Shit! Identity Theft!

Wishpig

Alright, so my Dad put a good amount of money on my debit card today so I can buy some of those painfully expensive college books.

I go to purchase the books and find out my account has been put on hold. Something that the website says is only done if the PIN is entered in too many times... which means someone was trying to worm into my account.

Ok, I'm not too worried, easy fix right? Just get a new card! Something I can't do until 2morrow 'cause the bank is currently closed.

BUT a half hour ago I go and try to log into World of Warcraft. My account had been suspended due to what seems like someone attempting to hack their way into my WoW account.

NOW I'm worried! If whatever this thing has wormed it's way into my WoW and Debit Card than it's obviously a big deal.

I have literally no idea what steps I should take! Any help would be a MAJOR help!

L Ron Howard

Change all your passwords from a different computer.
Completely wipe and reinstall your main computer.
Call the banks and get new credit cards.
Alert the credit reporting agencies that someone might be trying to use your identity to do things.

I think that covers the beginning. There's more, but I can't think of anything right now off the top of my head.

Baron Dirigible

Not to worry you further, but if your debit card is a Visa / MasterCard, couldn't it also have been frozen due to suspicious credit purchases? Which, to me, sounds more likely than someone somehow trying to guess your PIN. Have you actually checked your balance lately? Also, I'd be very surprised if your bank didn't have some sort of 24/7 hotline for these sorts of things.

KillaWhale

Do as L Ron Howard says.

If you tell your bank that your account has possibly been compromised they should change your account information and put your account on high alert, putting all transactions under heavy scrutiny. If your bank is any good they'll also guide you to through the other steps you need to take like alerting your credit card companies, getting new cards issued, etc.

Since your checking account has been compromised as well as your WoW account it seems likely that you have some form of trojan on your computer. Again, as Howard said wipe your computer and due a fresh install of windows. I'd make sure to change the passwords on all of the accounts you hold on the internet: email accounts, penny-arcade, etc.

Also, just in case you don't already. After you've reinstalled windows. Get some Anti-virus programs and a firewall. Avast, Spybot S&D, and Ad-Aware are all quality, free programs for your perusal.

Wishpig

Further update, it appears the WoW hackers actually got into my account, started playing my character and apparently were partaking in some gold/item exchange for real world currency. This strikes me as very odd considering I'm level 67 and have like 100 gold... I have nothing of value.

Baron Dirigible wrote: »

Not to worry you further, but if your debit card is a Visa / MasterCard, couldn't it also have been frozen due to suspicious credit purchases? Which, to me, sounds more likely than someone somehow trying to guess your PIN. Have you actually checked your balance lately? Also, I'd be very surprised if your bank didn't have some sort of 24/7 hotline for these sorts of things.

It is a visa but luckily my debit card appears to have all the cash my pops put on it earlier today (checked the balance asap!) So that rules out the person ever purchasing items on it. Plus I've taken thousands of dollars out of the account at once, even if they took $500 out or spent it on stuff, I doubt it would set off any alarms.

PS- Thanks for the help you guys, you've reassured me! To bad this happened at the worst possible time though!

SkyGheNe

Wishpig wrote: »

Further update, it appears the WoW hackers actually got into my account, started playing my character and apparently were partaking in some gold/item exchange for real world currency. This strikes me as very odd considering I'm level 67 and have like 100 gold... I have nothing of value.

Baron Dirigible wrote: »

Not to worry you further, but if your debit card is a Visa / MasterCard, couldn't it also have been frozen due to suspicious credit purchases? Which, to me, sounds more likely than someone somehow trying to guess your PIN. Have you actually checked your balance lately? Also, I'd be very surprised if your bank didn't have some sort of 24/7 hotline for these sorts of things.

It is a visa but luckily my debit card appears to have all the cash my pops put on it earlier today (checked the balance asap!) So that rules out the person ever purchasing items on it. Plus I've taken thousands of dollars out of the account at once, even if they took $500 out or spent it on stuff, I doubt it would set off any alarms.

PS- Thanks for the help you guys, you've reassured me! To bad this happened at the worst possible time though!

Sometimes a card gets suspended because someone made a $1 purchase in kentucky when you live in MA.

Just an FYI for the future...amount spent doesn't always have a bearing on whether or not they think the activity is suspicious.

Wishpig

Good thing to know, thanks for the tip. That could very well be the case then.

Regina Fong

Wells Fargo used to put holds on my account constantly and at the worst possible times when I was in the military, particularly on deployment where each time I used the card it was in a different country. I finally got a hold of a real person and explained my situation to them, and asked them to kindly* not hold my account due to location. It worked, and didn't happen again after that.

It really sounds like the hold on your account and the WoW hack are unrelated. I've never heard of anyone having their credit card info compromised because they got hacked in WoW. Although I suppose a compromised computer could supply scammers with both WoW information as well as your credit card information.


*By kindly I mean it was a shouting match in which I told them the next time they did it they would lose a 15 year customer

Wishpig

Regina Fong wrote: »

It really sounds like the hold on your account and the WoW hack are unrelated. I've never heard of anyone having their credit card info compromised because they got hacked in WoW. Although I suppose a compromised computer could supply scammers with both WoW information as well as your credit card information.


*By kindly I mean it was a shouting match in which I told them the next time they did it they would lose a 15 year customer

You were right, it appears they aren't related at all. The hold on my account was because I had gone into the negatives (roommate took two months to cash a check).

It was just a wild coincidence both happened on the same damn day!

But I do want too know how my WoW account was hacked. I'm very good about keeping all that info safe. I don't have the slightest idea how it could have been hacked!

Ugh, I'm afraid too see what damage has been done. Hopefully they caught this guy and suspended my account very quickly.