Stop! Thief!

So….yesterday sucked, as I mentioned yesterday.  Because that’s when it sucked.  Yesterday.

Let’s just say it’s a darn good thing I check my gmail account EVERY SINGLE TIME I see an email come in.

  • At 10:34am yesterday, I got an email from my bank with the subject “Password Reset Confirmation”.
  • At 10:35am yesterday, I got an email from my bank with the subject “Credit Card PIN Change”.
  • At 10:36am yesterday, I got an email from my bank with the subject “TRAVEL NOTIFICATION CONFIRMATION”.

At 10:34, 10:35, and 10:36am yesterday, I was NOT logged in to my bank account, and I did NOT change my password, change my credit card PIN, or log a travel notification.  I did immediately call the bank, but I wasn’t quite fast enough.

Somehow, a thief in Fullerton, CA figured out my bank account password and then immediately used the cash advance feature on my credit card to steal $400.  That happened before I called the bank.  Once I called, the bank froze everything – the credit cards, the debit cards, the accounts, my access to online banking, bill pay – everything.  Like, it’s one thing when your credit card gets stolen, but this person LOGGED IN TO MY ACCOUNT.  They could see EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT.

We got lucky.  There were no withdrawals from any of our checking or savings accounts, and we had the bank close them all and open new ones with the transferred funds, so even if the thief got our account numbers, they’re useless now.  And of course my password and username are new.  And we’ll get the $400 back.

But UGH.  Hours on the phone with the bank, verifying transactions, checking balances, closing accounts.  And how on earth did the thief manage to log in?  I’m a little freaked out.  I’ve already changed most of our passwords, but in the meantime, we don’t have access to our money.  No active credit cards, no active debit cards or ATM cards.  It’s a good thing I went to the grocery store on Sunday because we’re living on the cash we have in the house, and you know what?  That’s not much.  New cards should arrive tomorrow, so this is short term, but I don’t like it.  We should probably have a credit card with another institution.  I’ll think about that tomorrow.  Right now I have to make sure all the doors and windows are locked.