A Portable Identity
Donna asks…
Should I be worried about having my identity stolen?
This is the first time I've been able to sit down and relax since 8:00 this morning.
Who wants to hear about my day?
Okay, so a few days ago, I posted an ad on Craigslist selling my portable DVD player and 3 Disney DVD's. A woman named "Judith" replied. She said that she was interested, and that she would pay me $100.00 + the cost of express mail international shipping. Everything looked legit. Then I got an email from Paypal stating that I'd just recieved an instant payment from her. It stated that I had to ship the items, and then email proof of shipping, and that then my paypal acount would be credited. So, this morning, I went down to the post office, packaged up the item, paid the $47 in shipping, and emailed the tracking number.
THEN I started reading things on the internet, and realized that I was being scammed. I was freaking out, because my boyfriend warned me of this, but I shurgged it off, and said it was okay because I got an email from paypal. I went and looked at the email from "paypal" again, and saw that the email address that it was sent from (small, in bracketts) was not paypal. It was something like shipping.proof@consultant.com or something like that. So, I sent the emai to Paypal, and they emailed me back and said that it was a phishing email. Right away, I called my Mom. She said to call the post office, and then go pick up the package. That's exactly what I did. I got the package back, and my money back, and I sent this so called "judith Pope" a nasty email. It shoud have been a red flag when she said she wanted it shipped to NIGERIA. For some reason it wasn't. My parents also lended me $50 each so that I can buy healthy foods still.
I love my parents. I love Andree too, but I hate that he always has to be right, and most of the time is, so I think I'm going to keep my story for the day to myself. From now on, I only sell through ebay.
should i be worried about my identity being stolen? the only info they have is my first and last name, my address, and my email.
Building Chicken Coops answers:
I don't like the fact that they have your Address I think there are some nasty things that can be done with that. First I want to say that since I am not a criminal and have not run into a problem with identity theft myself I can not say exactly what the threat is. However criminals are usually not much different then anyone else. So if it were me running this scam I would not so much be interested in your Identity as I would in the products you were sending me completely at your own cost, products I could then Immediately sell and if I charged that buyer the shipping I'd never pay a dime and have no costs - all profits. Per purchase this might not be a big deal but in a day someone could send these e-mails dozens and dozens of times and make good money doing it. So with that said I don't think they were after your Identity but I do think you should keep a close eye on your: credit score, banking accounts, and personal mail sent to that address for the next couple of months just in case and look for irregularities. And actually you should probably do this anyway there are lots of ways for anyone to steal your identity when you least expect it.
George asks…
How can I cash a cheque (£360.00)that I won in a contest without having any bank cheque/cash account at all?
I won many things in a BIG contest with my local Mercedes Benz auto dealership. Included in the prize was a trip to Egypt and also France, in a chateau (for 4 people),luggage,travel insurance,portable DVD and CD players, Dom Perignon 2 bottles per meal, spediing money, and alot more. My problem is that I have no bank accounts whatsoever, and need the "spending money" cheque to be in a credit card form. I've been told by someone that I should get a couple of credit cards (with no interest to build up, I am not worried about not getting any interest)due to not one credit card allowed, The reason for this is I moved from abroad to UK with not very good credit rating. That is where problem number 1 lies-I need to cash the cheque. I have found one cheque-cashing advert in my local yellow and white book-they only require proof of who I am with a picture. That is not a problem, there are plenty of identity proof forms, etc.for that. If all goes well, and they do what they say (which is to cash a 3rd party cheque-and I don't anticipate any problems because it is a Lloys cheque account, and from a reputable car dealership) The bottom line is I need a credit card, or credit cards in increments. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
rtfm-what does your reply mean? I'm looking for a legit answer, not to have spelling critiqued.
megsmaw0-your answer turned out to also be logical and makes sense. I appreciate the answers from all of you, and will continue to keep the question open, even though I believe I have more than one great answers already.
Building Chicken Coops answers:
You can buy one of those top up credit cards from shops - spar, McColl's etc... You just buy one of them for £5, register it and use the post office to deposit the cheque into the card. Anyone can buy one and they don't have interest to pay on them. Or try here:
http://www.tuxedocard.co.uk/
