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The short version is that the way the credit system in the US works is basically an echo chamber. That one stolen credit card racks up a bunch of fraudulent cha

by orclev 12y ago

The short version is that the way the credit system in the US works is basically an echo chamber. That one stolen credit card racks up a bunch of fraudulent charges, those charges get recorded by one of the credit reporting agencies and then shared with the other two. Those credit reports then get used as the basis for all kinds of other reports at other companies all the way up to and including the IRS. You basically spend the next X years arguing from one company to the next to fix the records, but the records tend to propagate faster than you can get them fixed, because everyone references everyone else. Sadly at this point it would almost be simpler to concoct a new fake identity for yourself and get that entered in than it would be to fix your original corrupted identity.

jonnathanson 12y ago
Exactly. If you happen to be lucky enough to catch somebody in the act, you can undo the damage pretty quickly, if not altogether painlessly. It'll take a huffy phone call to your credit card company, and some watchful waiting for a month or so afterward. You will get a new card, with a new number, and you'll have to set up new billing numbers for everything. A small, but sharp pain in the ass. [1] But if you don't catch things right away, and god forbid, if something winds up on your credit report, you are capital-F Fucked. By then it's too late, and your fraudulent data is commingled with your real data in dozens of databases, each one echoing off of the other. The bad data sprouts like kudzu. You can pluck a few shoots out of the ground, and five more pop up in unexpected places, weeks or months later. [1] You can also set up a proactive solution, like a super-sensitive, early-warning algo at your credit card company. But this net ends up snaring you half the time, like whenever you use your credit card to make small purchases, or buy gas, or out of state, etc. It gets a lot of false positives. My card gets blocked for "fraud" every few weeks, leading to minor headaches at restaurants, bars, and gas stations. But I guess I'll accept this hassle as the price I pay for advance warning of real fraud. At the same time, I'm concerned that this system is just as likely to run into false negatives, which would really suck.

by orclev 12y ago

jonnathanson 12y ago

Exactly. If you happen to be lucky enough to catch somebody in the act, you can undo the damage pretty quickly, if not altogether painlessly. It'll take a huffy phone call to your credit card company, and some watchful waiting for a month or so afterward. You will get a new card, with a new number, and you'll have to set up new billing numbers for everything. A small, but sharp pain in the ass. [1] But if you don't catch things right away, and god forbid, if something winds up on your credit report, you are capital-F Fucked. By then it's too late, and your fraudulent data is commingled with your real data in dozens of databases, each one echoing off of the other. The bad data sprouts like kudzu. You can pluck a few shoots out of the ground, and five more pop up in unexpected places, weeks or months later. [1] You can also set up a proactive solution, like a super-sensitive, early-warning algo at your credit card company. But this net ends up snaring you half the time, like whenever you use your credit card to make small purchases, or buy gas, or out of state, etc. It gets a lot of false positives. My card gets blocked for "fraud" every few weeks, leading to minor headaches at restaurants, bars, and gas stations. But I guess I'll accept this hassle as the price I pay for advance warning of real fraud. At the same time, I'm concerned that this system is just as likely to run into false negatives, which would really suck.