I got one of those phone calls on Friday evening that no one looks forward to.

My credit card company had left me a voicemail (yay crappy indoor cell reception) to contact them as soon as possible about some suspicious activity on my account.

Initially, I thought the call might have been a fraudulent attempt to glean information from me and so I checked my account for this supposedly suspicious activity before calling. (It’s probably important to note here I had just checked my account that morning and saw nothing out of the ordinary and that I spent a lot of time at my last job writing about identity theft.)

My account showed that I had supposedly purchased $12.95 worth of merchandise that day from a store I was 99 percent positive I hadn’t been to in months.  

Now concerned that someone else was indeed using my card, I looked up a number for the credit card company (I didn’t trust the number left on my voicemail) and called.

Before I reached a live person, I had to go through a series of recordings including one that told me all the recent charges on my account. I didn’t hear past the automated voice saying I had $800 charge pending.

Turns out someone had gone furniture shopping in North Carolina on me.

I spent about 15 minutes on the phone straightening it all out, and after it was over I couldn’t help thinking it could have been a lot worse.

The credit card company canceled my card and promised to send a new one, made sure I wouldn’t have to pay the fraudulent charges and said they’d alert the credit companies to the identity theft to ensure nothing happened to my credit score.

 What I’m left wondering, though, is where did it happen and could I have done anything to prevent it?

I shred and/or black out papers with personal information on them before throwing them away and I’m careful with where I make my online purchases.

Without expecting an answer, (I’ve been in this business too long), I actually asked the woman I was on the phone with if there was any way to know when or how someone had gotten my credit card information. She said, just as I suspected, that it was nearly impossible to tell.

The reality is there are countless opportunities for identity theft in this day and age. From a waitress copying down credit card information when you pay the tab to online stores you’ve purchased from getting hacked.

So, even though I have my suspicions, I likely will never know what led to my identity theft.

What I can do, and what everyone should do, is continue to take precautions. I will continue shredding personal documents before throwing them away, I will make an effort to regularly change my online passwords, monitor all my accounts closely and remember to take advantage of the three free credit reports we are all permitted each year. Hopefully, that will be enough.  

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