We Think Lisa's Identity Just Got Stolen and Someone Bought a Car

[shilala]

Today we got a payment book from PNC bank for 72 payments of around $350 for something.
Lisa called PNC bank to inquire. Being as she couldn't verify the account within their stringent guidelines, they wouldn't even tell her what was bought using her name and identity, or where it happened.
But they would give a loan to someone that wasn't her. I guess the loan giving guidelines aren't so stringent? The best they can do is "file a fraud something and get back to us in 7 to 10 days".
Lisa is now doing the fraud alert steps to protect her credit.

In the last couple weeks we had been refinancing the house and she got some odd declined credit applications as if she'd applied for loans, but she thought that was maybe just a result of things the bank was bouncing around related to our refinance, she never gave it much thought.

I assume this will become a great big convoluted mess, but neither of us are really upset at all. I do admit to being somewhat pissed at the phone knucklehead at PNC, though. I would certainly hope they'd be far more helpful and supportive with something this important.
We have a little identity theft insurance, so that's good. We caught this quick and we're doing the due diligence, including filing a police report. It'll all work out, I'm sure. God has bailed us out of far, far more dire things than this. This is just a bump in the road.

The reason I'm posting is to get any input I can from any of you guys that may have dealt with this. What happened, how, what did you have to do, etc.
Any stories you can tell would be priceless and any suggestions for us as we proceed would be awesome.

[Boz]

Oh wow Scott thats crazy. Is there a local branch where maybe you could speak to a manager and see if being face to face will get you a little farther than the phone dummies?

[MurphysLaw]

Scott, this is the info I'd give to ID theft victims FTC website Good luck with everything, and hopefully everything is resolved for you soon.

[massphatness]

If you were someone else, wouldn't you want to be Lisa? I mean, it makes all the sense in the world, Scott.

Hope it works out easily bro

[Subvet642]

I suppose if you could find out where it was bought, you could find out the make, model and VIN number, with that the perpetrator could be found via registration records. Heck, you might even be able to file a stolen car report. After all, they bought it in her name.

[hotreds]

Not good, brother! Be sure to cancel all your ccs just to be safe. And, yes, I'd try to get a face to face with someone at PNC and mention how poorly you were treated- hopefully you have the guy's name. Prayers sent for a speedy resolution!

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Boz

Oh wow Scott thats crazy. Is there a local branch where maybe you could speak to a manager and see if being face to face will get you a little farther than the phone dummies?

We live in Ohio, PNC is Pittsburgh PA based bank.
Lisa had been working in Washington, PA for a long time which is very close to Pittsburgh. She could have had her driver's license info stolen from any of the copies that hotel personnel took along the way.
I'll check and see if there are any branches here in OH, but I've never seen one.

Edit:
I checked. There's a bunch right around here. One is 4 miles down the road. Thanks, Brian, that was a big help!!!

[hotreds]

You live in Ohio now??!!

[kaisersozei]

That's all kinds of f'd up. Seems like the responsible party would be the auto dealer who set up the loan financing--what the heck kind of lax requirements do they have?!

When my wife's employer accidentally released personnel records when they updated one of their servers (so if you Googled her name, tons of stuff, including SSN, performance appraisals, etc.) were available, we had to go with one of the identity protection bureaus. At least it was paid for by her employer. Haven't had any issues as a result of the breach, so we're fortunate so far.

[Drez]

scott good luck to you and lisa with this. i know this can be a very stressful ordeal. hopefully since you caught it early its just a matter of canceling the loan and your current credit cards.

make sure to stay on top of this and monitor all your bank statements and credit reports for at least a year or 2 after this just in case they try something again.

maybe try talking to the DMV and getting lisa (and maybe yourself) new drivers licenses just so if they do try again its more proof that it wasnt you guys (because they used a old DL).

GL brother

[Cornrow_Wallis]

Track down the thief and quarter them with a rusty machete? You can't be charged with murdering yourself right?

But seriously, I hope everything gets worked out quickly and without too much of a headache.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

That's all kinds of f'd up. Seems like the responsible party would be the auto dealer who set up the loan financing--what the heck kind of lax requirements do they have?!

When my wife's employer accidentally released personnel records when they updated one of their servers (so if you Googled her name, tons of stuff, including SSN, performance appraisals, etc.) were available, we had to go with one of the identity protection bureaus. At least it was paid for by her employer. Haven't had any issues as a result of the breach, so we're fortunate so far.

We really don't know if it's a car, Gerard. Sure looks like it, though. 72 payments of $347.40 and the payment book is the kind you get for a car.
Do you remember the identity protection bureau your wife used? I already mentioned it to Lisa and we're going to jump on that as soon as she gats back from filing the report at the police station.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Drez

scott good luck to you and lisa with this. i know this can be a very stressful ordeal. hopefully since you caught it early its just a matter of canceling the loan and your current credit cards.

make sure to stay on top of this and monitor all your bank statements and credit reports for at least a year or 2 after this just in case they try something again.

maybe try talking to the DMV and getting lisa (and maybe yourself) new drivers licenses just so if they do try again its more proof that it wasnt you guys (because they used a old DL).

GL brother

Frank, the people used old info. The loan is in her last surname (smith), not our last name. She got her new driver's license immediately after we got married because we needed it to get passports to go on our honeymoon. That all happened last January.
She only lived at this address for a short time under her old name, and the loan is addressed to our current address.
That in itself shows someone didn't do their due diligence along the way, I'd think. Whoever got the loan used expired info, so it had to be info they got from before last January.
That's why I'm thinking it was lifted from one of the hotels she worked at.

Lisa is awesome at paperwork and she's taking this all in stride. Nothing slips through her fingers. She already has this nailed down tight and the loan booklet only showed up an hour and 45 minutes ago.

[Blak Smyth]

This is terrible Scott. This is my wifes biggest nightmare!
Hang in there and stay on top of it like Frank suggested, unfortunatley theres never much help out there for situations like this, it seems it's always up to the victim to figure out.

Good luck brother, wish I had some advice to offer.

Do you remember there was a thread somebody had posted about credit card fraud they experienced when on a road trip to B&Ms.
If I remember correctly it was a restaurant employee that took thier card to charge it and must have taken the number down.
I know this isn't the same but it made me think of it, thought maybe the victim could give some advice. I have no idea what to search for to find this though.

[loki]

does it say where the car was bought

[irratebass]

This is crazy! The b@lls on some people. I have been a victim of identity theft and it was so early in the game that not even the police knew what to do, luckily my bank jumped on it, but it was only a couple of hundred dollars and back in 98' I think.

Good luck and keep us updated brother.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by loki

does it say where the car was bought

We don't know if it was a car, that's a guess. It could be a boat of anything, really. The papers say nothing and PNC wouldn't tell Lisa anything on the phone.
We'll go to the local branch tomorrow, I'm sure they'll give us that info.

[Boz]

Originally Posted by shilala

We live in Ohio, PNC is Pittsburgh PA based bank.
Lisa had been working in Washington, PA for a long time which is very close to Pittsburgh. She could have had her driver's license info stolen from any of the copies that hotel personnel took along the way.
I'll check and see if there are any branches here in OH, but I've never seen one.

Edit:
I checked. There's a bunch right around here. One is 4 miles down the road. Thanks, Brian, that was a big help!!!

Originally Posted by shilala

We don't know if it was a car, that's a guess. It could be a boat of anything, really. The papers say nothing and PNC wouldn't tell Lisa anything on the phone.
We'll go to the local branch tomorrow, I'm sure they'll give us that info.

Hopefully you can get somewhere with them. At least she's handling it well. My wife would have already cancelled our cards and called the bank and frozen our accounts.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Boz

Hopefully you can get somewhere with them. At least she's handling it well. My wife would have already cancelled our cards and called the bank and frozen our accounts.

Lisa knows every single ounce of information about every bit of what goes on here. If there was a credit card movement or bank movement, she'd have known before it happened.
The only reason this could ever happen was because it was outside the long arm of the Lisa.

She just finished up at the Police Station and got her report. They made a good suggestion which was to take her passport with her when she goes to the bank tomorrow. They suggested that a passport can't be faked. I watch tv, and they do it all the time.

And on the loan, Yes, it was a car loan. Lisa just told me that on the phone. When she was on the horn with the phone dummie he mentioned it was an auto loan. I misunderstood her. He just wouldn't give her any specific info on where and what kind of car was bought. I'm sure security cams and driver's license copies will bear out the fact it wasn't her.

I just told her how proud I was of her in how she's handling this and what an amazing woman she is. She said we've both been having a wonderful day, and this isn't going to screw it up. There's absolutely no reason to get upset about something we can do nothing about, and we've done all we can do till tomorrow.
That's just one of the million reasons why I love this woman so. We see eye to eye on nearly everything, and what we don't, we love that, too.

[hotreds]

Stay strong, brother! Looks like you both are well on the way to handling the ugly situation!