How I Experienced Cases of Identity Theft Twice

by Clarence
(Houston TX)

The first time that I experienced identity theft was when I went to the bank to withdraw money and found out that my money was lower than the previous amount that I had left. I called my wife immediately to ask her whether she had withdrawn some money without telling me, or if she had made a purchase with my money and she informed me that she had not.



I then checked my e-mail address so that I could have my problem solved. I wondered what went wrong when I realized that my e-mail was not working. I started to investigate what was wrong and I realized that the thief was making his purchases online using the money in my PayPal account. The thief had even changed the password to my e-mail addresses! He was purchasing his sporting equipment outside the U.S using my name to his sellers, and one of them had questioned the buyer on his products in the shop when they realized that the account is of a person currently residing in the United States.


The next step that I took was to call upon the police for help, but they did not help because this had taken place outside the United States. I called upon PayPal for help and my account was closed for further investigation.


The second time that I found myself in an identity theft case was when someone used my name mistakenly when opening his account. When I realized about this issue, I went to check my account balances and credit history. I was shocked when I found that my credit history showed that I had three credit cards, five cars and two houses, one in New York and the other one in Pennsylvania. The identity thief had bought all these on credit. I was a victim of the identity theft, and I did not know whether this person was able to pay all these things.


I took the step of calling upon the police, and they assisted me in filing a report that enabled me to solve the problem.

Comments for How I Experienced Cases of Identity Theft Twice

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May 07, 2012
Your stolen identity story is a little strange NEW
by: John

Wow, you must have been stressed; I know I would be! I’m not sure that I understand how your identity was stolen when they used your PayPal account. Some just figured out your PayPal email and password? I don’t really think that that’s identity fraud. They just somehow hacked your account? Also, PayPal will cover the losses in that instance, so I’m assuming you weren’t out of pocket on any of those unauthorized sales? I hope so! If not, please let us know what they said!


Also, I don’t think someone using your name alone can steal your identity. I’m sure people make mistakes on applications all the time with their name, or even people filling in their name incorrectly in their systems. To actually steal your identity and apply for credit, they would need you address, social security number, information about where you’ve worked, and potentially even more personal information about your finances. I’m wondering if there’s more detail behind your experience? Or maybe there’s something else going on, and you should be investigating other potential problems with leaking personal information?

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