ID Theft -- Courtesy of the FAA

On Jul 1, 10:17 am, C J Campbell
wrote:
Pure nonsense. Federal laws limit your liability with stolen cards and
you have no liability at all for a fraudulent card.

Correct -- as I've since found out. I'm learning more by the minute
about ID theft and its repercussions.

On Jul 1, 3:53 am, James Robinson wrote:
You sure the FBO didn't simply mix up the N number in their records, and
are chasing the wrong person as a result?

I fervently hope some such thing is the case; that would be easier to
clear up than outright ID theft. As I said, the FBO's higher-ups
haven't been heard from yet -- maybe Monday.

Dallas wrote:
On Sat, 30 Jun 2007 20:26:11 -0700, quietguy wrote:


I've just received a "past due" invoice for the purchase of 250
gallons of Jet A from an FBO a thousand miles away on 20 May.


I'm unclear as to how someone could pull this off.

Are you saying they used your info to apply for a credit card in your name?

If so, how could the card have been sent to any other address other than
the billing address? Did you get a bill from a credit card company?

It sounds like you're saying this was paper invoice from the FBO mailed to
your address. Why would an FBO sell on credit to someone that didn't have
an account with them?

I'm confused.


It's clearly not a credit card because the FBO wouldn't send an invoice
in that situation. Either you paid at the self serve pump with your
crad or you didn't get gas.

"quietguy" wrote in message
ups.com...
I've just received a "past due" invoice for the purchase of 250
gallons of Jet A from an FBO a thousand miles away on 20 May. The
invoice includes my name and address and the N-number of my airplane.
The trouble is: I'm not a jet pilot; haven't been to that city in
thirty years; the airplane with that N-number is still a-building in
my garage and it won't burn kerosene when it flies, anyway.

There's only one way my name, address and reserved N-number could have
been obtained by whoever used them: he got them from the FAA website
by doing a search of the reserved N-number database. To my horror, I
found that information in less than a minute after going to the site.
The database of active N-numbers is equally easy to search.

If this guy is smart he got the names/addresses/tail-numbers for a
dozen or more people, got a dozen or more bogus credit cards and is
using each one just once at self-service pumps to avoid creating a
paper-trail that can be followed. His use of jet fuel is one thing
that will save me from having to pay for his travels. If he'd bought
100LL I might very well have been stuck for the tab; the FBO might
have argued that I'd used the not-yet-airborne tail-number to bolster
a fraudulent claim of identity theft after actually fueling a flyable
aircraft.

Leave it to the braintrust at the FAA to provide such great service to
ID thieves. Better yet, DON"T leave it to them. Write to the FAA
right now and tell them specifically that you want your address
removed from *all* their public-access databases:


Why would the FBO send you a paper INVOICE for a credit card sale?

Something here is fishy. There are several holes in your "story".

On Jul 1, 12:24 pm, "Matt Barrow"
wrote:
Why would the FBO send you a paper INVOICE for a credit card sale?

Something here is fishy. There are several holes in your "story".

I've got better things to do right now than to respond at length to
somebody who's apparently got nothing better to do than to call
another man a liar from a safe distance, but I won't let that crack
pass. The low-ranking person minding the store on a Saturday
afternoon said it was a credit-card transaction; maybe she was wrong.
And many companies try sending invoices as a first step in "past due"
cases, before reporting a customer to the card issuer. I've promised
to tell more when I know more, and I will.

I'm also confused by this. If the thief paid by credit card at a self-serve
pump, the FBO will get paid by the credit card company, no matter what.

I could understand the credit card company coming after you to pay, but that
doesn't sound like the case here. I'm with the other poster who guessed
that it's a billing error by the FBO and will be resolved on Monday.

Good Luck,
Dennis

On Jul 1, 12:37 pm, "Dennis Johnson" wrote:
I'm also confused by this. If the thief paid by credit card at a self-serve
pump, the FBO will get paid by the credit card company, no matter what.

I could understand the credit card company coming after you to pay, but that
doesn't sound like the case here. I'm with the other poster who guessed
that it's a billing error by the FBO and will be resolved on Monday.

Good Luck,
Dennis

Thanks for the kind wishes. This thing is really chapping my ass.
I'm a retired Air Force officer -- for twenty years my reputation
meant more to me than my life, and now I'm finding out that it still
may. I didn't sleep much last night.

There may not be a credit card company: crime rings manufacture pretty
good plastic blanks, complete with holograms, and they'll emboss and
encode them to your specs at, I'm told, a surprisingly low price --
especially if you're a high-volume customer. A gas-pump is a perfect
place to use such a fake.

I hope to God that this is just some innocent data-entry error. More
later.

"quietguy" wrote in message
ups.com...
.... To my horror, I
found that information in less than a minute after going to the site.

You just now figgured that out???

Ever type your name into Google? Try your phone number. Or your name and
state...

The database of active N-numbers is equally easy to search.

If this guy is smart he got the names/addresses/tail-numbers for a
dozen or more people, got a dozen or more bogus credit cards and is

Except for the "N" number - all that information is in your local phone book
also...
Why bother to match a name to an "N" number if you are after bogus credit
cards?

You've lost me.

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

"quietguy" wrote

There may not be a credit card company: crime rings manufacture pretty
good plastic blanks, complete with holograms, and they'll emboss and
encode them to your specs at, I'm told, a surprisingly low price --
especially if you're a high-volume customer. A gas-pump is a perfect
place to use such a fake.

My sister just had a Mastercard refused, and when she called to check about
it, they told her that they had frozen the account, because someone had just
tried to scan it to withdraw money twice, in Saudi Arabia.

She has no idea where they got her information, to counterfit a card. It
does happen, though.

I hope to God that this is just some innocent data-entry error. More
later.

Good luck, and I have confidence that it will turn out OK, but it will
undoubtedly will take some time to get straightened out.
--
Jim in NC

It may not have been the FAA- I had a call from a credit card company
regarding some fraudulent charges, and they called the same day! Some guy
bought some stuff in a Walmart in Chicago.

So, it can happen- without reading the whole thread, did you call your
credit card company and dispute the charges?