"It will never happen to me"... identity Theft...

Ok, so I do a lot of purchasing post cards, advertising and web sites on the world wide web. I use pay pal. I am careful about my information. I pay my bills on line. I do the bulk of my banking on line... I even pay my taxes thru the Internet. So when my business charge card would not work while buying back to school clothes... I thought... "oops, hit my limit". I don't know why I thought that...but I did. When I went to deposit 2 commission checks (yes, it's been a good year) and the bank said my accounts were closed...

I thought ... "should I check and make sure my husband hasn't run away with the pool girl?" It's a wild world, you just never know???? Then the bank told me thousands of dollars had been moved from my account to a Saudi Arabian account and although they knew from my history that I like to travel...they thought Saudi Arabia was a little suspect. Phew, my husband did not run off with the pool girl...

Maybe my pay pal account was corrupt? Maybe I was anxious and gave too much information last time I booked a property web site? How could I have screwed this up? After a few minutes of blaming myself, the woman behind the bank counter assured me I had nothing to do with it. They had traced the problem to a local gas station attendant. The last place I filled up with gas...someone lifted my debit card numbers and planned a $22,000 vacation in Saudi Arabia on my dime.

Wow. So I pay for gas with CASH now. The good news, this thief was not very bright. He lifted 3 credit/debit cards on the same shift, same day and spent the money in the same place... LUCKY FOR ME< I am assured the money will be returned to me... so all is well. Pay with cash!