livingbooper
08-07-2006, 03:54 PM
Hi Boopers.
I have been debating as to whether I should post this or not, mainly because I am so embarrassed about how stupid I was. I am usually a pretty smart cookie. But I am swallowing my pride because telling people about this incident will hopefully save others from similar misfortune.
I wrote all about it to my mother so I will just copy and paste that email since it was complicated and I'd already written about it once or twice already. This happened to me while I was suffering from lack of sleep due to staying up with Kira most of the night worrying and caring for her, and this happened about 2 days before she died. I'm sure that I would not have been so easily conned had I not been so tired.
Hi Mom.
I just had a very horrible day yesterday and an aweful night.
Yesterday I had my purse stolen from my desk at work. The thief/thieves made things worse by calling me, first pretending that they were from my bank, then calling me and pretending that they were from the Concord Police Department. The call freaked me out so I wasn't thinking clearly and they were very good. They called as the bank to find out if my "daughter" was authorized to cash a check. I told them that I had no daughter and to call the police. The "banker" kept me on the phone and told me that the police were being contacted and calmly asked me questions to make sure I was Elizabeth Barry. When they asked about a certain check number I looked into my desk drawer and my purse wasn't there. Then the person (he/she I couldn't tell) "Transferred" me to another department by putting me on hold and another voice came on to freeze my account and issue me a new card. Again, calmly in a monotone the person asked me questions that sounded like proceedural questions. I was so upset I wasn't thinking clearly and when she asked about my pin number I said it without thinking. Then she "transferred" me back to the first individual who told me that the police were there and the 19-year-old Pakistani girl was being arrested. I wanted to go to the bank but the banker said that the officer would contact me. Ten minutes later I got a call and an "officer" told me that the suspect had been booked and that they needed to take my handbag to Investigations to photograph it and the contents as evidence and when finished an officer would bring it back to me. The "officer" asked me questions to make sure it was indeed my handbag and had me give him the address of my business. I told him that I worked until 5:30 and he said that the inspector worked until 3 and I would get it back before then. About 20 minutes later I got a call from the "arresting officer" telling me that my handbag would be brought to me in about 30 minutes. I was with a customer and when I was finished with her I noticed that when she'd left over 30 minutes had passed. By then I was calm and thinking and realized that I had been conned. How did the bank know to call me at work? The arresting process seemed so fast (especially for the Concord Police). Then I remembered the PIN number.
I called my bank and asked of there had been an arrest made there today and there had not. I told the bank employees what had happened to me and she transferred me to a supervisor. This person told me that a number of charges had been made using my ATM card. I keep my daily limit low, but the banker said that because I was a good longtime customer they would have let it go over. They froze my account and today I have to go down and open a new one.
Then I called the Concord Police. Twice. The first time I got a dispatcher that told me to cancel my credit cards and then call them back. I was at work and discovered that I could not get enough info online to do this. I needed to be home to do it. I called back and insisted that somebody take a report. The dispatcher transferred me to the wrong field office, but that was to my benefit because I had a lady cop there who was a veteran, very experienced, who wanted to help. I was on the phone for 45 minutes making a report. The lady cop faxed me all kinds of info to help with identity theft. She was very nice and helpful. She even called this morning to see how I was doing. I must have sounded very freaked out. She kept having to slow me down because I was talking so fast. I spent the entire rest of the evening cancelling my credit cards and notifying Equifax to put a fraud alert on my file.
I know better than to tell anyone my PIN number but it was tricked out of me.
There are several lessons to be learned here.
#1 NEVER EVER give out your PIN number to anyone, not even your bank.
#2 If someone calls you identifying themselves as your bank or other financial institution never give them any information. Get their name and number and call back the institution. Don't be lazy, look it up in your records or the phone book.
#3 Make sure your valuables are able to be stored securely at your workplace. The owner of my company installed a lock on my desk drawer so that this will never happen again to me.
#4 Try to keep a clear head. I found that my sense of time went right out the window. Try to think as clearly as you can, realize that everyrhing takes time, including police response.
There are 3 things that saved me from worse damage. I took my cell phone and my keys out of the purse and put them in the top drawer of my desk so the thieves did not get them. Also, I know better than to carry my social security card around. That was at home so the thieves did not get that. NEVER EVER CARRY YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY CARD AROUND WITH YOU. Always keep it in a safe place at home. This will make it easier to secure your identity.
I really truly hope that sharing my story will help other people avoid the loss and hardship that I had to endure. Now I must constantly monitor my credit file since the thieves got my drivers license. I also lost precious photographs I kept in the handbag, including the only wallet sized photo I had of my deceased father.
Please learn from my mistake!!!!!
I have been debating as to whether I should post this or not, mainly because I am so embarrassed about how stupid I was. I am usually a pretty smart cookie. But I am swallowing my pride because telling people about this incident will hopefully save others from similar misfortune.
I wrote all about it to my mother so I will just copy and paste that email since it was complicated and I'd already written about it once or twice already. This happened to me while I was suffering from lack of sleep due to staying up with Kira most of the night worrying and caring for her, and this happened about 2 days before she died. I'm sure that I would not have been so easily conned had I not been so tired.
Hi Mom.
I just had a very horrible day yesterday and an aweful night.
Yesterday I had my purse stolen from my desk at work. The thief/thieves made things worse by calling me, first pretending that they were from my bank, then calling me and pretending that they were from the Concord Police Department. The call freaked me out so I wasn't thinking clearly and they were very good. They called as the bank to find out if my "daughter" was authorized to cash a check. I told them that I had no daughter and to call the police. The "banker" kept me on the phone and told me that the police were being contacted and calmly asked me questions to make sure I was Elizabeth Barry. When they asked about a certain check number I looked into my desk drawer and my purse wasn't there. Then the person (he/she I couldn't tell) "Transferred" me to another department by putting me on hold and another voice came on to freeze my account and issue me a new card. Again, calmly in a monotone the person asked me questions that sounded like proceedural questions. I was so upset I wasn't thinking clearly and when she asked about my pin number I said it without thinking. Then she "transferred" me back to the first individual who told me that the police were there and the 19-year-old Pakistani girl was being arrested. I wanted to go to the bank but the banker said that the officer would contact me. Ten minutes later I got a call and an "officer" told me that the suspect had been booked and that they needed to take my handbag to Investigations to photograph it and the contents as evidence and when finished an officer would bring it back to me. The "officer" asked me questions to make sure it was indeed my handbag and had me give him the address of my business. I told him that I worked until 5:30 and he said that the inspector worked until 3 and I would get it back before then. About 20 minutes later I got a call from the "arresting officer" telling me that my handbag would be brought to me in about 30 minutes. I was with a customer and when I was finished with her I noticed that when she'd left over 30 minutes had passed. By then I was calm and thinking and realized that I had been conned. How did the bank know to call me at work? The arresting process seemed so fast (especially for the Concord Police). Then I remembered the PIN number.
I called my bank and asked of there had been an arrest made there today and there had not. I told the bank employees what had happened to me and she transferred me to a supervisor. This person told me that a number of charges had been made using my ATM card. I keep my daily limit low, but the banker said that because I was a good longtime customer they would have let it go over. They froze my account and today I have to go down and open a new one.
Then I called the Concord Police. Twice. The first time I got a dispatcher that told me to cancel my credit cards and then call them back. I was at work and discovered that I could not get enough info online to do this. I needed to be home to do it. I called back and insisted that somebody take a report. The dispatcher transferred me to the wrong field office, but that was to my benefit because I had a lady cop there who was a veteran, very experienced, who wanted to help. I was on the phone for 45 minutes making a report. The lady cop faxed me all kinds of info to help with identity theft. She was very nice and helpful. She even called this morning to see how I was doing. I must have sounded very freaked out. She kept having to slow me down because I was talking so fast. I spent the entire rest of the evening cancelling my credit cards and notifying Equifax to put a fraud alert on my file.
I know better than to tell anyone my PIN number but it was tricked out of me.
There are several lessons to be learned here.
#1 NEVER EVER give out your PIN number to anyone, not even your bank.
#2 If someone calls you identifying themselves as your bank or other financial institution never give them any information. Get their name and number and call back the institution. Don't be lazy, look it up in your records or the phone book.
#3 Make sure your valuables are able to be stored securely at your workplace. The owner of my company installed a lock on my desk drawer so that this will never happen again to me.
#4 Try to keep a clear head. I found that my sense of time went right out the window. Try to think as clearly as you can, realize that everyrhing takes time, including police response.
There are 3 things that saved me from worse damage. I took my cell phone and my keys out of the purse and put them in the top drawer of my desk so the thieves did not get them. Also, I know better than to carry my social security card around. That was at home so the thieves did not get that. NEVER EVER CARRY YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY CARD AROUND WITH YOU. Always keep it in a safe place at home. This will make it easier to secure your identity.
I really truly hope that sharing my story will help other people avoid the loss and hardship that I had to endure. Now I must constantly monitor my credit file since the thieves got my drivers license. I also lost precious photographs I kept in the handbag, including the only wallet sized photo I had of my deceased father.
Please learn from my mistake!!!!!