While identity thieves with stolen account numbers love to buy their boats, homes and expensive jewelry by leeching off of other people’s good credit, these individuals who are hopefully prison bound appear to be starved for love as well. How do I know this? What else could explain the sheer number of identity thieves that use stolen information to sign up for online dating services? In recent news, one man even stole personal information from his girlfriend to do so. Talk about chutzpa.
Another person this happened to this week is my own sister. How did she find out? She got an email from her credit card company thanking her for signing up for the dating service. Guess the thief wasn’t too savvy on that one. My suggestion here is that these people may have trouble finding that special someone not because they are undesirable people, or because they are not attractive, but maybe, just maybe because they are criminals. While that might be a harsh judgment to put down, I really don’t think stealing credit card information puts you in a positive light with too many people. Perhaps doing charity work would be suitably more impressive.
Going back to my sister and her credit card company. It’s great that the credit card company contacted her when the purchase was made. However, it was not for the right reasons. What the company should have done is question why a married woman would be signing up for an online dating service and called her to confirm the purchase.
Problem is, there are no credit card companies that monitor like this on a consistent basis. That is why you have to do said monitoring yourself. Whether you get your statement online or the old fashioned way, you have to check each and every charge to make sure that you made it. They should have memos with them explaining what each charge is for. Sometimes it will say “Frank’s Shell†instead of “Shell Gas station†and you will not immediately know what you bought. If you have a question about it, call the credit card company.
While it only takes a few minutes to look over your statement each month, unless you make hundreds and hundreds of purchases, sometimes people forget for whatever reason. When you’re not watching, you need to have an identity theft protection plan in place so that it can do the watching for you. These plans are affordable and can be customized to your needs. If cupid decides he needs your account information, your identity protection plan can let you know.
Once you’ve got your plan, spread the word to your friends and family. Maybe they will follow your lead and buy identity theft protection for themselves. Showing off your financial savvy may even help you land that special someone one day. Perhaps you can bring it up to that cute redhead standing in front of you in line at the teller window.