http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8260050/

This is the stuff I am talking about. I know we need to be aware of strangers whe it comes to identity fraud. But we also hae to be close when it comes to those close to us. I dont discuss anything about my finances or my credit cards with friends or family. If we are together and we are shopping then they are aware of my credit cards. But other than that I keep all of my vital info in a safe I have in my apartment. I keep family, friends and strangers away from my stuff. Because you will get burned.

I wish that I was a victim of identity theft from a complete stranger...but my former best friend had stolen a book of checks and wrote down my social security number (we had shared an apt and she found all of my stuff) and she had opened 3 credit cards while I was home in CT (we had an apt in FL)...and over drew my bank account by $800...it was easy to get my money back from the bank because the signatures were significantly different...but the credit cards were harder to verify...to say the least I had the cops show up at my apt once I knew what was going out and she had completely cleared out and it's been 2 years and we still can't find her. She was my best friend for the first 3 years I was in Florida and I had helped her so much with everything that she had to steal from me.

This is where the majority of my credit issues came from. My mother opened up all kinds of account in my name when I was only a teenager. I am talking about home phones, cell phones, credit cards and everything. All of those things were on my report. I didnt know about any of this. I went to apply for a cellphone about four years ago when I was 19 and the company asked me for a $800 deposit.This seemed a little strange. About a week later I went to check the mail box and there was a collection notice in the mail from a creditor. I knew about credit but not much. My sister is the one who told me I should get a credit report. When I got it in the mail I almost fainted. There were so many accounts on there that was past due I could not believe it. I called experian and tried to explain (I didnt know about the other two). The reps were rude or didnt belive me. They thought I was this kid who messed up his credit and was trying to get out of it. I also called the creditor. I found out its was my mother because they gave me her name as an authorize user on the account. I didnt know what else to do so I payed some of them. Others I didnt bother because they were to far gone. In 2006 I got a letter form capital one stating they had bought one of the bad accounts on my credit report and if if payed them the money they would give me a card. Thats how I started getting my credit back on track. Of course the info on this site has helped me out a lot. So the lesson to this story is keep your info very close. Because I know there are people out there who steal identities for a living but sometimes those close to you are know better.

That is the best you could have ever said. I was ripped from my identity by my own mom recently when she ordered some books in my name and thought that i was not going to find out. I told her that although she did not USE my ssn, my address will bring you straight to it when doing CLUE checks. I was so mad at her, when I disputed it to the comapany (and all 3 cb's) I gave them her true name and date of birth. She knew I am on top of my finances, so I don't know why she would do this to me AGAIN!

I just have to add this. A lot of identity thefts are from people that are close to you like family members or friends. I know from personal experience.

I guess every bank works different. When it hapened to me on my debit card also, they reversed the charges immediatley and then did their investigation. I knew I was going to win regardless because the guy at the store even reconized he made the mistake and they never contacted him. Usually the bank will just pay the first draft (authorization) and not the other ones in your case. They see that there were identical charges comming in back to back or should I say less than one minute, and that is a total red-flag. This is what my bank had told me after I called them. I wish you luck on your issue with the card, i am pretty sure you will get your charges put back soon.

That is alot less then five days. Plus I could not reverse the charges, the merchant had to. They could not tell me if they had done it or not yet. So i wait with multiple $100 charges on my card.

Seems normal. This happened to me at Chevron and I had charges reversed in 48hrs.

I followed up on it and they said that they could not take them off as “unauthorized charges” until the merchant calls up with codes to take it off my account. They are still there because it takes five days to come off the account. If they are still there is five days I will have no choice but to report them as fraudulent charges.

That can be disputed very easily and should have been red-flagged by your credit card company. You should follow up on this.

O.K., this is not exactly identity theft, but it feels like it. I went to a salon on Saturday and the hairdresser called me and said she charged me 4x by accident. I called my company and it is still on my card.

Meya, let me know credit lock goes. I might roll with it also.

I am about to give credit lock a try. Porgy has my hairs standing on my head about GEMB.

Cobalt, which company was it that issued you that card?