Identity Theft

I am very careful with my credit and credit cardsas well as anything with my address or other personal information on it. In our new digital age, fears of identity theft are very real and I am diligent in protecting my personal information; shredding mail and receipts and anything with personal information on it, especially the endless credit crad offers I seem to get.

This weekend, I recieved a box from some Literary Guild. Not sure what it was, I opened it to discover a box full of books. Apparently, I had signed up for some book club. Except, I never did. I called the company yesterday and discovered that someone had signed me up for this book club using my credit card. Eeek!

Needless to say, the very next call was to my credit card company to cancel that card. A few other small fraudulent charges were also discovered, so I am glad I discovered this when I did. I asked the credit card guy why someone would put such small charges on my card (were are talking under $50) and he indicated that sometimes they will do that to see if you are paying attention to your account. If you don't notice, they will eventually charge for high ticket items.

Still not sure how someone got my credit card number, but I am checking all my credit cards for any unwanted activity just to make sure.

I also don't get why, if you are fraudulently using my credit card, why also use my address to have stuff shipped to? Not very bright.