Military ResourcesTwo weeks ago I was checking my credit card balance online. I saw three purchases that about made my heart jump out of my chest.
$786.92 TGI Fridays
$109.34 Hampton Inn
$36.00 McKenzie Markets
I knew right away it was a series of fraudulent purchases. We live overseas and there are no TGI Fridays, Hampton Inns, or McKenzie Markets. Plus, we would never spend over $700 at TGI Fridays. How is that even possible?
After doing a bit more research, we learned someone in Florida was using our credit card number to make purchases. It’s scary to think about how easy it is for someone to make a purchase under your name. I don’t even know or understand how they obtained our credit card number, which is part of the problem with identity theft.
It can happen any day and any where without warning.
We called our credit card company and spent about an hour trying to resolve the issue and we were able to receive an adjustment. Unfortunately, we had to close the account, open a new one, change our passwords, and wait for new cards to arrive. We also had to change over all of our automatic billing that charged that account each month.
Overall, this one minor incident took an extensive amount of time to correct, creating one big hassle when there are so many other ways I need to spend my time: caring for a newborn and a rambunctious toddler, maintaining an online business, and running a household.
I’m so glad I caught the fraudulent charges, but what if I hadn’t?
What if someone opened another credit card under my name and used it for months or even years without me knowing about it? Once there are errors on your credit report, it can be very time consuming to correct it. Proving that you are not the person who made the charges or missed payments, when they are in fact under your name, is very hard to do.
A better option.
Military families are an easy target for identity theft. We move frequently, which means we change banks and credit cards over and over again. You may also change who manages the finances based on deployments or TDY trips. And with all the ups and downs of military life, it’s easy to miss a fraudulent purchase or a compromised bank account.
Identity theft is a huge problem.
One of the best ways to help protect your identity is to enroll in LifeLock. LifeLock understands how identity thieves work, how they steal your information, and how they use it. They work to protect your accounts and your identity.
LifeLock provides 3 layers of protection.
- Detect – LifeLock searches every day for potential threats to your identity.
- Alert – When LifeLock discovers something suspicious, they will let you know through their LifeLock Identity Alert system.
- Restore – If you become a victim, a Certified Resolution Agent will handle your case every step of the way.
Put your mind at ease.
Trying to watch your accounts like a military spouse checking her iPhone during deployment is exhausting. Identity protection is very affordable, it eliminates the stress of monitoring all your accounts every single day, and the peace of mind is worth every penny.
LifeLock has a special trial offer for active and retired military members!
You can try LifeLock FREE for 30 days, receive 15% OFF for the lifetime of your membership and receive a free American Flag!
Simply use promo code WESALUTE3 to take advantage of this offer.
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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of LifeLock. The opinions and text are all mine.
This happened to me back in December. We saw two purchases from Barnes and Noble and one from K-Mart. First off, I didn’t even know K-Mart still existed let alone had a website to shop from hahaha luckily the purchases totaled under $100 so we never would have even noticed if we weren’t looking for a certain transaction. We called Navy Fed and they had the money refunded to us 24 later and a new debit card in the mail as well. We were very fortunate and I’m lucky that it happened while Zack was home for the holidays. Otherwise I’d have no debit card for a week.
So scary to hear that! I’m glad you were able to get it worked out!