Possible Identity Theft?

[pumpkincat210]

I got a phone call this morning from a jewelry store saying I bought a platinum ring. They had my husband's cell phone number which is under his dad's name. I did a reverse phone number lookup and the number they called from was private, but came from downtown..a totally different area than where the jewelry store is located. I called the number again and they looked up my name and found nothing. Should I call them back and ask them to search the cell phone number they called? I don't know how they could have gotten my name from that number, since I'm not on the contract at all. I never give that number out as mine, only to friends. The person that called was asian and had a very thick accent, i could barely understand her, that is why i called back.
I've heard of people spoofing cell phones, but don't know how it works.
Has anyone dealt with identity theft? How did you resolve it?

 

[SuSana]

Maybe your husband bought you a ring?

 

[Nox]

They may be fishing for more info from you. I've had calls like that too. Some of the things I have done is:

Put a credit freeze with the three major credit bureaus. That way, nobody can sign for anything like car loans, credit cards, mortgages, etc. in your name without you physically notifying the the agencies to allow it.

Don't do business with anybody you haven't heard of over the phone. If they are who they claim they are, then they should have all the info they need from you and should not be asking for more. If they repeatedly call you back, ask them to send it to you in writing. About 99% of the time, they will not call back because they don't have your address, or it would expose them as a fraudulent company.

If you do speak with them, ask how they got this information. If they claim they got it from someone else that you deal with, verify with that other person/company. I had a fake debt collections agency pretend to be acting on behalf of my doctor's office trying to extract money from me. Sure enough when I called my doctor, he said I never owed him anything, and he has never heard of them before.

Call your local police if they try to extract money from you. It is ILLEGAL in all 50 states for a company to cold call you and try to get funds of any kind for falsification of services rendered.

Get on the Do Not Call list (though it does not work for government services, fundraisers, or campaigns).