A St. Louis television news reporter got an unexpected delivery earlier this week when a 48-inch flat screen television showed up on his doorstep.
The problem?
Fox 2’s Andy Banker hadn’t ordered a TV.
He reported the TV was shipped to his address, in his name, and billed to a credit account he’d never opened. This is one example of a new identity theft scam that’s hitting St. Louis right now. Whereas thieves have been known to follow delivery drivers or scour neighborhoods looking for packages on front porches, ready to steal, they’ve gotten more savvy. Now they know exactly what’s being delivered, and when, since they ordered it in your name.
“The packages were ordered in your name, delivered to your home,” St. Louis Police Detective Carl Dulay told Fox 2 as reported in this story. “Just so someone could take it off that front porch.”
Banker was billed more than $1,300 in total from online retailer Montgomery Ward who immediately closed the account and had the TV shipped back at no cost to Banker.
There have been similar reports to police in St. Louis and St. Louis County recently. Often whomever is behind the thefts arrange for someone to take the delivered items before victims even know they’ve been delivered.
“Without a doubt, it’s a form of identity theft,” Dulay said. “Identity theft is a problem not only here in the St. Louis area, but in other areas. There’s something to gain by this. If they are successful in picking up one out of four TV’s during the course of a week, that’s obvious gain for that person.”
Dulay reminds folks that if something similar happens to them, to report it to the police immediately. Be sure to notify the three major credit reporting agencies.
According to the story, “If you give them a police report number, they’ll put a ‘fraud alert’ on your report for up to 7 years, letting creditors know you’re a victim of identity theft and that they need to make sure ‘it’s you’ before issuing any more credit cards.”
Monitor your credit card charges and check your credit report regularly to be sure you haven’t been a victim of identity theft.
Follow this link to find contact information for Equifax, Experian and Transunion, plus links to government resources regarding identity theft.
Are you covered for identity theft?
Image: Pixabay