Strange stuff. Someone started charging against my credit card in May. I noticed it in June, got a new card, and assumed that is that. The $500 in charges were reversed. One of the items they ordered accidentally arrived at my house. So I know their shoe size and that they have poor fashion sense.

Fast forward to two days ago, and I get a call from a credit card company which I don't use (or at least so I thought). Not only has someone received a credit card in my name, but they asked for a second card to be used in the United Arab Emirates. So the credit card company informs me that they were provided all of my (sadly correct) personal information. The crook has two other applications in the works. The bank close all accounts, but I then it sinks in that I am a victim of identity theft.

So I decide to buy my credit reports, and $40 later I learn that there is another card in use in my name. So I get that one closed down. They had charged $2500 against my name.

Apparently, you are supposed to report identity theft to the police, which I did. I was surprised that they actually took it seriously. A cop probably spent an hour with me trying to document everything. That is probably the strangest part of all this.

And then last night, I check my current credit card again (the one that was recently re-issued). And every two days, someone is charging $60 to get help from some Playstation help line. How can you be that bad at a video game? It started 15 days after I activated the new card. So somehow, they got the number within 15 days of me starting to use the new card. Or they had the number prior to my activating the card.

So I have placed a fraud notice on my credit report, but apparently that isn't a guarantee that no new credit cards will be issued in my name.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? How do I get this cycle to stop? I plan to use cash a lot more and not pay so many bills with my credit card, and it will be interesting to see if I can at least keep my new number a secret from the crooks for a few months. They clearly have all my personal information, including some way to look up my current credit card number. If I can just stop it for a while, hopefully they will move onto someone else. Ugh.

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1968 220D, w115, /8, OM615, Automatic transmission.
My 1987 300TD wagon was sold and my 2003 W210 E320 wagon was totaled (sheds tear).