Another Case of Credit Score Damaging Identity Theft

Identity theft and other types of credit card fraud have become so common nowadays, that the statistics figures do not shock card holders any more. Until it concerns every credit consumer in personal. Every once in a while you can hear from your friends, see on TV or read in the newspapers those boogie-man stories about fraudsters' attacks.

Different names of credit card providers get involved in credit crime cases. Even large and world-wide known card issuers cannot guarantee their clients 100% credit card security. Another flagrant case of credit fraud has recently occurred in the University of Virginia about a month ago.

On May, 23 Patrick Grant, the professor molecular genetics and microchemistry of the University of Virginia found 3 letters sent by Bank of America in his mailbox. The letters informed him that the bank refused to extend Mr. Grant's credit line. The thing is that the professor never asked his card issuer to increase his credit limit. In a flash he realized that he had become a victim of identity theft.

Credit fraudsters opened checking and savings accounts on Patrick Grant's name in New York using his social security number and a fake driver's license. Using computer technologies and World Wide Web, the thieves stole the ID details of Mr. Grant's existing credit account. And Professor Grant lost $22,000 over a 10 days' period.

The leak of his personal information is no secret. Last June over 5,000 faculty members became victims of online ID theft. Hackers got access to their personal information, including names, birth dates and SSNs. Patrick Grant was among those people. And his credit card security turned out to be at risk.

This April fraudsters got inside the car of one of the University's employees and stole a laptop, which contained personal data of over 7,000 University's students and staff. And again Professor Grant's personal information turned out to be in that database.

All victims of ID theft were informed about the crime and were advised to take some security measures in order to avoid credit card fraud. Grant promptly reacted to the situation and asked credit bureaus to put a fraud alert and credit monitoring system on his credit file. However, none of the protection methods helped to prevent his identity credit details theft.

Professor Grant was found not liable for the $22,000 credit card debt by the Bank of America. And that is the good part. The bad one is that Patrick Grant's credit score was severely damaged. And it will take a great deal of time to dispute all unauthorized charges and repair his credit score. The staff members and students of the University of Virginia have been advised to check their credit reports and keep their eyes open, as all of them risk becoming credit card fraud victims.

The University's authorities do their best to strengthen their security policy concerning their employees and students' personal information.

It is hard to find a panacea for credit fraud. Just keep in mind this case and watch out for the fraudsters' predatory practices. Make sure that your personal credit information is protected and your credit file is safe from unauthorized users.