HAHhahahahahahah. By not carrying a chipped card in my wallet, my life is limited, as in, somehow less than what it could be?
I need to rethink the concept of living.
If your ID is ever stolen or compromised, you will realize the error in your statement. It's not just a hassle, it affects your life from then on.
I mean that if you don't have a credit card (if you're worried about the chip you
SHOULD be worried about the swipe thefts), there are a lot of things you can't
do if you want to travel or rent things, etc. Also, if you're that paranoid, then you
must spend a lot of your time worrying about it. IMO that limits your life.
Jah, it was Visa, and we're talking about years of fraudulent usage here, not just one or two charges.
This comes back to keeping an eye on your shit. How in the hell did someone
go for "years" without you finding out about it? Doing a credit check every few
months should fix that. Checking your CC statements on a regular basis would
preclude anyone from using your number for purchases for more than a couple
weeks. With on-line banking, it is easy to check your statement weekly or even
daily if you want.
If someone wants to steal your ID there are a lot easier ways than waiting for
the right person to walk by with a reader. Hell, not sure if I could do it here in
Canada (I don't know the system too well) but in the US it's pretty easy actually.
1) Go to library and search the newspapers in the age group you're looking for
in the birth announcements. Many of them list the date, hospital you were born
and both your parents names. Take this information and request a copy of your
birth certificate from the hall of records. Have it sent to a po box.
2) Take your birth certificate to the social security office and request a SS card.
I'm sure they've gotten harder to get, but with a little investigation I'm sure even
I could do it.
3) Take your new SS card and birth cert to the DMV and get a drivers license.
It's best if you do the physical in person stuff in a different city or state than the
person you're stealing their id from was born.
You may not be able to use someones CC, but you sure can get one pretty easy.
Given enough time, CC co's will start sending you CC offers if you're lucky for
the person you've stolen their id from. Mostly, you do this so you have a license
to give the cops if you get stopped, and if you're prints are not on record, you
could even spend a night or two in jail and not worry about it. Once you've gotten
too many tickets or you've run up a bill that's to high for you to pay off, cut up
the card.
This is all low tech, so you can see how easy it is to take over someone else's life
with a criminal mind, money and drive.
BTW, I had someone use my ID info (it was a relative) for gas, water, rent, and
got several tickets on my name. Never mind this person was 20 years older than
me and the people at the SS office should have clued in. I caught it within a month
and it was solved pretty damn quick.
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"i surf because, i"m always a better person when i come in"-Andy Irons
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