Weirdness

[tlynn78]

So, my sons and I often joke about what a rich, exciting life my husband, their dad, has, as he often relates pretty fantastical tales when asked what he did all day. Things like, painting the barn (we don't have a barn), working on the space station, skiing, and the like. Well, I was out of town Wednesday and Thursday, and am just going through the accumulated mail. Included is an "Automated Speed Enforcement Warning" for the City of Chicago, for my husband. He was apparently speeding through Chicago two months ago. In a black Honda with handicap plates. I drive a white Honda, with 'regular' plates. He has not had a vehicle registered to him in over twenty years. Do I need to worry about identity theft?

[BackInTex]

Do I need to worry about identity theft?

Seems like it, or you need to keep better tabs on your husband.

[Beebs52]

[silverscreenselect]

Included is an "Automated Speed Enforcement Warning" for the City of Chicago, for my husband. He was apparently speeding through Chicago two months ago. In a black Honda with handicap plates.

If someone got enough of your husband's information to allow them to get license plates for a car, that seems like a strange use of the stolen information. It sounds more like a phishing expedition, although they usually do these by email instead of mailing out letters. I hope you turned the letter over to the police.

[Vandal]

So you don't deny having a space station. Interesting.

[Bob Juch]

When Tucson had red light cameras, they sent a photo of the car with the violation notice.

Did your hubby's notice have a photo?

[mrkelley23]

Seems like it would be worth a call, and not to the number that might be listed on the letter, just in case. I wasn't aware that any automatic enforcement program gave out warnings.

[tlynn78]

I might agree I need to keep better track of the hubs, except the fajah-in-law is a squealing rat fink and would tell on him. The letter did have a photo, a video, and a <bad> close-up of the plate. It was a boxy-looking black Honda. I drive a white Pilot. Plates were handicap, mine are not. I checked with our MVD and MT has no plates that look similar. The lady I spoke with seemed baffled and the best explanation she gave was, "..maybe it was a typo.." I agree with Steve - it seems weird to steal someone's identity in order to get plates. I'll be checking with SS Admin, and maybe some others on Monday. My timing really sucks, as I was speaking with our atty general just Thursday before I got the letter.




And Vandal....

Spoiler

don't make me send in the drones

[silverscreenselect]

The letter did have a photo, a video, and a <bad> close-up of the plate. It was a boxy-looking black Honda. I drive a white Pilot. Plates were handicap, mine are not. I checked with our MVD and MT has no plates that look similar.

My guess is that the same letter with the same photo and video went out to a lot of people. It was designed to provoke a quick response. Even for people who don't know their license tag number (and there are a lot of them), they know they don't have a handicap tag. Was there a phone number from the "City of Chicago" to call if you had any questions? The idea is to get you riled up that you call right away to "correct the confusion" and wind up revealing some of your actual vital information in the process.

[tlynn78]

The letter did have a photo, a video, and a <bad> close-up of the plate. It was a boxy-looking black Honda. I drive a white Pilot. Plates were handicap, mine are not. I checked with our MVD and MT has no plates that look similar.

My guess is that the same letter with the same photo and video went out to a lot of people. It was designed to provoke a quick response. Even for people who don't know their license tag number (and there are a lot of them), they know they don't have a handicap tag. Was there a phone number from the "City of Chicago" to call if you had any questions? The idea is to get you riled up that you call right away to "correct the confusion" and wind up revealing some of your actual vital information in the process.

There was; given the length of the phone "menu" and the wait time, I'm inclined to believe that part is legit. I left the letter at my office, but Monday I'll post the link provided and the info required to access the photos so those curious can see what I saw.

[mrkelley23]

Hmmmmm. You didn't happen to have the same plate number as this poor woman, did you?

[tlynn78]

Hmmmmm. You didn't happen to have the same plate number as this poor woman, did you?

Oh my - no, not on my actual or the hubs alleged vehicles.

[tlynn78]

The letter did have a photo, a video, and a <bad> close-up of the plate. It was a boxy-looking black Honda. I drive a white Pilot. Plates were handicap, mine are not. I checked with our MVD and MT has no plates that look similar.

My guess is that the same letter with the same photo and video went out to a lot of people. It was designed to provoke a quick response. Even for people who don't know their license tag number (and there are a lot of them), they know they don't have a handicap tag. Was there a phone number from the "City of Chicago" to call if you had any questions? The idea is to get you riled up that you call right away to "correct the confusion" and wind up revealing some of your actual vital information in the process.

There was; given the length of the phone "menu" and the wait time, I'm inclined to believe that part is legit. I left the letter at my office, but Monday I'll post the link provided and the info required to access the photos so those curious can see what I saw.

In case anyone wants to take a guess on where the plates are from:
Www.chicago.gov/finance
Ticket # 6058899439
Plate # V5757

[silverscreenselect]

In case anyone wants to take a guess on where the plates are from:
Www.chicago.gov/finance
Ticket # 6058899439
Plate # V5757

I entered the ticket number and got "Ticket Number (6058899439) could not be found or is already paid."

Since I'm guessing neither you nor Santa Claus paid the fine, this would indicate the ticket number couldn't be found.

[tlynn78]

In case anyone wants to take a guess on where the plates are from:
Www.chicago.gov/finance
Ticket # 6058899439
Plate # V5757

I entered the ticket number and got "Ticket Number (6058899439) could not be found or is already paid."

Since I'm guessing neither you nor Santa Claus paid the fine, this would indicate the ticket number couldn't be found.

Interesting.. the woman I spoke to on Friday said it would take "up to" a week to check it out and "dismiss" it, if warranted.

[tlynn78]

In case anyone wants to take a guess on where the plates are from:
Www.chicago.gov/finance
Ticket # 6058899439
Plate # V5757

I entered the ticket number and got "Ticket Number (6058899439) could not be found or is already paid."

Since I'm guessing neither you nor Santa Claus paid the fine, this would indicate the ticket number couldn't be found.

Interesting.. the woman I spoke to on Friday said it would take "up to" a week to check it out and "dismiss" it, if warranted.

I can still get to the photos..I'm curious where the license plate is from. Try: www.chicago.gov/parking then click on "violation video and photos" then "Speed Violation Video and Photos" then ticket number and plate number...

[mrkelley23]

Two contributions that may not be very helpful:

1. The plate looks like it has a representation of some sort of physical wave -- like a seismogram or sonogram. The vague circle underneath, to my old eyes, looks like it MIGHT be a representation of an epicenter. I can find no state design that uses such a motif, however.

2. You may have more in common with the poor woman from New York than you think. Just like NY, Illinois requires plates front and back, but not all states do (Indiana doesn't, for instance.) So this may be a person who has some kind of novelty plate on the front. The tag number may just be random, or a reference to something personal. The Chicago folks just did a search for that plate number for all 50 states, and yours was the only that spit out, so they just ignored things like make and model of the car.

[littlebeast13]

The V made me think "Veteran," since Illinois has about eight billion different kinds of specialty license plates, and looking them up on Google reveals that older Illinois disabled veteran license plates had that logo on the left side along with a plate designations of V plus four digits. The newer plates have the small letters on the right side that are commonplace on all specialty plates these days, but maybe they got the plate off eBay like where I found this one...



That's the Illinois style plate from the late 80's to early 2000's...

lb13

[tlynn78]

The V made me think "Veteran," since Illinois has about eight billion different kinds of specialty license plates, and looking them up on Google reveals that older Illinois disabled veteran license plates had that logo on the left side along with a plate designations of V plus four digits. The newer plates have the small letters on the right side that are commonplace on all specialty plates these days, but maybe they got the plate off eBay like where I found this one...



That's the Illinois style plate from the late 80's to early 2000's...

lb13

Interesting... the woman I spoke with insisted it wasn't an Illinois plate, but she was probably twelve or so...

[Bob Juch]

The V made me think "Veteran," since Illinois has about eight billion different kinds of specialty license plates, and looking them up on Google reveals that older Illinois disabled veteran license plates had that logo on the left side along with a plate designations of V plus four digits. The newer plates have the small letters on the right side that are commonplace on all specialty plates these days, but maybe they got the plate off eBay like where I found this one...



That's the Illinois style plate from the late 80's to early 2000's...

lb13

Interesting... the woman I spoke with insisted it wasn't an Illinois plate, but she was probably twelve or so...

She is correct. One of my clients is the Illinois Secretary of State; they run the motor vehicle and driver's license services.