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Answer» Hey guys,
Just this past week we discovered that we are victims of identity theft. Someone got hold of our credit card number and ordered a Dell Laptop online with our money.
My question -- can Dell/Microsoft somehow track down the laptop and pinpoint its EXACT location, thus finding the culprit?Depending on the model and it's features...but i doubt it.
Unless it had a GPS card installed and registered.No, this will not normally be possible.
However, you could get in touch with Dell and tell them about this, and get them to cancel the order if it is not too LATE.
If it is too late, contact your credit card company and see what they can do about REFUNDING your money.
You may have some rights here.
Finally, consider how this happened, and take steps to prevent this in future.You should NOTIFY the credit card provider immediately upon such a discovery. Likewise, I would contact Dell about this immediately, if not already done, and maintain a log of your contacts with both Dell and the credit card company.
And, see this for some guidance in this matter: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
But let's say the guy registers with Dell/Microsoft... can't they find out his MAC address?Did he order it over the internet? Or did they order it over the phone? If it was by the phone then they could trace down where that call came from. Or if its not too late you could ring Dell up, inform them of the situation, and ask them what the address the laptop was posted to is, so you could therefore inform the feds.
I would also strongly suggest that you change all your PASSWORDS for everything else. Do you know if they got your details via the internet or just by going through your rubbish?!
Best of luck
ChrisQuote from: Bastardly123 on April 03, 2007, 02:04:56 PM But let's say the guy registers with Dell/Microsoft... can't they find out his MAC address?
That's pretty much a needle-in-a-haystack situation, I'm afraid. As far as Dell is concerned, of course, the laptop was not stolen and Dell has not been defrauded, so even if they could help, my cynical mind thinks it unlikely that they'd put much effort into it.
Depending on your country of origin, you may well receive a full refund from your credit card company, and hopefully no great harm will be done. It's simply an unfortunate fact of life, and the resources are not available to track down all fraudsters.
Consider tightening up security with your card company though. Some companies have a policy that they don't approve of delivery of goods being made to an address that is not registered with them. Depending on the info passed on by the retailer to the card company, this kind of scam can be stopped fairly early in its tracks.
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