Violation

There was an incident in college where someone stole a blank check from my purse and cashed it for $800, an amount that I just barely had at the time. I noticed a week or so later when I deposited some money at the drive-through bank window and was given a total balance of the exact amount i had just deposited. I went inside, furious about my missing money. "It's because of this $800 check you wrote," the teller told me, pointing to a print out of my transactions.

At 21 years old I had never had reason to write a check for that much money EVER. Even Ann Arbor rent, which seemed abhorrent at the time was significantly less. Taking handwriting samples and making comparisons btw this check and all others I had written, they gave me the fraudulently spent $800 back. It was insured, nothing was investigated, and I forgot all about it.

My first year in New York my apartment was robbed. I was in Cannes, France for the film festival (which was already the absolute worst week of my life) when I got the frantic call from my roommate. "Did you get back early?" She asked. I assured her I had not. "Well, someone else trashed the apartment then." Gone was my lap top, video camera (with treasured video of London and Ryan, whom I had no contact with at the time), and the beautiful photography camera I had bought with all my childhood bonds. In all, several thousand dollars worth of electronics.

With no signs of forced entry, the whole thing was deemed an inside job, but really hardly anything the police had time to care about. I'm still paranoid about my front door and petrified of my fire escape.

Today I was doing some online banking only to discover that I was violated AGAIN. ATM charges taking out $300 at a time, over and over again last Tuesday. I'm a waitress, I carry cash at all times so ATM machines to me are a thing of the past. I frantically tried calling the bank. 

"Please press 1 if this is about your checking account."

"For your benefit, please enter your account number."

"To better serve you, please enter your social security information."

"Goodbye."

CLICK

After 5 unsuccessful attempts, I gathered my stuff and ran to my closest bank branch. Within the hour I had learned that someone, somehow got access to my debit account information and had taken out over $1000 at a cash machine in RUSSIA. What was someone in Russia doing with my card information? Especially since I have my actual card still in my wallet!

When the check was stolen, I stopped carrying my checkbook in my purse. When the apartment was robbed, I changed the locks and put in a super strength dead-bolt. But this time I don't know how to protect myself. I feel painfully violated in a really creepy way.