5 ms·

> If I ever saw an unusual charge on my credit cards, I’d just get it refunded. How much actual harm is going to come out of this? My suspicion is not that much

by k_sh 9y ago

> If I ever saw an unusual charge on my credit cards, I’d just get it refunded. How much actual harm is going to come out of this? My suspicion is not that much. Fraudulent charges on an existing account is not the concern when someone has your SSN and other high-value information - it's the ability for someone else to open an account in your name that you have no knowledge of.

ChuckMcM 9y ago
This is the thing that bites you. Someone opens a store credit card in your name, uses it enough to get the credit limit to a point where they can walk off with enough stuff to make it worthwhile. Guess who gets reported to the debt collectors? Not them, you do. And here is the really sad bit, when you tell the debt collector that its a bogus account and not you, by law they have to stop hassling you but instead of 'retiring' the debt they just resell it to another debt collector to get back some of the money they paid for it. So the cycle doesn't stop.
- harryh 9y ago
  It's also illegal to sell a debt when the owner has knowledge that it is fraudulent.
  - ChuckMcM 9y ago
    Yes it is, but that is much harder to prove, and not something I can do in small claims. Nor can I easily get the local AG to do it for me in the area where they operate (I've tried, they just laugh at me)
    - harryh 9y ago
      Too bad patio11 has a full time job now. Sounds like something he'd have fun with.
rayiner 9y ago
Okay, so someone opens up a credit card in your name. They either use your address, and you notice because you get the correspondence, or they don't, and you have an easy way of disavowing any attempt at collection by showing the discrepancy in the address. No doubt these layers of protection will fail for some people. Maybe Equifax should be required to set up a fund to pay out to such people. But it's not apocalyptic like people are making it out to be. OPM leaked the records of about 20 million people a few years ago. So far, there hasn't been any sort of mass-scale impact as a result of that breach.

by k_sh 9y ago

ChuckMcM 9y ago

This is the thing that bites you. Someone opens a store credit card in your name, uses it enough to get the credit limit to a point where they can walk off with enough stuff to make it worthwhile. Guess who gets reported to the debt collectors? Not them, you do. And here is the really sad bit, when you tell the debt collector that its a bogus account and not you, by law they have to stop hassling you but instead of 'retiring' the debt they just resell it to another debt collector to get back some of the money they paid for it. So the cycle doesn't stop.

harryh 9y ago
It's also illegal to sell a debt when the owner has knowledge that it is fraudulent.
- ChuckMcM 9y ago
  Yes it is, but that is much harder to prove, and not something I can do in small claims. Nor can I easily get the local AG to do it for me in the area where they operate (I've tried, they just laugh at me)
  - harryh 9y ago
    Too bad patio11 has a full time job now. Sounds like something he'd have fun with.

rayiner 9y ago

Okay, so someone opens up a credit card in your name. They either use your address, and you notice because you get the correspondence, or they don't, and you have an easy way of disavowing any attempt at collection by showing the discrepancy in the address. No doubt these layers of protection will fail for some people. Maybe Equifax should be required to set up a fund to pay out to such people. But it's not apocalyptic like people are making it out to be. OPM leaked the records of about 20 million people a few years ago. So far, there hasn't been any sort of mass-scale impact as a result of that breach.