zlacker

>>thirty+(OP)
dang / mods: if anyone passing deserves the HN black banner, I think Mitnick deserves the banner.

>>SEJeff+G3
As one of the people whose credit card number was stolen from Netcom, I would strongly object to this. I'm not here to speak poorly of the dead, but I'm definitely here to judge those who think too highly of him.

>>cjense+z6
As someone too young to have a credit card in 1995, I’m curious: was its theft more of a “big deal” back then?

My Amex account number was stolen a month ago. It took me three minutes on the call with a rep to get it locked + a new card issued. I think I spent more time and effort on the phone with my dentist later that week.

>>owenma+C7
Credit card number theft isn't so bad today. Having someone cash a fake check from your bank account is another story. You need to close the whole account and lose all your bill pay stuff. All the regular incoming transfers (VA, pensions, etc) have to be updated to a new account. Some of those take up to 45 days to change over. You also have to send a notarized document that the check wasn't from you to the bank and wait for them to restore the funds.

Source: Someone cashed a fake check against my terminally ill father's People's Bank checking account this year and it was a couple months of work to deal with the fallout. Faking a check is absurdly easy and US banks kinda suck at dealing with it.