Thanks Mary, as it turns out it has become a very good idea to check
your account activity for cards and bank accounts as often as you can.
At least once a week for bank accts. Lucy just happened to look at ours
on-line a few weeks ago and there was a $500.00 ATM withdrawal from
Thailand. We reported it and because we caught it early our money was
replaced after filing a police report. The fraud guy told us it looked
like a random hit and so far no identity theft activity has shown up.
He was certain we nailed it. Someone operating off shore running a
random password program with a list of numbers they most likely
purchased from a number thief in Arizona. They are everywhere. If we
hadn't checked that day they would have drained us in a week. There is
a limit on how many days it can go before they don't cover things like
that. Can't remember it right now but thought it was 5 days???.
Anyways, stay safe...

johnie

Another warning about an apparent scam that is out there now.  A friend was
telling us yesterday that she recently got a phone call from someone claiming
they were calling her "because we need to refill your prescriptions".  Though
this woman is in one of those target groups (older, widowed, living alone)
she happens to be rather savvy and started questioning the caller.  The
caller soon gave up, after failing to respond appropriately to any of
Ruthie's questions.  Ruthie checked with her drugstore (our local small-town
pharmacy which would NEVER do this) and her doctors, then alerted the local
cops and the "gossips" in her community to spread the word.  We figure it was
some attempt to get her credit card numbers.

Well Mary you have to be extra careful when you have such a common and
easy to spell surname.<G>
My name and SS# were on a computer lost by my employer, so I have signed
with Equifax and keep an eye on my accounts.
Cooly

i'm sooo sorry you had to go through all of this.  total bummer.
thanks for your help, maryz.  i checked mine out and so far, so good.

kate
Well some of you might remember that someone associated with one the
Nigerian scams broke into my Comcast e-mail account.  I put fraud
alerts to the credit report agencies and I have notification if anyone
tries to create a new account in my name.
When I went to Alaska and Canada my bank suggested I tell them the
dates so it would not raise a security alert.  I was glad I did that,
several people in the group had problems at times with credit cards
not working.  Apparently at one point the credit card company was
suspicious because we were using so much gas in one day. Driving all
day in a van pulling a trailer eats a lot of gas.  The lesson I
learned was to notify the bank when I travel far from my local area.
Many local banks have fraud watch on accounts and it will trigger if
something unusual shows up.  We bought groceries for the river trip,
well groceries for 13 people for 12 days is a lot of food, about  4
full loaded shopping carts.  My friend used her credit card and it
rejected, but about 30 seconds later her cell phone rang and it was
the credit card company asking if she was purchasing groceries.  They
ran the card again and it went through.

So far everything looks ok, however I received notification that
someone took out a car loan under my account in Illinois.  Experian
reported the loan, but  no other credit company.   After investigating
I learned that Experian had mixed my account with someone else.  As it
turns out our Social Security numbers are just 1 number different.
Experian corrected the error, fortunately they had flawless credit so
it did not hurt me.

Moral of the story call your bank before you go on a trip and tell
them where you will be and what you are doing.  Check your report
annually even if you don't have identity theft.  You are entitled to a
free one and you can receive it on line.
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
If you call the credit reporting agencies they will try to sell you a
credit report, just remember you are entitled to a free one each year.
-- MZ