. If I hadn't listened to my gut right away, the thieves would have been successful. They would have completely over-drafted my account and ruined my credit. And if the manager of the bar hadn't let me use his computer to find the right numbers to call right away, they would have succeeded. 

I am so lucky.

I am going to call that manager tomorrow and thank him profusely for his quick thinking and kindness. I can't even imagine the state I would be in now if I hadn't acted quickly...

You've been hit by a smooth criminal

My wallet was stolen last night—right out of my purse.

This comes almost exactly a year after I found out my credit card number was stolen (even though I still had my card) and someone had charged $900 in cell phones in Canada. And it comes nearly 9 months after I discovered that someone had gotten ahold of my social security number and filed taxes under my name. Both incidents took me months and months of phone calls, legal documents and stress to resolve. 

So I'm sure you can guess how much this latest incident thrills me. Because not only was my credit card in my wallet, but so was my debit card and $8 (thank goodness). The real crime? My driver's license was in there, too...so now I have to go to the DMV and wait in a loooong line again. I am so mad about that. 

Long story short, the night started out great—three friends and I made a last minute decision to go down and watch the Festival of Lights on the Mag Mile from the comfort of my nice, warm office. Then we headed to Emerald Loop and got a table right away. The table was by the area where people stand to wait to be called, and also where they check in with the host. I had the unfortunate seat that backed up to that area. As I sat down I put my purse on the back of my chair, underneath my long coat and scarf, and up close against my side because I knew my seat was a tad sketchy.

So after some appetizers and couple of drinks, I suddenly felt my purse swinging a lot. There were a TON of people in the crowded waiting area...and there was a man standing right next to my chair "putting his coat on" and smiling.  It was weird and I immediately knew something was wrong. It didn't feel like my purse was just accidentally bumped.

I grabbed my purse and started going through it. No wallet. My friend looked through my purse. No wallet. We all started looking through my coat, under the table, around the table next to us. Still no wallet. I knew it was gone.

I was handling it really, really well, until the manager came over and told me how well I was handling it. Then, I have admit, I shed a few tears. I was so frustrated.  I composed myself after a few seconds and then I knew I had to act quickly. So he let my friend and I go to the back, through the kitchen (eek), to his little office where we looked up my numbers and cancelled my credit and debit cards. I think I caught it right away, but you never know. We came back and the manager bought us a round of drinks because he felt so bad. Magner's really eased the blow last night.

So now I have no money, no access to money and no ID. I am just glad that I'll be home this week for Thanksgiving so I can get a new driver's license and debit card up in the 'burbs (have to get them up there unfortunately). And I'm SO glad I took a few things out of my wallet last night, like my insurance card, my Border's Rewards card (which I couldn't live without) and my CTA card (again, so happy about that). I do think I might have a lost a gift card, which stinks, but oh well. I'm also glad that it wasn't my nice wallet—it was only my little pink bar wallet. And I'm glad that my digital camera, nice earmuffs, phone, etc were all left in my purse, completely untouched. 

After hearing about the string of violent muggings that have been happening in my area, I almost feel relieved that this is all that's happened to me. How sad is that?