An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account
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Re: An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account
#2Wait, I don't get this. The Amex agent called the old phone number on the account. The person who answered gave some indication of being the account owner, but didn't answer quite as many questions correctly as the thief.
So what scenario is the agent hypothesizing? The person at the old number was actually the identity thief, and used the account for maybe several years without any challenge, before the actual owner changed the number back? That makes not the slightest bit of sense to me.
I think if the phone number has recently been changed, and you call the old number, and the person who answers can answer any question at all about themselves, you have to figure that's the account owner. Who else could it be???
Re: An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account
#3The best part of the story is how he hacked the US immigration system to be able to stay in the US after serving his time:
> Factoring in time served and a reduction for good behavior, Naskovets got out in September 2012. He faced a deportation order that would have sent him back to Belarus. Representing himself in immigration court, he argued that he risked torture if sent home, based on his run-ins with the KGB. As a signatory to the U.N. Convention Against Torture, the U.S. cannot send someone back to a country knowing he’s likely to be tortured. An immigration judge sided with Naskovets. The government appealed. Here’s where Naskovets’s optimism proved justified. While he was buffing floors in a county prison in Pennsylvania, his case had caught the attention of Stephen Yale-Loehr, a law professor who runs an immigration clinic at Cornell. With the help of Yale-Loehr and his students, Naskovets fought Immigration and Customs Enforcement in court for two years—and in October 2014 the agency decided to let him stay.
Re: An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account
#4Wait, I don't get this. The Amex agent called the old phone number on the account. The person who answered gave some indication of being the account owner, but didn't answer quite as many questions correctly as the thief. So what scenario is the agent hypothesizing? The person at the old number was actually the identity thief, and used the account for maybe several years without any challenge, before the actual owner…
While Amex clearly dropped the ball there: It wasn't a computer making the decision, it was a person. It shows how powerful this guys personality must be to have that kind of effect on a persons judgement.
Re: An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account
#5Wait, I don't get this. The Amex agent called the old phone number on the account. The person who answered gave some indication of being the account owner, but didn't answer quite as many questions correctly as the thief. So what scenario is the agent hypothesizing? The person at the old number was actually the identity thief, and used the account for maybe several years without any challenge, before the actual owner…
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Re: An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account
#6Wait, I don't get this. The Amex agent called the old phone number on the account. The person who answered gave some indication of being the account owner, but didn't answer quite as many questions correctly as the thief. So what scenario is the agent hypothesizing? The person at the old number was actually the identity thief, and used the account for maybe several years without any challenge, before the actual owner…
That jumped out at me, too. I assume the person must have simple-mindedly assumed that the best answers win (or maybe they had some dumb policy to that effect)?
Re: An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account
#7The best part of the story is how he hacked the US immigration system to be able to stay in the US after serving his time: > Factoring in time served and a reduction for good behavior, Naskovets got out in September 2012. He faced a deportation order that would have sent him back to Belarus. Representing himself in immigration court, he argued that he risked torture if sent home, based on his run-ins with the KGB. As…
Yale-Loehr must be so proud.
Deferring to the torture risk in Belarus is such as an obvious bullshit. The only way they can torture there is by forcing you to eat their organic condensed sweetened milk.
Re: An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account
#8Wait, I don't get this. The Amex agent called the old phone number on the account. The person who answered gave some indication of being the account owner, but didn't answer quite as many questions correctly as the thief. So what scenario is the agent hypothesizing? The person at the old number was actually the identity thief, and used the account for maybe several years without any challenge, before the actual owner…
yes, why wouldn't you just freeze the account, and mail out something to the last address of record (assuming it hadn't just changed)? crazy...
Re: An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account
#9Wait, I don't get this. The Amex agent called the old phone number on the account. The person who answered gave some indication of being the account owner, but didn't answer quite as many questions correctly as the thief. So what scenario is the agent hypothesizing? The person at the old number was actually the identity thief, and used the account for maybe several years without any challenge, before the actual owner…
Possible scenario:
Cardholder changes his phone number, but telemarketers keep calling the old number. The person who now has that number receives a bunch of calls asking for the cardholder, collects a fair amount of information about him, and figures he could impersonate him.
Yeah, that sounds a bit far-fetched. But remember that when people change their phone number, they usually don't remain available at their old number for long. So someone at the old number claiming to be the cardholder could have been a red flag, too.
In fact, in the couple of years since I've had my current phone number, I've managed to learn a fair amount about the person who had that number before me, mostly via telemarketers. Where they lived, where they were planning to relocate to, where they used to shop, what their interests were, etc.
Anyway, Amex should have called the new number on the account to see if they get the same person. Unfortunately, they seem to have trusted caller ID too much, even when it was obvious that at least one of the people they were talking to was an impostor.
Re: An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account
#10Wait, I don't get this. The Amex agent called the old phone number on the account. The person who answered gave some indication of being the account owner, but didn't answer quite as many questions correctly as the thief. So what scenario is the agent hypothesizing? The person at the old number was actually the identity thief, and used the account for maybe several years without any challenge, before the actual owner…
yes, why wouldn't you just freeze the account, and mail out something to the last address of record (assuming it hadn't just changed)? crazy...
If they freeze your account and wait for you to receive a piece of paper, they lose the opportunity to profit from your purchases for the next couple of weeks. If you get pissed off and/or take it as an opportunity to start using another card, they might even lose all of your future purchases.
If they don't freeze your account and end up with fraudulent purchases, they probably won't lose any money anyway -- they can either charge it back to the merchant or have insurance pay for it.