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Crime Time.
Can anyone else say they have been a victim of both high-tech "white collar" crime and good old fashioned robbery in the space of a few hours?
The merriment began on Monday afternoon when a chance look at my online banking revealed that some kind person on the other side of the US was attempting to purchase $2000 worth of furniture from Sears and Bel using my debit card details. Grabbing my financial folder, which contains everything from bank statements and payslips to insurance and rental agreements, I sped to the nearest branch to get the mess sorted out. After an hour of headaches closing my account down, transferring all automated debits over, cancelling pending checks, etc, all was set. I was given my new account, new checkbooks and told to expect my cards in five days. I then pulled into the Randalls next door to grab some food for dinner, and when I returned to the parking lot, I was greeted by a nice, freshly smashed hole in the rear window, and some kind chap had kindly liberated be of my bag. The same bag that contained my financial folder (which contained pretty much all recent transactions, bills, statements, etc). Amongst other things, I also lost my iPod, keys to the apartment, mailbox, office, and gym, my diary/planner and everything to do with the new account I'd just opened. So it was back into the bank to cancel EVERYTHING a second time, reopen a new account and then being told to wait two days now to close the original because it was too new to deactivate. So basically, my money is in limbo for 48 hours, and I have three checking accounts - one dead, one undead, and one waiting to come alive. Then it was a pleasant few hours dealing with the filing reports and statements with the apartment complex, insurance company, and local police. My first experience with US crime, and certainly not a pleasant one. SIDENOTE: There is a certain hatred I have for thieves. In our society, we are faced with much greater evils such as paedophiles, terrorists, murders, etc that the common thief has slipped down the pecking order of "offenders". However, when you think about it, there's nothing worse than someone who STEALS from another person. Who has such a sense of self-entitlement and arrogance, that he feels perfectly right to smash another persons car window and take whatever he sees fit. Forgetting the loss of the property itself, I wonder if they think of all the other loose ends that he leaves his victim to tie up - the costs and time involved in getting the car window fixed, having to change the locks on my home, order new keys for the office, request new copies of all the stolen paperwork, driving around looking in dumpsters in hope of finding my property. The infinite calls to the police and insurance company. The fear that some criminal has my address details, a breakdown of my finances and keys to me home. All so some lazy crackhead who "ain't working for da man" can get a quick fix. It doesn't matter if it's somebody's grandmother, a war veteran, a child, a disabled person...ANYONE is fodder for these scumbags. There is nothing more immoral, undignified and shameful than helping yourself to a piece of property that someone else worked for...if I ever caught one of these motherfvckers in the act, I'd hurt them bad. Still, at least some lucky kid will be getting an iPod for Christmas this year... |
Re: How is this for a bad 24 hours?
Now that is pretty shitty.
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Re: Crime Time.
Originally Posted by Tolos
SIDENOTE:
There is a certain hatred I have for thieves. In our society, we are faced with much greater evils such as paedophiles, terrorists, murders, etc that the common thief has slipped down the pecking order of "offenders". However, when you think about it, there's nothing worse than someone who STEALS from another person. Who has such a sense of self-entitlement and arrogance, that he feels perfectly right to smash another persons car window and take whatever he sees fit. Forgetting the loss of the property itself, I wonder if they think of all the other loose ends that he leaves his victim to tie up - the costs and time involved in getting the car window fixed, having to change the locks on my home, order new keys for the office, request new copies of all the stolen paperwork, driving around looking in dumpsters in hope of finding my property. The infinite calls to the police and insurance company. The fear that some criminal has my address details, a breakdown of my finances and keys to me home. All so some lazy crackhead who "ain't working for da man" can get a quick fix. There is nothing more immoral, undignified and shameful than stealing...if I ever caught one of these motherfvckers in the act, I'd hurt them bad. Still, at least some lucky kid will be getting an iPod for Christmas this year... That's a shite day indeed. I agree with everything you say about thieves, why can't they work for the things they want like the rest of us? I hope everything gets sorted soon darling.. things can only get better ;) |
Re: How is this for a bad 24 hours?
:eek: that's awful. Having been a victim of house burglary it was dreadful. But at least no one stole my identity. I hear that's really hard to get back and to get a good credit score again!
Here's hoping you get everything back to as close to normal extra quick! |
Re: How is this for a bad 24 hours?
sorry to hear about this its awful to think someone has run off with your details like that
i hope things get back to normal soon karma coming |
Re: Crime Time.
What a horrible thing to happen. I hope there's a good 24 hours heading your way.
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Re: How is this for a bad 24 hours?
It sure puts most of my bad days in the shadows...
Lots of good thoughts going your way.... :) :) |
Re: How is this for a bad 24 hours?
Sorry to hear that :mad:
I hope the thieves never get a days happiness from your misery. Hope your luck changes :) |
Re: Crime Time.
Originally Posted by Tolos
I then pulled into the Randalls next door to grab some food for dinner, and when I returned to the parking lot, I was greeted by a nice, freshly smashed hole in the rear window, and some kind chap had kindly liberated be of my bag.
(how do you know it was a man?) |
Re: How is this for a bad 24 hours?
Hello...where have you been?
Sorry to hear of your bad luck Tolos. Have you contacted the credit agencies Equifax etc? We were victims of CC fraud a few years ago...fortunately I always check my accounts on line every day so it was detected early on. The people concerned were sentenced last month...they will be spending the foreseeable future behind bars. |
Re: Crime Time.
Originally Posted by Tolos
Can anyone else say they have been a victim of both high-tech "white collar" crime and good old fashioned robbery in the space of a few hours?
The merriment began on Monday afternoon when a chance look at my online banking revealed that some kind person on the other side of the US was attempting to purchase $2000 worth of furniture from Sears and Bel using my debit card details. Grabbing my financial folder, which contains everything from bank statements and payslips to insurance and rental agreements, I sped to the nearest branch to get the mess sorted out. After an hour of headaches closing my account down, transferring all automated debits over, cancelling pending checks, etc, all was set. I was given my new account, new checkbooks and told to expect my cards in five days. I then pulled into the Randalls next door to grab some food for dinner, and when I returned to the parking lot, I was greeted by a nice, freshly smashed hole in the rear window, and some kind chap had kindly liberated be of my bag. The same bag that contained my financial folder (which contained pretty much all recent transactions, bills, statements, etc). Amongst other things, I also lost my iPod, keys to the apartment, mailbox, office, and gym, my diary/planner and everything to do with the new account I'd just opened. So it was back into the bank to cancel EVERYTHING a second time, reopen a new account and then being told to wait two days now to close the original because it was too new to deactivate. So basically, my money is in limbo for 48 hours, and I have three checking accounts - one dead, one undead, and one waiting to come alive. Then it was a pleasant few hours dealing with the filing reports and statements with the apartment complex, insurance company, and local police. My first experience with US crime, and certainly not a pleasant one. SIDENOTE: There is a certain hatred I have for thieves. In our society, we are faced with much greater evils such as paedophiles, terrorists, murders, etc that the common thief has slipped down the pecking order of "offenders". However, when you think about it, there's nothing worse than someone who STEALS from another person. Who has such a sense of self-entitlement and arrogance, that he feels perfectly right to smash another persons car window and take whatever he sees fit. Forgetting the loss of the property itself, I wonder if they think of all the other loose ends that he leaves his victim to tie up - the costs and time involved in getting the car window fixed, having to change the locks on my home, order new keys for the office, request new copies of all the stolen paperwork, driving around looking in dumpsters in hope of finding my property. The infinite calls to the police and insurance company. The fear that some criminal has my address details, a breakdown of my finances and keys to me home. All so some lazy crackhead who "ain't working for da man" can get a quick fix. It doesn't matter if it's somebody's grandmother, a war veteran, a child, a disabled person...ANYONE is fodder for these scumbags. There is nothing more immoral, undignified and shameful than helping yourself to a piece of property that someone else worked for...if I ever caught one of these motherfvckers in the act, I'd hurt them bad. Still, at least some lucky kid will be getting an iPod for Christmas this year... |
Re: Crime Time.
I'd like to thank you for all your kind responses, PMs and karma...it was all very unexpected, heart warming, and made me proud to know that so many good people are this forum.
Thank you for listening to the rants of someone who had been pushed to the limit. Things are sorting themselves out now and hopefully the worst is over. Blessings to you all. Now I should get back to business here at ExPats! |
Re: How is this for a bad 24 hours?
Hope everything gets sorted out for you soon Tolos.
Thankfully, I've not had anything like what you've described happen to me... with the exception of a car incident in the UK! I came out one morning, and my little Fiesta had been broken into. (Apparantly, these care are very easy to break into.) They had taken everything from the boot and the spare wheel! I did go down to the local police station and log an incident. I come home. 2 hours later, I come out again, and wonder why my car is parked a couple of feet further down the road than where it originally was. Then I see the back, and someone had run into it. A big dent in the bumper. Off I go to the police station again! |
Re: Crime Time.
So sorry to hear this Tolos. I hope you can get your new accounts locked down quickly. I do agree about contacting Equifax and the other two (can't remember their names right now) credit reporting agencies.
Another thing you can do is put a block on your social security number. Get in touch with your local office and explain the fraud. That way, any time someone tries to use a stolen card, the merchant will have an alert come up, and the person trying to use the card will have to present another form of ID as well, to prove it's really their card. |
Re: How is this for a bad 24 hours?
What a PITA, you poor thing.
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