Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fraud

Sketchy journalism & littering

mightshould — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:29:27 -0800

Sleuthing and neighbors have figured out what went on in front of my place the other day and it involves fabricating evidence for a newspaper story. I'd like suggestions on how to proceed. On Thursday, my neighbors saw a truck pulled off on the roadside in front of my place and the driver was unloading what turns out to be a lot of debris and trash into the ditch. They couldn't get the license plate of the truck, but have a decent description. Saturday, they saw two vehicles parked on my property, with one person taking photos (they did get the plate number of that guy.) In the Sunday paper, there's an article with a picture of the scene. The gist of the article is that "boy, there's a lot of trash on the roadways, and something needs to be done."

So, I'm steamed. First of all, I'm going to have to clean up the considerable trash myself unless the perp can be identified. Yeah, that ditch filled with trash - the refuse will be mine to dispose of.... Secondly, the journalism is flawed and just plain faked. I figure a call to the paper's editor is involved, but what else?

This is in rural, eastern NC, USA.

I'd like to help anonymous people stuck at the train station, but avoid being scammed in the process

mathiu — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:27:18 -0800

Earlier on AskMeta there was a question on being conned. I gave 50€ to a pregnant couple at a train-station - both couple and money I never saw again. I'd like to keep helping - but avoid being scammed in the process. How do you differentiate between "fishy" and "worth my help". Have you stopped looking at these cases altogether? A few weeks later I was on the train. My credit card didn't work and I didn't have enough cash on me to pay the conductor.

A woman (that I hadn't talked to before) gave me 15€ on the spot. She later explained that she had been stuck at a gas station with a similar problem where someone had lent her and even higher amount (100€).

I'd like the world to stay such a good place (ahh, warm feelings). Tell me some stories: when were you faced with a similar dilemma and decided to help/not to help? What are your decision strategies in such situations?

Articles on law serving specific factions of society? Example of art.

tnygard — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:56:07 -0800

Hi all, I am looking for articles or books on how the law serves specific factions of society at the expense of others. I am specifically interested in the issue of art fraud and forgery, but I would be happy to learn about more general overviews on this issue as well. Is there a "classic" book on how law is socially constructed to serve specific factions of society at the expense of others? Or maybe an overview on the sociology or anthropology of law that you highly recommend? Or some key terms I should be aware of? My intuitive understanding of the art forgery example is that laws to prevent fraud serve the interests of people involved in the art market (dealers, galleries, museums, auction houses) but hinder artists that work in historical traditions because the border between a "copy" and a "pastiche" and a "forgery" and a "fraud" is blurry. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

There's something I should tell you... I have cancer...

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:50:13 -0800

I lied about having cancer to my boss. Now what? I work at a school in New York City. Lately I've been under so much stress I have fantasized about quitting often. All of the teachers at my school are browbeaten about test scores and threatened with disciplinary action for missed deadlines and inadequate performance. Yesterday, I told my principal and the assistant principal that I had cancer as a child and it had come back. Yes. Yes I did.

They were very nice and supportive, and repeatedly told me that they were there for me and how wonderful a job I had been doing.

So.... my question is, how can this come back to haunt me? I am on the city's insurance. I don't want to take off more days because of this, I just didn't want every sick day I took scrutinized and possibly subjected to disciplinary action (this happens). In addition, I always feel pressured about little things and I am hoping this will cause them to back off a bit.

So my questions:

1) If they suggest that I take a medical leave of absence, would they be able to check the authenticity of my claims? What is that process like?

2) I don't plan on telling anyone else at the school and certainly not telling anyone that this is BS. How can I better my chances of not being found out?

3) Can they call my insurance company or doctors to verify this? I have seen several doctors for various other problems in the past few months but no oncologists.

Common characteristics of scientific fraud or misconduct

Mapes — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:19:21 -0800

Article or book that discusses common characteristics of scientific fraud or misconduct? Several years ago I read an article, essay, or book chapter that listed common factors in many uncovered cases of scientific misconduct. One was that subjects typically acted alone; conspiracy was extremely unusual. Another was that researchers generally believed that the faked data represented the truth and would be confirmed if more time or resources were available.

Does anybody know what I was reading?

You are being given a new card/account number

dabug — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:05:24 -0800

"A recent merchant database compromise may have put your account at risk. A new card/account number has been issued." Is this common with credit cards? This is the third time in the last two years that I have been issued a new credit card/number due to suspected compromises. This is a big hassle since I now need to change my account details with all of the automatic billing services I use (again!).

Have other people experienced this? Should I be happy instead of irritated that they're being proactive?

Citibank is the card issuer if that matters.

Someone stole my credit card, should I be worried about anything else?

AlisonM — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:45:51 -0800

Someone stole my credit card. The fraudulent charges have been taken care of, but is there anything else I should be worried about? My credit card (that I charge a whopping $9 a month on for Netflix) is expiring next month. Chase sent me a new card on Sep 4th, I never received it. Today, someone charged a whole bunch of money at a whole bunch of stores to my account. They're in Florida, I haven't been to Florida in years (I'm in NYC). The fraud department at caught it, I verified it wasn't me. Obviously somewhere between Chase sending me my new card and me getting my new card, things went wonky and some jerk got their hands on the envelope. My account is temporarily closed/denied/whatever until I get my new card (with a new account number) and activate it, and I'm not liable for any of the charges.

Awesome!

Except, now these people have my name, address, and a credit card (even if it's useless) with my name on it. Is there anything that I should be concerned about or do to try to ensure that they don't use my identity to do anything else? I've certainly used a credit card as an ID before, and after talking to my roommate just this week about these things (he has no state issued ID or passport and needed to get on a plane), a credit card plus any piece of paper with your name on it is considered enough ID to do whatever you want at a lot of places. Even though I'm in debt (thanks, school) and am sort of underemployed, I have pretty decent credit. I'd REALLY like to keep it that way.

So, is there anything I should do? I don't intend on taking out any loans or opening any new credit accounts in the immediate future, but I may consolidate my several private school loans at some point in the next year or so. (I would get advice from a financial planner, but see the underemployed bit? I can't afford it.)

Calling all MeFi Greasemonkeys!

stevyb — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:14:33 -0800

Could brake pads wear down from 50% worn to metal against metal after one 12 hour round trip to Yosemite? (See details) I have a 2004 Honda Accord. Had it checked by a mechanic friend before we went on a trip to Yosemite and he said the brakes were fine. At least 50% of the pads were still there. We came back and noticed the A/C wasnt working, so since it's still under warranty we took it to the local dealer. Brakes were working fine to this point. they replaced some parts and the AC works fine, driving back we noticed the brakes were suddenly squealing quite loudly and grinding on the rotor!! Before I accuse of them of foul play, could the brakes pads wear down that quickly?

Identity Theft Sure Does Suck.

mockjovial — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:51:26 -0800

Help me help my fiancé recover from identity theft. (Please?) ....question about identify theft....sorry for the somewhat lengthy setup. Thanks in advance for your advice!

Backstory:
I am getting married next year in June (yay!) As my wife to be and I have moved ahead with planning for the big event, we also have been seriously considering the purchase of a home.
We are both in our mid 20s and live in Chicagoland. I have finished college and am employed full time in a relatively stable industry. She works part time and is a full time graduate student.

We both checked our credit reports this week to be sure that everything was in order. Thankfully, mine came back just fine without any errors or problems.

...not so much for the fiancé.
We were shocked and horrified to discover last night that over 20 accounts she was not aware of and did not open were listed on her report. In all, just over $10,000 in charges between various retail stores, and a credit card or two.

To make matters worse, almost all of them are now listed as 'charged off' / 'in collections', and various collections firms also show up on her report.

Oddly, the entire history of 'bad stuff' goes back about 3 years, but she has not received one call from a collector or received any odd bills in the mail, even though her correct contact information is listed on the credit report.

She is extremely responsible with her finances and always pays her bills on time. There are 4 accounts 'in good standing' that we know to actually be hers.

We have only seen 2 out of 3 reports so far, because we were not able to gain access to the third one online. For the third report (Transunion), we aren't able to get past the identity verification step because it asks for the last 4 digits of certain account numbers, but the accounts they are asking about are ones she didn't open, so she doesn't know the numbers and therefore can't verify her identity. (Unfortunately, the account numbers are not listed on the other 2 reports.) We will be calling Transunion to get that third report.

We immediately contacted Equifax and had them add a fraud flag to her report. They will then contact Transunion and Experian on our behalf to get flags set up with them too. Hopefully that will begin to stop the bleeding by preventing most types of new accounts from being opened. What it will not do is stop currently open accounts from being used, so that needs to be addressed next.

This FTC: website has been very helpful so far.

We will be getting copies of the credit reports, identifying the fraudulent accounts, filing a complaint with the FTC, filing a police report, and then using the form letters on the site to request the account information / application information from the various retailers/credit card companies with the questionable accounts. From there, we can provide our police report and documentation to the security/fraud departments of the various retailers and credit card companies to get the accounts closed. We can then send our Identity Theft Report to the credit reporting agencies to try to get the items removed. Hopefully.

Thankfully, my credit report is just fine and my FICO score is in the top possible bracket....on my own, with MY income and OUR down payment, I should not have a problem qualifying for the mortgage we need. I should be able to move forward with the home buying process using only my name and credit while we work on getting this disaster cleaned up, so all is not lost.

Questions:
I know that YANML, et. al.....just looking for some opinions. Here is what I'd love to know:

- Has this happened to you or anyone you know? What was the process of fixing the mess really like? How long did it take? Any advice? Is this too big of a problem to realistically tackle ourselves, and if so, are there any firms you know of that can help?

- Should I only be contacting the original retailer(s) about the fraud? (Meaning ignore the collectors). I know from previous questions here how evil they can be.

- When we get married, can I be held responsible for any of this fraudulent debt if for some reason it is not resolved through the above process? Will my own credit be damaged? How can I avoid being held accountable for it if it comes to that?

- When we placed the credit flag last night, Equifax immediately tried to sell us their credit monitoring service for $14/month. That felt slimy. Does anyone have any experience with it? Is it worth it?

- Is there anything else I should be asking?

Thanks for humoring me. I think I used up my questing asking privileges for like 6 months with this one.

Previous polical frauds (people who aren't who they first seem)

jcdill — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:46:57 -0800

Searching for previous political frauds such as not-a-doctor Roxana Mayer. Roxana Mayer recently spoke at a forum on the health care initiative, claiming she was a doctor. But she isn't a doctor. I'm looking for the names of other people who got caught pretending to have certain credentials for political purposes (to back or oppose candidates or political positions), but who didn't have those credentials.

He Took the Money and Ran

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 07:11:16 -0800

What to do about an Outlaw Agent? I work in a creative field. Let’s say for the sake of discussion I’m a graphic designer. I had an agent who would procure for me the occasional commercial gig. The agent had fallen quite behind on payments and he insisted that the clients had not paid him yet and he could not pay me until they did, which is understandable for a small company. I finally contacted the clients and asked about my invoices. They said the invoices had been paid months before. I left the agency immediately, sent a cease and desist for my works on the agency’s website and an email requesting a full accounting of what the agent owed me. I calculated this to be around $5,000, but it is likely more.
The agent skipped town (NYC) and continues to run the agency remotely. He does not respond to my emails or phone calls. It has been two months.
I would love to recover my money but am feeling this is unlikely at this point since I can’t afford a lawyer. I figure the next best thing would be to see this taken to the next level and I would like to press charges. I know for a fact that this agent has done this to several other designers to the tune of thousands and thousands of dollars. I’m not sure what I can press charges for or even how to go about doing it. Do I contact the NYPD? The FBI since he’s conducting his shady business across state lines? Help me, criminal minds of Metafilter!

Debit card fraud?

sickinthehead — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:25:23 -0800

What to do about suspected debit card fraud? I was just checking my account balance and noticed it is overdrawn by $300. Puzzled by this (as I keep a thousand dollar cushion in the account), I went through the charges. Admittedly, due to having recent surgery this is the first month I've been lax in following my charges daily in quite some time.

There are crazy charges on here - not for crazy amounts of money, but for inexplicable store visits. They all appear at the same grocery store. It shows 5 visits to the grocery store on Saturday, 3 on Sunday, 3 on Monday, 1 on Tuesday. It's only my husband and I living here, and I feel like I would recall going to the grocery store that many times but I don't. Neither does he. We also don't have a house stocked full of food to correspond to this.

We called the bank and they informed us that our pin was entered for each of these transactions, so we must have made them. They were very unhelpful and only offered to issue us new cards.

My question: is this possible? Did I visit a grocery store 5 times in a single day and have no memory of it? Then 3 times the next day and 3 the day after? Are thieves sophisticated enough to have used both my correct card AND my pin?

What are my next steps?

Widespread credit card fraud or bizarre coincidence?

nelvana — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:22:31 -0800

Both my daughter and I have fraudulent charges at the same online poker site on our credit cards. Is this happening to lots of people or is it a weird coincidence? I checked my online account last week and discovered a $700+ charge to FullTiltPoker. I've never played online poker or even been to the site. I called Citi Mastercard and they have canceled the card and are sending me documents to sign that the charges aren't mine (there were two other pending charges; total of about $2500).

My daughter was checking her account yesterday and had two charges on her account for the same site. She also has a Citi Mastercard, but it's not shared (or even the same type - mine is a rewards card and hers isn't).

Neither of us had lost our cards. My daughter keeps her statements and I shred mine so the information is not being stolen from the garbage or recycling. They told me at Citi that someone could have hacked into a merchant's computer system where I had used my card. I doubt my daughter and I have used our cards at the same merchant recently. The odds of this happening to the two of us at virtually the same time seem pretty huge unless it's happening to tons of people. Is it widespread? Has this happened to anyone else recently?

Imaginary villages of old NM

Sara Anne — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:22:37 -0800

I'm looking for the name of an imaginary New Mexican village. A long time ago I took a class on New Mexican history, and learned of a village that was invented by a Spanish governor in order to fraudulently inflate the size of the population to his superiors. I have pored through all of my books from the class that I still have, but can't find anything about the incident. Google and Wikipedia have both failed me.

What would happen if you only requested a credit freeze with 2 of the 3 credit agencies?

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:54:37 -0800

What would happen if I put a credit freeze with two of the reporting agencies but not with the other one? If someone stole my identity would they still be able to open new accounts under my name? Also, theoretically speaking what would happen if an ID thief preemptively froze your credit essentially locking you out? I'm planning on freeze all three of course. I'm just curious and the fact that Equifax doesn't let you setup a credit freeze online or through the phone while the other two agencies allow you to makes me a bit angry.

What should I do if I suspect someone has gotten my personal identity details?

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:50:45 -0800

What should I do if someone has pulled some real identity theft type stuff on me? I'm watching bank accounts, changing passwords, checking for viruses/keyloggers, but what else can I do? The other day I noticed some odd charges on one of my credit cards (at an online merchant I've never heard of) and immediately called the issuing company and had them cancel the card as stolen.

I figured someone just happened to embed my numbers into their dummy card (it happened to me about ten years ago) until the merchant gave me a call from the buyer's info. I don't think the merchant got the phone number from the CC company, and I've gotten a few weird calls on the phone since then as well.

I'm thinking someone must have breached some sort of personal info to get my private cell number (not known to more than 30 people) and one of my credit cards.

I haven't seen any other weird charges on my accounts, but is there some sort of nuclear option I can invoke with credit agencies to block someone trying to open new credit accounts or doing anything weird with my info?

Are there other steps I should be taking beyond getting a new card and changing passwords everywhere?

I need her family to stop abusing her and her credit cards.

lizzicide — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:09:40 -0800

Jane's mother is racking up enormous charges on credit cards in Jane's name, completely against Jane's consent. How can she stop this? Difficulty: No consequences for Jane's mother. I'll try to phrase this as well as I can. I'm writing this for a friend, who recently moved away from a very unhappy situation at home with her parents. Having come from a bad homelife myself, I feel for her and really want to help her heal and do the best that she can now that she's...well, free. However, her parents are taking advantage of her financially, and while they're not evil people, what they're doing to her is Very Wrong and there has to be a way to stop this.

My understanding is that the credit card fraud started a few years ago, as soon as Jane turned 18, and that her mother has charged thousands of dollars to cards in Jane's name that Jane never opened or even KNEW about. After fighting her on this for a very long time and using miles of emotional blackmail, Jane's mother finally agreed to stop charging to the cards, opening new cards, and so forth. Except she hasn't. In Jane's words, "All I know is that a credit card/checkbook was sent in my name, to my parents' home, and that she got a hold of it, and that she used it to get $450. This is illegal because if checks are involved, she forged my signature somehow." This sounds baaad to me, because checks mean cash advances, and cash advances mean high interest rates (higher than just credit card purchases) on balances that neither Jane nor her parents can afford to pay down.

Jane wants to stop this without credit card companies holding her mother responsible for committing fraud. "Protect the abuser" comes to mind, but at the same time, I understand that legal repercussions will be costly to the family. To give (even more) background, I'll say that her father suffered a heart attack this year, so he, her mother, and her mentally disabled older brother are living at home solely on the mother's income and some public assistance they're receiving.

My suggestions are:
- Close the existing credit accounts (my understanding is that she'll still be able to make payments towards the balances even after closing the accounts)
- Opt out of receiving credit card offers via optoutprescreen.com

My overall question is, how can she protect herself against a woman who knows all of the identifying pieces of information that a creditor would request, WITHOUT reporting fraudulent activity?

In Massachusetts, what are the steps to freeze her credit profile and prevent new lines of credits from being opened? What measures would be in place to keep Jane's mother from simply posing as Jane to lift the freeze? Will this end up biting Jane in the ass if she needs to get student loans in the fall?

Any advice on how to handle the situation would be very much appreciated.

Eerie coincidence, or does bigfoot...er...OS X malware actually exist?

jferg — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:52:30 -0800

Fraudulent Skype transactions: eerie coincidence, malware, or something else? So, my mom had some real weirdness happen in the past couple of days with Skype and her credit card, and I'm wondering if there's some sort of new, bleeding-edge malware for OSX out there I'm not aware of, or if it's just a really crazy coincidence.

(Note: I'm an IT Security Guy, but mostly on the development and network side, so I'm not _as_ current on desktop security and I do almost nothing with Macs - but feel free to go technical on me.)

This is the timeline of the weirdness:
1. Last Thursday afternoon while visiting my mom, I downloaded Skype to her Mac (x86 iMac, OSX 10.5.4), and set her up with an account. The account didn't have the same username as any of her other online identities, but was tied to the gmail address she uses for most other stuff. Didn't give them any credit card info or anything else, because she's just going to be using it for Skype-to-Skype to talk to me. (And I don't have her credit card info anyway.). After testing it to make sure it works, we closed Skype and didn't touch it again before we left.

2. Saturday, shortly after we left, she gets a call from CitiBank saying her credit card has been used for 'high-risk' transactions, in the form of 3 charges from www.skype.com totalling $10. She calls me, I tell her what info I gave them, that her credit card info was not given to them, etc. She calls them back, tells them the transactions were fraudulent, and they cancel the card, refuse the charges, etc.

3. Sunday morning, she gets an e-mail to her gmail account from Skype telling her that the charges to [some other Skype username] were refused, etc.

So this means that within 48 hours of having downloaded and installed Skype on her computer, somebody else has used her credit card number and e-mail address to sign up for a Skype account. This is, in my mind, slightly beyond coincidental, but the only other thing I can come up with is that her machine is compromised, or her home network (cable modem, wireless, WPA2, average password quality, few neighbors) is comp'ed.

However, I also signed up for a Skype account from my machine on her network, as well as paid bills, logged into my online banking, etc, and my stuff (at last check) was fine, which suggests its not at the network level.

So...is anybody aware of Malware for OSX that's harvesting info for Skype fraud, or is this just a really bizarre coincidence? Or is there anything else you guys can think of that I'm missing? Does anyone have any suggestions (outside of the normal unixy methods of looking for running processes, open ports, etc) for detecting malware on here machine, if such a thing were out there? I don't have physical access to her machine now, as we've since driven back across 4 states to home, but can do a WebEx or VNC session with her if need be.

(Also, she's since had the card cancelled and is getting a new one issued, so that's a non-issue, but I want to make sure this doesn't happen again.)

Taxation without representation?

zoomorphic — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:01:44 -0800

I suspect my former company is guilty of tax evasion after paying me like a freelancer instead of a full-time employee, unless I'm operating under a serious misconception of tax rights. I quit under duress, but now I'm filing taxes and I'd like to report their behavior if it has indeed been inappropriate. Please tell me whether or not I'm right to do so, and if so, how I should report them to the IRS with very little concrete evidence other than hearsay and my own 1099 form. I was hired as an assistant editor at a small company with the verbal promise that after a trial period, I would be put on payroll and given benefits. This never happened, and the company eventually fired the rest of the editorial staff and placed me in charge of everything. I was always paid like a freelancer, despite working 50 hours a week without any of the freedom of freelancing and all the expectations of a typical employee. None of my taxes were ever deducted. Naturally, this means that I am officially obligated to pay my full payroll tax, something like 12.4% of my income, rather than the 6.2% I'd pay if I were acknowledged as a full-time employee.

The company has also refused to take out the taxes of less freelance-y folks, like the office assistant. They laid-off my co-worker and then covertly re-hired him, now paying him under the table in cash. The CEO suggested that the guy collect unemployment on top of his weekly salary.

I'm not a tax lawyery expert, but this is all pretty illegal, right? My problem is that I quit abruptly under the pressure of the low pay, lack of insurance, and other mundane degradations that the company unleashed on its staff, so I never gathered evidence to support my claims. If I call the IRS and just tell them that I suspect this company is committing tax evasion, will I have a case against them? Do I have a shot at recovering half my payroll tax, or did I screw myself over by quitting in a huge huff without stealthily building my case?

I live and work in New York City. Thanks in advance for any insight.

Mom was robbed. Now what?

cuddles.mcsnuggy — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:31:02 -0800

My mother's car was robbed yesterday in Savannah, GA. Thieves made off with the originals of her Social Security card, the Social Security card of my recently deceased father, her bank debit/ATM card, her original driver's license, credit cards, documents with her address on it, business cards, and a lot of cash. She had the police involved & a report has been filed. She has canceled the credit cards and will be talking to her bank. Thankfully her checkbook wasn't taken. What else can she do, or can I help with, to prevent identity theft now that criminals have her SSN, my dad's SSN, and her drivers license and address? I'm worried sick for my poor mom. Not only did her husband/my dad pass away ten days ago, but now she's been hit with the blow of this robbery. In addition to all of the vital documents above, she lost $2,000 cash. Everything was in a small purse she had "hidden" in the car when she was doing some shopping. Thieves watched her get out of the car and waited till she walked away then broke the window.

She has started the ball rolling to get her affairs back in order; she called her credit card companies already (she had several cards but she's pretty sure she got them all) and the police faxed some kind of report to her bank. She'll be going to the bank first thing in the morning and the DMV for a new license tomorrow. The police also did a forensics sweep over her car for fingerprints and "evidence" but we're not expecting that to go anywhere. My biggest concern is -- how can she keep her (and my dead dad's) Social Security number, ID, and address from being used to open unauthorized loans, accounts, or credit cards? What's to prevent someone from using her data to run up gargantuan debts in her (or Dad's) name?

I have read through previous AskMeFi threads and I have seen these sites:
What to do when your purse is stolen
The FTC's site on ID theft
US Dept. of Justice

- Are there additional things she must do besides the tips in the above links? Better easy-to-understand sites to refer her to? She is NOT at all tech-savvy.
- None of these sites seem to specifically address Social Security card and driver's license theft: What specifically will she need to do about those? Does she need to talk to the Social Security office? What would they do to help prevent fraud?
- Have any of you gone through this and have personal suggestions?
- Is there any way at all she can recover some or all of the cash (ie: will car insurance cover anything like that)?
- She is a resident of South Carolina and the theft happened in Georgia. What additional things will she need to do, or be aware of, because of the two states involved?
- Are ID protection services like LifeLock or TrustedID worth it; or would doing that now be like shutting the barn door after the horse ran off?

Many thanks.

Madoff IRS Issues

Pennyblack — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 10:48:34 -0800

Could a soft (no more investigating) Madoff plea deal protect the IRS from claims by victims? Didn't they pay real taxes on fake income? Also: If the government demands that people who actually did pull out a profit pay that money back, shouldn't the IRS also pay back the money paid in taxes on that profit? I guess I'm just worried that Madoff's wife, kids and friends will be allowed to keep 'their' assets. Also: can Madoff's victims sue Mrs. Madoff in civil courts? What a mess, eh?

Eggs, Toast, and MasterCard

terranova — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:14:05 -0800

Why did my waitress add my credit card number to the bill? After finishing a meal at a local restaurant this morning, I went to the cashier station to pay my bill and presented my credit card. The cashier/waitress swiped it, ran a receipt, and handed it to me to sign.

I noticed she was writing something on the reverse side of my dinner bill. When I looked closely, I saw that she was copying my credit card numbers. I said loudly, "you're not writing my credit card number, are you?" And she stopped abruptly after having penned about five digits, mumbled something, and returned the card to me.

Is there a legitimate reason a restaurant would write diners' credit card numbers on the reverse sides of bills? For security reasons? Or is this possibly a racket?

Should I be concerned about ID theft with 1099 sent to wrong address?

conigs — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:54:59 -0800

A contract employer sent my 1099-MISC to my old address at which I haven't resided since Jan. 2007. Should I be concerned about possible identity theft/fraud? I already had a fraudulent charge to one of my credit cards shortly after my mail stopped forwarding. Also, are there any repercussions I can/should take against the employer (large state university)?

Odd credit card mail

scubbadubba — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:24:03 -0800

In yesterday's mail there was a letter from a credit card company. It had my address with another person's name. What are the possible reasons for this and what actions (if any) should I take? Relevant information:

We have been in our house for ten years. No one else has lived here. (no old occupant mail has ever come)

We do not have a credit card from this company (American express).

The letter was a denial for credit.

No one has been around our mail box.

There is no person on our street with this name.

If it was attempt at fraud, wouldn't someone use our name, not our address?

Should I call the company who sent the letter, call the police, place fraud alert on our credit report, all or none of the above?

Thanks very much.

If I WERE a complete idiot, I MAY have done THIS....

Spyder's Game — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:02:06 -0800

Sensitive information left out on a desk...uh, hypothetically. Assume for a second that I'm a complete idiot. Imagine that I, hypothetically, left out some paperwork on my work desk overnight. This is a light traffic area, and unlikely to be seen or noticed by many. Paperwork was upside down. Unfortunately, this hypothetical paperwork contained a voided check with my bank, routing number, account number, my name and my (hypothetical) wife's, and our address.

What kind of damage could someone do with information like that?

How would they do it? Would they need to make up a fake driver's license with my name and their picture on it?

What should I be vigilant about looking at to avoid losing any money for my hypothetical boneheadedness? Bank statements? Should I think about putting a freeze on my account?

Anything else I should do, or be aware of?