Identity Theft through home computer

[Andrew07]

So my girlfriend's family has been experiencing identity theft, and we're just about positive it's happening through their computer. They have a PC and the standard SBC Yahoo DSL setup. I've tried installing a new firewall and virus checker, but since they've had the computer about 3/4 years now, my girlfriend and her 11 year old brother have accumulated a lot of shit (downloading songs through limewire, clicking on internet popups, other stupid stuff etc). They don't have any of the original Windows installation stuff, so they can't do a clean erase and install.

The latest episode of identity theft happened today. I've told them not to use their credit cards on the house computer and use my g/f's laptop, but I dunno why the hell they keep doing it. They booked some cabin reservations thursday night and when we went out to breakfast today, there was a block on their card.

What should they do? Whoever is doing the identity theft, they have some sort of really clear and easy way to access their computer. Is it their computer? Their internet? What? Is an IP address part of the computer or the internet device/number? This has happened probably a dozen or more times over the period of two years. Would appreciate your guys help!

[brandondrury]

I didn't notice this thread with all the other "heated" discussion going on.

When you say "indentity theft" what exactly are you saying? This is a common cliche that most people really don't understand. Is someone actually running up charges on the credit card?

To be honest, even with quite a bit of web programming and such, I can't figure out exactly how another computer can get info like credit card numbers.

The first thing is to call the credit card company, obviously.

As far as the computer end is concerned, I'd do a format immediately. It needs to be said that zillions of people buy stuff online without any problem. Many of them do not have a firewall or anything special on their computer. I certainly don't.

In fact, I consider handing a waiter at a restraurant a much great security risk than buying something online. Something is up here.

Is it the same credit card or multiple credit cards?

Brandon

[richiebee]

Turn off the computer, phone the police. Most police forces these days have a technology branch who will investigate things like identity theft.

R.

[Andrew07]

My girlfriend's dad had his "identity" stolen. They got a hold of his name, Social, bank account information, the works.

I logged on to my ebay and iTunes accounts there over the summer and my iTunes, ebay AND hotmail accounts got hacked within a week. Before and since then, nothing (my comps have firewalls and ive never logged on with their computer since)

They've gone through the police, the banks know everything about it and there's an ongoing investigation. I've watched the Dateline specials and they say paper identity theft is much more common than computer identity theft...so I have no idea how they've hacked into their computer. All their mail goes thru a shredder

This has been going on for the past two years. Two weeks ago my girlfriend's mom forgot that I REPEATEDLY told her, don't use the computer for any transactions, don't access your bank account, DONT USE YOUR CREDIT CARD...and booked a hotel reservation with her credit card. The next day someone had gotten that (new) credit card number.

They don't have any Windows XP installation disc and its a 2/3 year old Dell. How can someone have such easy access to their computer? Is it some information from the computer itself? The sbc yahoo DSL line? or simply the OS? My girlfriend plugs her laptop in to the DSL line, unplugs the house computer and checks her bank account. and so far, *knock on wood* it hasnt been hacked yet.

[brandondrury]

How can someone have such easy access to their computer?

This isn't the kind of web programming I'm very good with, but a person could write a little script that stored any web form text in a little database within the computer. (This works very similar to how the auto-form filler outers work that remember your username.) So, for example, it wouldn't be too hard to capture what I'm writing this very second. Then, you could scan that database to remove form entries without 16 digit numbers. Then that info could be emailed or uploaded. You could get a lot more advanced with it.

However, this script would have to be installed on the computer. This gets into computer habits and such. People who install a new tool bar everyday or download this "cute" thing or that fuzzy thing end up with all kinds of spyware and viruses. A person who has used the internet for more than 2 days learns not to go into unchartered waters without being careful.

The best thing to do is format the computer with a different XP disk, but use the serial number on their computer. I think that will work. It should. From there, install an anti-virus software program of some kind. I use Norton 2003. Some people hate Norton. It works fine for me.

The most important thing you can do is ditch Internet Explorer IMMEDIATELY! Any non-tech person MUST use Firefox to avoid zillions of spybots and viruses. My girlfriend, mom, brother, etc all use Firefox because I refuse to work on a computer that doesn't have it. Ironically, I'm fixing WAY less computers.

I want to point out that I'm no expert here. For all I know an FBI dude could just choose a computer at will and steal every file without blinking an eye. I like the idea of hardware firewalls simply because they save CPU performance, but maybe software firewalls are better. I've never used a Firewall.

Being a pro web dude, I find that my habits are dramatically different from the average laymen who typically uses the web for fun. There are quite a few scary viruses out there.

Brandon