Identity Theft

Mysterious Frauds, Part II: $48 Somehow Taken From a Victim’s Credit Card

Stealing Your ID by Stealing Your Phone’s Account: How to Avoid the SIM Swap Scam

How to Protect Your Children’s Privacy as They Head Back to School

Stolen Store Reward Cards and Suspicious Activity in Parklands Drive

Watch Out for Fraud When Summer Job Opportunities Come Up, Better Business Bureau Says

Identity Theft Attempted Against Darien Man, 35, With 3 Applications for Store Credit

Credit Cards Stolen from Darien Woman at Restaurant, Charges Racked Up

Someone Opens Credit Card Account in Darien Woman’s Name, Buys Expensive Purse

Ungodly Theft: Purse Stolen at Church Event, Credit Cards Used

Chamber Chairman: Stores Not Ready for Chip Cards May Be Liable for Fraud Thefts

Identity Theft from a Darien Woman After Thanksgiving in New York City

Police: Car Burglar Tripped up Using Stolen Card at I-95 Rest Stop

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | October 30, 2019

Consumer and Finances

By ALVARO PUIG | October 26, 2019

Education

By COLLEEN TRESSLER | August 20, 2018

Public Safety

By John Paul Barce | May 18, 2017

Business

By David Gurliacci | May 7, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | March 22, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | October 4, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | March 21, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | March 9, 2016

Business

By David Gurliacci | January 11, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | December 12, 2015

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | December 11, 2015

Like the Darien woman who told police last week that she didn’t know how someone in Florida could have cashed a check against her bank account, a Darien man, the next day, told police he didn’t know how a $48.18 Grubhub delivery to someone in Westport was made using his credit card. He told police on Wednesday, Oct. 23 (the day after the Darien woman’s report) that he’d never used or registered for Grubhub, a service which delivers food from area restaurants to your door. He only knew about the theft because he’d looked at the charges to his account. The man called Grubhub, who told him the address where the delivery had been made.

A Cell Phone Mobile Phone Smartphone FTC Consumer Information Blog Oct 23 2019

If your cell phone is your go-to device for checking your email, paying your bills, or posting to social media, you’re not alone. So imagine that your cell phone suddenly stops working: no data, no text messages, no phone calls. Then picture getting an unexpected notification from your cellular provider that your SIM card has been activated on a new device. What’s going on? These could be signs that a scammer has pulled a SIM card swap to hijack your cell phone number.

Many school forms require personal and sensitive information. Here are some tips for keeping your child’s personal information safe — from pre-school through college. — This article is from the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Information blog. Colleen Tressler is a consumer education specialist with the FTC. The graphic illustration at the bottom is also from the FTC.

Several stolen store reward cards and a Triple-A membership card were found Monday, May 8 in the parking lot of Parklands Office Park. The cards belonged to a Milford woman who told police that her purse had been stolen from an office building in Orange earlier the same day. The victim’s credit cards were used in Norwalk and online that day. A building manager for the office park at Parklands Drive told police that between 5 and 5:30 p.m. that day, four suspicious people entered at least two offices in the building. (The office park now has one building in use, the other one is being torn down, to be replaced by a nursing home.)

Police are continuing to look into the matter, but they say they don’t know whether or not there’s a connection between the four people and the stolen cards.

Work from Home sign Employment Jobs 05-07-17

If you are looking for part-time or full-time employment to make a few dollars over the summer, Connecticut Better Business Bureau cautions job-seekers to be careful when considering an unsolicited employment opportunity. “There are all sorts of legitimate jobs available, even work-at-home opportunities, but there are a number of red flags that can tell if you are applying for a real job or if someone is trying to get you to part with your personal and financial information,” says Connecticut Better Business Bureau Spokesman, Howard Schwartz. ___________
— an announcement from the Connecticut Better Business Bureau
___________
The red flags include, but are not limited to:
An offer that sounds like a dream job with no training or experience required; being offered jobs by telephone even if you never applied for them; promises of a generous salary; no face to face meeting and demands for upfront money sent by untraceable methods such as wire transfer or gift cards. The “recruiter” will tell potential victims they are hired without any face to face meeting, and that the candidate will have to send money upfront, supposedly for background checks, training and materials, their Social Security Number for income tax purposes and a bank account number to arrange direct deposit of salary. A legitimate employer will never ask for any of your personal information until after you have met, received a formal written offer with a job description, salary and other remuneration details.

Police Snow Darien Police Sign Winter 03-22-17

A 35-year-old Darien man told police that he’d received a phone call from Target that someone had applied for a credit card in his name. Soon after, he learned that similar applications had been made in his name for Walmart and Saks Fifth Avenue accounts. The man reported the attempted identity theft to police on Saturday. He put a credit freeze on his credit report to try to prevent any further attempts at identity theft. No financial losses to him resulted from the identity theft attempts, and police know of no local connection involving the stealing of his personal information for the applications.

Four credit cards were stolen from a Darien woman having lunch with her son last week at Panera Bread, and within an hour $1,421 was charged to her accounts, police said. Darien police gave this account:

At about 1:30, the 48-year-old woman left her seat to get her food at the counter of the 1063 Post Road restaurant. Her son, who had just gone through oral surgery, remained seated but was very groggy. She had left her credit cards in her wallet which was in her purse, which was slung on the back of her chair at a booth in the back of the restaurant. At about 2:20 p.m., she went elsewhere in Darien and got out her wallet to use a credit card.

A 43-year-old Darien woman received an email receipt from the Saks Fifth Avenue store in Stamford for $228.64 — the cost of an MMJ brand handbag the store said she bought. She hadn’t bought it. And the last four digits of the credit card account number mentioned in the email was not a number that corresponded to any of her accounts. The purchase occurred at the store on Sunday, March 13, and the woman reported the matter to police the next day. It appears that the identity theft was accomplished when the thief had the woman’s name, email address and apparently enough personal information to open the credit card account.

Someone attending a local church event not only stole the purse of a Darien woman also at the event, but then started using the victims credit cards. Darien police gave this account of the theft:

There were about 100 attendees at an event held on the grounds of St. Luke’s Parish Church, 1864 Post Road, at about 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 28 when one of them, a 44-year-old Darien woman, left her purse on a table and went to another area of the same room. About five or 10 minutes later, she returned to get her purse, which wasn’t there.

Business owners who want to protect their stores’ bottom lines from some types of credit card fraud may need to get equipment that reads the “chip” credit cards now being introduced in the United States. That was the message at a recent Darien Chamber of Commerce event from Mark Rosenbloom, the incoming chairman of the chamber’s Board of Directors and an assistant vice president at First County Bank. Rosenbloom is also manager of cash management services at the bank. First County is one of many sellers of the devices. Legal liability in the United States shifts to the store if it doesn’t use the terminals built to read the embedded microchips in chip credit cards, Rosenbloom said at a “Business After Hours” event held Thursday at Jimmy’s Southside Tavern on Heights Road.

A Darien woman who visited New York City with her family soon noticed suspicious charges on her debit card in the city — with almost $2,000 gone by the time she reported it to police. The 40-year-old woman told police on Monday, Nov. 30 about the trip and that she used her debit card in the city. When she noticed charges she hadn’t made on the account, she notified People’s Bank, which froze her account. She was still in possession of the card.

« August 2022 »

A thief got credit cards when he successfully stole from an unlocked car one night earlier this year, but when he used one at the Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95 that night, he was caught on camera and identified, police said. Police say their investigation was helped when he first used a stolen credit card when he was seen on surveillance video at the rest stop, then used his own debit card to buy a late-night snack at McDonald’s. The man police later arrested, Trevor Dixon, 28, of Bridgeport, was charged again on Monday, Dec. 7, this time for failure to appear in court on Oct. 8, police said.