⌛ Trusted yaya???

Our family had a maid from Bacolod living with us for the past 6 months.

She was a hard worker, and always had a sweet smile, and soft voice. She seemed to take really good care of our baby, and I really thought she was an honest young lady.

She told us that her brother was getting married, and wanted to travel back home, and stay for 2 weeks. (we live in Manila)



I told my wife, that it was fine with me, but she had to work for a full year, to get a paid week vacation.

She went ahead and bought her ferry ticket, and I assumed she had been saving money, for the trip.

Then the day before she was supposed to leave, she asked us for a 9,000 peso loan.

I told her "no way", and she started crying. Then asked for 5,000 pesos only.

my wife asked me if maybe we should give her some extra money, but I stood firm, and refused.

I did offer her a ride to the port, but she refused.



The next day, I got an email from one of my credit cards with a fraud alert. It seems someone tried to change my password, and when I called about it, I found out that there was a charge on my card from Louis Vuitton for $2,200.00 made the same day!!!


Needless to say, I don't shop at Louis Vuitton, and sure enough, not only my credit card, but other important documents are missing.

We went to the police, to make a report, and they were totally uninterested.




I guess we're lucky our son didn't disappear...

 

Mark, that really sucks! I was a victim of Identity Fraud about 15 Years ago and it took alot of time and effort on My part to clean it all up. I am surprised that a "Red Flag" wasn't put up by Your Credit Card company concerning the Louis Vuitton purchase. It's too bad You don't know where the YaYa is from in Bacolod {or maybe You do}. I wouldn't lest this rest because She'll probably do it again, but like You said, Most importantly You still have Your Son. I hope there's some sort of resolve in this case.Keep Us posted if You can. There is definately a lesson to be learned here, it just really sucks You had to learn it the hard way, especially from someone You thought You knew and trusted..... Cheers......

 

Well, I tried to register this identity theft with credit reporting agencies in America, but they won't do it for anyone who has a mailing address and phone number that's outside the US...

 

Name and shame

Hi Mark,:(
It appears that we live in a society where we cant trust anyone, Who thinks they are being forgiven by there trips to church.
I have notice here that if someone is caught for shop lifting here there photo is posted around the shop.
If you have a picture of this person it might be an idea to post it on the web or in the papers to help others from falling into the same trap.

 

Mark you can use one of the mail hosting companies here in the states so that you have an address here. You can have them open, scan and email you your mail to you. Than anything you need actually sent to you you can have sent.

I don;t know if that will help you after the fact.
Good Luck.

 

what about the charge in your card was the purchase successfull,,,maybe we could trace the shipping location of the items.

 

Hello dong,

Its sad to know that you lost something out of your credit card. But i dont think your yaya is not capable of doing it on purchasing in the internet. Second, how could she know louis vuitton. I mean even in bacolod this kind of brand is not even available in this kind of malls and it is unbelievable this yaya know. Anyways you need to trace who got this louis vuitton. Also pls be careful with your credit cards anytime and dont trust anyone.

 

Like Kewl, I don't think it was your yaya who made the Louis Vuitton bag purchase against your credit card. She wouldn't know of LV and wouldn't want to wear one either and I don't think she knows something about the possibility of changing passwords or stealing another's identity. I think her only fault was in trying to borrow a huge amount from you. Did she return to work and pay for whatever it was she had loaned? If not, then we can safely conclude that she's one dishonest yaya.

 

When I was in the Philippines, I never recognized Louis Vuitton brand. This is a very expensive brand company. It is very familiar here in the USA. When identity theft happen, you think of everybody is a suspect but it is difficult to accused anyone that you are not sure of who steal your stuff. Did you ever try Life Lock for identity theft protection? We got life lock for our identity theft protection. Life Lock really help us for many occasions when somebody is trying to open a credit card account, bank account, purchased a disney world fantasy cost of $500.00 using atm out of my husband's name and then tried to change our home address. When I lost my wallet with all of my identification card like social security card, someone is trying to open a verizon land line phone using my identity. Now, I learned my leassons. I do not carry all of my important ID. But when you got an identity theft protection, it saves you a bunch of headache. We are living in the USA and I'm not sure how life lock works in the Philippines.
We're able to solved our identity theft problems and without identity theft protection, it could be a lot worst. YOu can try to cancel your credit card and order a new one and then find out the company's phone no. and cancel the purchased order if it is possible and maybe they would replace your money.
When things like this happen it's kinda difficult to deal with cos you got to prove who you are.
Good luck.

 

LifeLock CEO’s Identity Stolen 13 Times | Threat Level | Wired.com

According to a story on Wired, the ex CEO of Lifelock has had his identity stolen 13 times. Apparently they were hit with a $12 million dollar fine by the FTC for deceptive business practices. Great service.

Sorry to hear that Mark. We had a maid steal from us as well, but nothing that bad. I guess the key is to get a maid with more modest tastes, so then you get hit with $20 credit charges rather than $2000 charges.

Maybe your first interview question for the next maid should be...

Who is Louis Vuitton?

If she answers with a sparkle in her eye, then don't let her in your house.