Yup. We had our identity stolen. Not in Mexico, but in the U.S.

The way I became aware of it was just opening the mail one evening. There was a bank statement, an internet bill, and a bunch of junk mail. The junk mail went into the shredder. Then I opened Quicken on my computer and quickly paid my internet bill, then opened the bank statement.

We happen to have two accounts at this particular bank — a “senior” checking account, and a bank account that we’ve had for a few years that just sits there with $1,385 in it (a little emergency cash, just in case), month in, month out never a charge, never any interest.

So, of course, I expected to open the envelope, glance at it and put it in it’s proper file. But — hey — wait — $850 balance??? Hum??????

OK — “Hey, Dick” I yell through the house. “Have you, by any chance, been to Hungry Howie’s Pizza without me and spent $62???”

“What in the world are you talking about, Barbie?” came back his response.

By now, I had glanced down the page at the rest of the charges — Hungry Howie’s 6 times???

Dick and I had never even heard of the place. Also a charge to an Internetcompany. And a couple of other strange items…Like the Wild Bronco’s Hideaway.

Like I mentioned, this was evening — our bank is closed. It’s a rough night in the Parks household.

Early the next morning, we head to the bank. Luckily the manager was there and took us directly into his office. After calming our fears with an assurance that the bank would stand behind us, he entered some information into his computer. An immediate fraud report went out attached to our account.

But, even with that quick action, as we were sitting there, the computer flashed an alert — over $500 spent at a computer store — oh boy — whoever was doing this was planning to have a fun weekend!

An interesting point — this was just a bank account — the cards that were issued to us were never taken out of the envelope they came to us in and that envelope has lived from the first day in my file. Never taken out, never used. From what the Bank Manager told us, hackers can just buy some sort of a gadget from a store, connect that up to their computer and it starts sending out random numbers to companies trying to charge an amount of $1, and when a charge hits an actual number,it “takes”. Your account is then at the mercy of the thief. Scary Huh?

So, even though they, the thieves, had no social security number, no I.D. number, nothing, your identity can be stolen. Even if you have no computer!

Dick and I felt very lucky our bank stood behind us. It was less than two weeks, and we were reimbursed.

However, this costs the bank — so we’re all losers. The banks have to cover their loses some way.

Well, anyway — if this happens to you – contact your bank, credit card company, etc, immediately – don’t wait one second. And make sure you always check the charges on all of your statements.

When you place an order over the Internet, it’s easy to make sure it’s a secure transaction. When you start the paying process, you should make sure the address line has an added “s” immediately after the http – meaning “secure connection”.

So watch out, be careful, and monitor your statements! Identity theft can happen to anyone.