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Recently, my husband and I were the victims of some fraudulent charges to our checking account. While looking at our account online, as I do most days, I noticed two charges that had just occurred that neither of us had made. I called the bank right away to notify them that these charges were not ours. Since the charges were still in a pending status the bank could not take any action, yet. They could not provide any information about the charges either, except that my debit card was the one used to make those purchases. Well, that debit card was still in my possession!

After I discovered the charges on our account and learned that my card was the one used I immediately began retracing our steps to try to figure out how someone could get my debit card number. The only two options that I could come up with were that someone hacked it off of the computer or wrote the number down when I gave my card number over the phone for a past purchase of flowers or pizza, or something.

It took 2 more days for the charges to post to our account and there was nothing I could do during this wait. I even tried investigating the charges myself and hit brick wall after brick wall. I hated hearing the words, “there is nothing you can do.” I just wanted my money back and wanted to find the culprit. It was at this time that I decided to call a lawyer for some further information. While speaking to the lawyer I learned that finding the person who did this was futile. Identity theft is so common that law enforcement cannot even investigate all of the cases. That is a sad fact which only means dishonest people are getting away with stealing other’s hard earned money.

My lack of common sense and thinking “it won’t happen to us” is what lead my husband and I down this road. Apparently, I was the last to know that you shouldn't’t use your debit card for phone or internet purchases. Since debit cards are tied directly to your bank account, when fraudulent charges are made, you don’t get the money back immediately as you would if you used a credit card. The money that this person stole from us was set aside for our mortgage payment and, as it were, I had to wait several days for the money to be refunded back by the bank.

Whomever got a hold of my debit card number made two purchases with US Cellular. This is common from what I understand. But, what makes me angry is that US Cellular didn't’t lose the money, the person who stole it got away with it and our bank had to eat that money in order to give me back the funds.

It is infuriating to say the least. When your money or identity is stolen it can make you feel helpless. Unfortunately, for some, like me, we don’t learn our lesson until it happens. Luckily for me, the ending was happy and it was small potatoes compared to what some people go through.

Through this I did learn about additional precautions on top of the obvious ones that most of us already know about. The lawyer I spoke with ended up giving me some great advice. She said that when people break into your home they are often looking for blank checks. Checks have all the important information printed right on them and are simple to reproduce. So, she suggested keeping a bank account in which you don’t use checks and keep a small amount of money in there for only pertinent things like bills. She also suggested using different banks to split up your accounts and money. For those accounts that you want draft checks from then you should keep your blank checks locked up in a safe in your home so that no one can get to them if your home is broken into.

Since this happened to us we have taken precautions to keep our finances safe. We purchased a shredder and I use it daily for almost everything, including junk mail. We will be getting a small safe to store vital documents in along with blank checks. We will never give our debit card over the phone again and we will only use secure websites to make purchases or pay bills. Currently I use PayPal and Checkfree most often and feel safe with them. We will be a lot more conservative and cautious with internet shopping as well. You never know who is lurking out there to steal your money and identity.

Angel Hernandez is a married mother of two small boys, lives in the Chicago suburbs and is a stay-at-home mom.

Please visit her website, The Emancipation of a Drama Queen, at:

 http://queen-of-drama.blogspot.com/