I may be a victim of Identity Theft

Hello ATS!

A few weeks ago... I accidentally clicked on a suspicious link from a FB message or a text message (which I normally never do).

I was hoping against all hope that nothing would come of it... but here we are.

Last Friday, 5/20/2022, all of my bank accounts were zeroed out due to large transactions appearing to be a legal order debit from a law firm, possibly connected to the car accident I was in two months ago... but I was never notified or served. Not one email from that law firm, not one voicemail, not anything in the mail- and it's so soon!

I was told that any lawsuits filed against me would be public record... so I searched the public court system for myself for any lawsuits that may have been filed against me- of which I found the traffic fine from that accident... however, no other closed or active or any other status of civil or criminal or any other records outside of traffic fines.

On Friday I was unaware of what happened. I found out yesterday on Saturday 5/21/2022, and as it is the weekend... the specific parties that I will be reaching out to in order to assist in this are closed (a certain department of my bank, and the law firm that is being listed in question).

I feel the urge to share with everybody of course, whoever is listening... for the sake of spreading data and information (the more informed we all are, the more we may be able to protect ourselves).

Whoever did this saw that I was in an accident- this is how involved they are- and put two and two together and used it as an opportunity to trick us all. At least, that's what it's looking like... kinda creepy, isn't it?

I did get an alert as well that on 5/17/2022, my phone was listed on the dark web with some other (wrong) information from turbotax IDnotify, which is weird.

Do you think that's connected?

Since this is so new to me, do any of you have any tips to share about what I can do to secure my information now? Change all of my passwords, new bank accounts, new phone number, etc? How much information could they have gotten. Could they have access to my computer, and all the files on it? How did they get my bank information? I feel like this is so tricky and could be something I'll be fighting for the rest of my life... all from clicking one lousy stupid link, completely by accident! I would never normally do that! FML, right?

Let me know what you guys think.

a reply to: geezlouise

Who is your bank? How complex was your password? Do you use this same password for other sites? Do you store your passwords on your devices?

a reply to: geezlouise

No We're Not .

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

WF. The password is complex, and I do not use it for other sites.

But, I had all of my different passwords stored in the cache. I just removed everything and cleared it all. The debit came from outside. And according to legal orders, the banks receive a notification/letter, almost like a garnishment order, from the court, and the bank researches it to verify it before sending the funds (from what I read). So I'm hoping the bank just freezed my account and is holding onto all of the funds. I called them twice, they won't talk to me, they said I have to talk to the legal order department. I feel like I may be filing a fraud report however as... like I said, I have no notification of this on my end.

a reply to: geezlouise

So sorry dear! Recently...I discovered my name on records, houses, cars....in India.
I am in Michigan.

And not much I can do.

But..."GEEZ LOUISE!!! I hope it all works out...God Bless you

a reply to: geezlouise

I think we need more info on the lagal side, if there is in fact a lien they should be able to provide you a copy of the writ of execution.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Lol. So this could be legit from the car accident???

And I was never given any notice?

I'm calling it out, insurance fraud.

Best of luck OP.

I am under constant barrage of phishing SMS messages, emails and phone scam attempts.

The text messages and voicemails inevitably contain broken English and grammatical mistakes.

Also, it's interesting how I seem to have begun attracting LinkedIn connection requests from random folks in China.

o_O

Within the past month, I've had break-in attempts and account locks (due to excessive password failures) on my mortgage lending site, IRS.gov and one of my financial institutions.

Huh.

OP, if your personal web sites support 2FA (2 factor authentication), enable that, once you get this sorted. This will require anyone logging into your account to supply a code (texted to your phone or emailed to you) even after using the correct username and password. Unless the hackers have breached your phone/email, this should keep you protected, even if they have your password.

Best of luck, and I can sympathize with you on this.

IN this new world we have created this is common. I know quite a few people who had their identity stolen over the last three years and I also had one of my own credit cards compromised...which I called the credit card company immediately and they said that someone had ordered something to test it and I got my account number changed.....that card has a credit limit of twenty five grand and no balance on it.

I don't like the way things are going, it seems that people are conning and stealing under the new technological world. Many people don't check their balances regularly to verify every purchase. You don't even need to sign for money at the bank under three hundred bucks anymore and they don't check IDs anymore when cashing a check or when buying something with a credit card....this is not secure.

We let it get this way, people want things less of a hastle but it can cause a lot of problems. Years ago if you cashed a check or used a credit card they asked for ID...now a person can scan someone's phone and get the info and card skimmers are being used in places.

This is not advancement of technology...it is regression of society. We need to fix this because it is going to get worse in the future...not better. How about those chips they want to put in people's hands...well, I like my hands, I do not want someone cutting it open to steal a chip after sedating me with some kind of drug....I would rather have them steal my wallet than take my hand.

It is nuts. and deceit is getting worse and worse and people are starting to accept it as normal.

Sorry to hear about your problems OP....If there was a lawsuit, they would need to have a court trial and the court would have to serve you by special mail or delivery. I would guess that someone opened a credit card in your name or took out a loan with your identity and that they thanged the mailing address so you did not get notified....so the lawsuit originated in a different state. This will take some investigating which you will have to do yourself since they cleaned out your accounts. Some people I knew who had this happen had to work on it six months to a year before they got it fixed, and they did get their money back but one paid about five grand to a lawyer to get their twenty five grand back. Some people have judgements on their house waiting in line from credit card companies or leans on their houses already....I have a paper filed that no judgement can be put on my property without being notified by the country clerk and we check our credit report regularly with a secure computer to make sure things are as ok as we can possibly be able to tell.

I've been the victim of identity theft a few times. My bank doesn't let transactions like that go through without personally calling me, so those transactions are cancelled out. I'm a bit surprised your bank didn't contact you.

a reply to: sine.nomine

That was something else that somebody pointed out as well!

You'd think the bank would call me. There was only one person who called me on Friday and it wasn't the bank.

It's still out, this could be an identity theft thing. I'll keep everybody updated (even if it is due to the car accident, I really should have been notified).

Thanks for reminding me about this!

I had a nice chat with some indian lady a while back, telling me I am owed money from a car accident I had. We chatted for about 5 minutes.. That's when I told her I don't even have a car... Oh the indian expletives. hahaha any time I answer my phone and it's an indian, I love to play that game.

Wish I had the ability to do what these guys do.

a reply to: geezlouise

2 factor authentication for everything with different devices.

Example: All of my online activity is only on the PC. Never use a cell phone for web activity.

If someone hacks your phone, they cannot get your logins / passwords. If someone hacks your PC, they don't have your cellphone for the second factor of authentication because it is a text to your phone.

Device diversity.

a reply to: jerich0

Hmm, that's so strange.

I thought all of the world's financial scamming was perpetrated by Russian hackers. That's what the New York Times and ABC made me believe.

originally posted by: rickymouse
I would guess that someone opened a credit card in your name or took out a loan with your identity and that they thanged the mailing address so you did not get notified....so the lawsuit originated in a different state.

Ooooh shoot, I only searched myself in my state.

But you know what?

It is listing a PA law firm... so like, idk what the rules are about that. I could look into it.

Thank you for the input!

originally posted by: geezlouise
Lol. So this could be legit from the car accident???

And I was never given any notice?

If someone is placing a lien on you they might not to prevent moving funds out of the account.

You guys are scaring me. I better go check my bank accounts

Can you look at your account transaction history online?
...that'l show you debits and credits and who took out what.
I think it takes a court order to put a lien on an account.


Nvrmind..just realized it was a law office.
May need to get your lawyer involved.
link

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I don't understand why, if it was a lawsuit, wasn't I notified? It's just absurd to me. I'm reading up on liens now though, thanks.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

The only type of lien I can see it being is from a lawsuit, which is called a judgement.

Judgment lien
These liens are usually the result of a lawsuit. If you fail to repay your debt, a court ruling gives a creditor, lender or lien holder the legal right to take possession of your personal property. This is an involuntary lien, meaning it doesn’t require your consent.

However, according to the internet "When you file a lawsuit, you must properly notify the defendant of the lawsuit by serving them with the summons and complaint." And once again, I have no notification of this.

I'm baffled. And I won't be sleeping tonight without some help anyways! I can hardly wait for what's revealed tomorrow.