Today's Random Activities

Had nothing to do and I've been trying to keep busy. Woke up and called John at 10am as planned. Went over and saw his new house. It's really nice and still looks like everyone's house does when unpacked. But it's got a great layout, the neighbourhood's nice. Huge kitchen, and so on. I met the kitty and we got on fine. Picked up and petted kitty.

We ended up going to this BBQ place only to find out it wasn't open. So we're 0 for 2 on that and ended up at Ernie's (as I recollect) and had lunch there. Went to a cool record store. Went to the Apple store. I think I am going to finally get a laptop computer. Work will pick up some of the expense and then I can have a laptop. It's a few weeks off, but that's the plan.

Came home and did laundry. Got a reminder call from the hospital about tomorrow's test. Because of tomorrow's test my last food was eaten at 8pm tonight. No food, medicine, anything.

So, Karen came over and we went to Olive Garden (yuck) for dinner. The soup was awesome. I'll give it that. Beyond that, not my first choice. We planned on desert but it was too crowded at ColdStone so she went home.

Been fighting with iTunes all day via email. My account isn't working properly and they've now made me a new one (I don't want a new one -- there's nothing wrong with my old one) so now I have two Apple IDs and three iTunes logins. And it all started because I asked where my one song I ordered had vanished to. That is still unresolved. I am pissed.

I also need to update my will which I am working on. I'm removing lots of people and adding a few. It's a hard thing to do, but it needs to be done. Then I've got to get it off to a lawyer for checking. Razzie has recommended one down here, so I'll do that. I'm not planning on dying right at the moment, but just in case I want to make sure some people are not forgotten.

I continue to get "private" calls on my caller ID. I don't answer them. Never have, never will. But it's odd because usually they're telemarketers. But that's not something I usually see on a Sunday night. I had just missed this one -- came in while I was at dinner. Quite odd. I also continue to get some odd search hits on my blog. I suspect it's all related to this ongoing nightmare identity theft thing. There's me, the famous photographer, and this douchebag who all share my name. The photographer's very legit. The problem is the guy pretending to be -- or as I suspect multiple people pretending to be me since it appears my information (as I said before was sold). I am quite certain I am not a Hispanic male. I am also not a black female. And I've not written lots of bad checks. Nor opened an Amex card for a Hispanic male as a cosigner. I could go on.

More Identity Theft Stuff -- Personal Not Corporate

I am about to be sued. I got a call from Mr Trinidad at Wagner & Hunt, P.A, a collections attorney in Margate.

After a very bad start -- can you imagine any other kind? -- I come to find out I have supposedly co-signed for an American Express card with someone who owes Amex well over $8k. Obviously I have co-signed nothing for anyone ever. I just won't do that. Never have, never will.

So I go on to explain to him that I have been identity-thefted (Look, Binky, a new word!) and I've got a police report, there's a suspect in jail, and so-on and so-forth. So he's going to fax me affidavits to sign and swear to, and I'm going to send him a copy of my police report. So this will likely go away. So am I really going to be sued? Unlikely because it's stupid to sue an innocent person: harassment countersuits and such.

However, I did volunteer to be deposed and swear the debt isn't mine and the guy committed fraud. However, what is very, very, very disturbing is that he says that this dates to 2006. That was before my identity theft case started (though I was at BankAtlantic that far back, so it's not unreasonable to assume it may be related). He did share with me the guy's name which I won't share just yet. I never heard of him but I think it might the same guy who was at AT&T the other day trying to obtain the wireless data card (see previous posts). Call it a hunch.

I am getting so tired of this. I'm getting it on all sides. (And I still get the occasional call from a bank saying someone's trying to open a credit card with my name.) I haven't reported all of it so far because it's getting boring to me and probably you. But it does drive to distraction.

Shout outs to John and Liz who are still moving, Erin who is still in pain and sick of the rain, and I'm hungry -- no lunch for me :(

Corporate Identity Theft Continues

So there's so much more now.

This morning at 850am I received a call from Kathy at the AT&T Fraud department who said our lines were still being forwarded (which didn't seem right because I can call myself and it rings at the office). She refused to call to fix it saying that she wasn't authorized. (If she's the fraud center how the hell isn't she authorized to fix it? That's like calling someone and saying their house is being robbed and asking them if they want to call the police because you aren't authorized to do it.)

I am on the phone at the Business Center with Katie who informs me on 6-29-2007 someone named George forwarded or lines to "786-290-2893" and this was "Call Forward Busy" and "Call Forwarding No Answer" -- so this is more interesting. Also, I called this from a private number using *67 and it rings to mobile phone with no message.

Apparently when we fixed it the first time (see first post), this original and VERY OLD issue didn't get fixed. So now we need to find out who, exactly, this number above belongs to. I think this our crook.

This would be an interesting crime. If both of our lines were busy, then and ONLY then the call would forward to that number so we might not even notice that some calls were being hijacked. I am beginning to suspect new crime and old crime are not related. But I won't post that bit here for the time being.

Also, I am mystified that AT&T's position is that they'll notify you that there is illegal activity on the account and then do absolutely nothing about it. Seriously. That's like a security guard at the bank calling the bank president and say "Someone's robbing us. Should we do something about it?" and then when the bank president says "Yes" having the guard say "Ok, you deal with it. I'm not authorized."

I called and spoke to Katie who was very helpful and checked all the work orders and gave me the 786 number above and the details. She said she didn’t understand why the fraud people didn’t call directly instead of leaving it all weekend. I subsequently received a call from Tina Kelly (Team Leader) who also said this was very unusual and they aren’t sure what’s going on.

The fraud department said there is ‘unusual activity’ on our bill but we don’t have the bill and nobody outside the fraud department can seem to see any ‘unusual activity’ but when we get it, it will be scrutinized.

Corporate Identity Theft, Losing an SUV, Celebrity Deaths

First, RIP to ex-heartthrob Farrah Fawcett of Charlies Angels fame who died earlier today of cancer. Many of my friends and I were fond of looking at her iconic poster from the late 1970s / early 1980s.
The poster is one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic one of its era. She'll be missed by many for a long list of reasons. She had a long and distinguished career.

(As I write this news is breaking that he died.) Best wishes also to Michael Jackson is in critical condition following a heart attack. He was found unconscious in his Los Angeles home. He was attempting a comeback tour at the O2 in London, which now appears unlikely. The singer's father, Joe, has told TMZ he is "not doing well" while another family member said he is "in really bad shape." Having met Mr. Jackson, briefly, I extend my condolences and best wishes to his family.

Next up, I must report on a true oddity. My BMW X5 was taken to South Motors body shop for repair after the accident. Two days ago it was taken to South Motors service shop for mechanical work and its regularly scheduled service. I called today to find out what the story was with my car. South Motors service first said they didn't have my car, but the body shop told me who got it. South Motors service then admitted yes, they did get it, but could find no record of me or the car in their computer and the car was missing. Photo here.

They asked for my VIN# because they can't find the car or any record of it. I also sent them a description and then the Flickr photo above. I am paying $40 per day for a stupid-ass rental. So for two days they did not work on it because they couldn't find the damned car. Inexcusable, yes? They have yet to call me back. Tomorrow, I am going to insist that we file a police report for a stolen vehicle. I'll also have to sue them for my out of pocket on the repairs -- why should I pay for repairs on a car I never got. I would hope they find the car which "might be in the lease return lot." I am very, very, very unhappy with South Motors and BMW corporate offices will receive an eviscerating letter the likes of which they may have never seen.

How the hell do you lose an entire SUV? Morons.

Lastly, and in sympathy with Evan, I need to report on some corporate identity theft. A few weeks ago AT&T called me and said someone was trying to forward our fax lines to an alternate number. That person pretended to be me, and then to be my father. They were a Hispanic male (which neither of us are). They were suspicious because of reasons I do not wish to disclose at this time so they called our main billing number, spoke to me to ask if I was doing it and I said no and asked them to note everything in the account. AT&T wrote lots of notes but refused to release information to me -- only to a law enforcement agency. I called the Hialeh Police and filed a report which they reluctantly took -- only over the phone and didn't send a detective. The report said "Someone tried to change the phone number" -- that's it. No mention of rerouting, imperonsating me, etc. Messing with phone lines is a federal felony. I also called my lawywer who referred it to the State Attorney General's Office.

I come into work today from having my MRI and my receptionists says I have a call and I tell her "I'm not in yet, let me get settled" but she insists. It's AT&T. Someone's trying to order some Wireless Network cards for laptops to have shipped somewhere. She's also suspicious because the caller said we have no corporate email addresses and refused to supply one. Thanks to AT&T represenative Terressa Williams for being on the ball and also recording notes.

(Right here in the middle of this is when I found out my car was AWOL.)

Then later in the day I get a call from Kathy in the AT&T Fraud Department telling me my number had been forwarded to a 'suspicious number' and also had been unblocked to allow collect prison calls(!!!). She said I would have to call the business office to fix it and that she couldn't do it. She did give up to the two numbers our lines were forwarded to: 305-299-0499 amd 305-332-9119. I e-mailed my attorney immediately. He's trying to get this straightened out.

I called AT&T business office and had a password put on our account. I had the name on the account changed to me from Dad. The person who called in to do this had our federal ID number as well as our AT&T account number and specifically targeted our fax lines. This is very, very unusual. I have a suspicion that I won't share here, but more on that later. I'd discuss it with the police but they don't seem to give a shit. I am not impressed with the Hialeah Police, let me tell you what.

Identity Theft : Just When You Thought It Was Over

I got a call at work today from a credit card company. On 11 February someone applied for a credit card online. On the plus side there's an IP address. Also, blocking your credit report helps. I received a call at work to confirm I applied for said card. They call the address on the credit hold request. I verified that I never even heard of their bank.

They are going to report this to the credit bureaus and also kick it up to their fraud department. This means the douche-bag Ex-employee BankAtlantic has sold my information to someone else.

Sadly, I have accidentally dropped the paper with the bank that called me today into the shredder at work. Otherwise my intent was to call the police with this new bit of information. It started with an "M" and I never heard of it. Blech. I'm sure there will be more.

I leave on Thursday with Mom -- we're leaving from our home cities and meeting at our destination. She knows now where we're going. She is packing. More eventually. If you all are nice to me.

I ate at the Hitchin' Post BBQ for lunch today and am thoroughly satiated :)

Identity Theft (Final Chapter)

Just a bit more. I spoke to the detective in question. I can't really say too much. The person arrested IS a bank employee at BankAtlantic -- as I suspected. He had the names and details of a LOT of people. He was captured with the help of BankAtlantic (yay) and many months ago, you may remember I posted, and then redacted a post saying they had a voice recording of the guy opening an account in my name. Well they do still have that.

I have let BankAmerica know the guy's in jail and given them the case number and direct number to the detective.

I gave a sworn statement today and affirmed my intent to cooperate with any prosecution. The US Secret Service has been involved.

I hope there is a big, fat, hairy, biker dude in prison who thinks this guy has a cute ass. That would be PROPER justice.

THERE WILL BE NO FURTHER INFORMATION POSTED. This is for the integrity of the case. It could be well over a year before we find the disposition of what happens next. I have scanned the names of people arrested in Fort Lauderdale but this guy hasn't shown up yet. When he does, you're going to see a link :)

Breaking News On Identity Theft

I came home to a phone message from a South Florida police agency (to be named later) that someone has been arrested with oodles of my personal information and asking if I've been the victim of Identity Theft. I missed the detective in question but I left him a detailed voice mail and told him to call me at work tomorrow -- and I indicated I will gladly testify against this SOB. Sadly, it's apparent local agencies do not share information.

Also, my Official Vet (as opposed to the emergency vet) sent me a card. It was signed with nice messages from his entire staff. They sent along this poem (author unknown):

Just this side of heaven is a place called The Rainbow Bridge

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to the Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross The Rainbow Bridge together....

I also went to a soiree at my bank. Met lots of interesting people, ate, and came home thereafter. And to Beep: feel better. Sorry you're sick.

Stuff. Fraud. Car. Food. Etc.

1. Thanks to Jay for dinner at PrimeBlue this evening. Never heard of it, but it was a fine meal. Too much food was ordered but we're both at fault.
2. I absolutely am learning to loathe iDrive as it sucks ass. It's clearly the "Microsoft" design philosophy: counter-intuitive at every turn. But I mostly like my car, except for iDrive and Sirius.
3. I am, ONCE AGAIN, the victim of identity theft at my new bank. Same Modus Operandi. Same person. I am not at liberty to disclose how I know this, but he made a mistake. Tomorrow I will be speaking with the FBI. My new bank has been far more helpful than BankAtlantic. They gave me resources, numbers to call, and so forth. This time NO MONEY WAS TAKEN. I caught it quickly. There will be no more posted details at this time. But to the guy doing it: watch your back 'cause you ain't as smart as you think you are.