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Someone's pretending to be me
Nov. 13th, 2008 12:18 pmLast weekend, while Hubby and I were dodging around each other in the kitchen while making the kids' lunches, we got a phone call. Hubby answered, said it was for me, and whispered, "Sounds like a telemarketer."
When I got on the phone, the man at the other end says that he's from the dating service that I signed up for, and adds, "It sounds like this is a bad time for you to talk." Uh, yeah. If I had signed up for a dating service, that would have been a stupendously bad time to talk, but I hadn't--which I told the caller. I told Hubby who the caller had been, and we both laughed it off as someone playing a joke on me by signing me up.
I didn't expect to hear from the dating service again. As far as they knew either (A) I was telling the truth and really didn't sign up, or (B) I was trying to cheat on my husband. Either way, I wasn't exactly someone they'd want. However, they called again Monday morning when Hubby was at work. I told them again that I wasn't interested and that someone else must have given them my name.
But wait...there's more! I got seven more calls that day--plus at least five more since then--all from different businesses, and all saying that I'd sent them my name and phone number and asked for more information: trade schools, at-home businesses, etc. Someone was very busy spreading my name around.
When I told Hubby about all the calls, his immediate thought was identity theft. The thing is, I don't see what possible benefit an identity thief could get from giving my name to these people. Nevertheless, we are being vigilant: checking our credit card activity, checking my credit scores, putting a freeze on my credit reports so no one can open a new credit line in my name, etc.
But really? WTF?
.
When I got on the phone, the man at the other end says that he's from the dating service that I signed up for, and adds, "It sounds like this is a bad time for you to talk." Uh, yeah. If I had signed up for a dating service, that would have been a stupendously bad time to talk, but I hadn't--which I told the caller. I told Hubby who the caller had been, and we both laughed it off as someone playing a joke on me by signing me up.
I didn't expect to hear from the dating service again. As far as they knew either (A) I was telling the truth and really didn't sign up, or (B) I was trying to cheat on my husband. Either way, I wasn't exactly someone they'd want. However, they called again Monday morning when Hubby was at work. I told them again that I wasn't interested and that someone else must have given them my name.
But wait...there's more! I got seven more calls that day--plus at least five more since then--all from different businesses, and all saying that I'd sent them my name and phone number and asked for more information: trade schools, at-home businesses, etc. Someone was very busy spreading my name around.
When I told Hubby about all the calls, his immediate thought was identity theft. The thing is, I don't see what possible benefit an identity thief could get from giving my name to these people. Nevertheless, we are being vigilant: checking our credit card activity, checking my credit scores, putting a freeze on my credit reports so no one can open a new credit line in my name, etc.
But really? WTF?
.