Sam was on the WHAS11 News

Sam was on the News at 5:30 Tonight!

Sam was on the News tonight! We had our credit card number stolen and $800 spent at a Lowe's in Lilburn, GA. These charges were made on 10/8/08...but we weren't the only ones.

When we got out of the hospital from his hip surgery, there was a letter here about our Karate Account being Overdrawn.

We looked over the charges, and one of them was for $800 in Georgia, the same day as his surgery!

The second letter told us that the bank knew we had not made this charge and had frozen the account. There was a phone number to call, which I did right away.

They told me that we needed to come into the branch as soon as possible and dispute the charge, which we did.

Then a couple of days later, we got a call from Sam's Mom during the 11pm news. She told us to turn on WAVE3 news, where we discovered another martial arts Instructor had been the victim of the same crime! Sam and I pulled the following article up on the WAVE3 website, and seeing not only the same locations of the charges, but the same DATE, Sam called the JTown police.

"Business owner blindsided by ID theft
Posted: Oct 16, 2008 06:49 AM EDT
John Liddell

JEFFERSONTOWN, KY (WAVE) - It is a crime you hear about all the time, but many of us still believe we won't fall victim to identity thieves. As WAVE 3's Scott Harvey reports, that is the reality for a Jeffersontown man whose bank account was cleaned out in two days. He called WAVE 3 News to send a warning to others living with the "not me" philosophy.

John Liddell knows how to protect himself when a bad guy attacks, but this time he never saw it coming.
John Liddell, a former Marine, has been protecting people most of his life.
"How many chances do we get if the bad guy attacks?" Liddell asked his students. "One Sir," they shouted back.

He now teaches others to protect themselves at his martial arts studio in Jeffersontown. But on October 8th, Liddell was sucker punched.

"I look at this situation as if a bully attacked me," said Liddell. "Just like it was on the street."
His business account was wiped clean.

"We had charges out of Georgia. Home Depot, Lowe's," Liddell said.

Somehow, someone, somewhere, got the numbers off the debit card he uses.

"I'm not going to look a six-year-old in the eye and tell them that sensei doesn't have a uniform for him, because somebody got into the account and took the money," Liddell said.

Now Liddell wants to find the crooks himself. By calling the stores where his account number was used, he has already been able to locate video of one of the people that used his account number.

The man who personifies irony usually charges for his expertise.

"I think it's time we turn the tables around a little bit. At some time, bullies and crooks pick on the wrong person," Liddell said. "It's time for them to be looking over their shoulder wondering who is coming after them."

And this lesson on taking the initiative is free not for Liddell. "I have to prevail and I will only prevail when I know who the bad guys are and they can't hurt anybody else," he said.

Jeffersontown Police are investigation this case and advise others to check their bank statements, and if something similar happened to you recently, call the Jeffersontown Police Department at (502) 267-0503."

We then contacted John Liddell, the owner of the other Martial Arts Academy, leaving him a message, as well as emailing the news reporter on WAVE3.

The next day Mr. Liddell called Sam on his cell phone, and after a brief conversation, it became apparent that they both used the same uniform supply company! Mr. Liddell told Sam that he had been in contact with the detective on the case, and would relay this info.

The next day, Andy Treinen, of WHAS11, called Sam asking for an interview. That was on Thursday, I think. The interview was held at Forest Park Community Church, where we host our Karate classes, on Monday.

Then, this morning, Andy Treinen called back to say that they'd had another Martial Arts Instructor call in after seeing the 5am news report this morning! He teaches in Indiana, and had his card hit on this past Saturday, the 18th!

Then at 5:30pm WHAS11 aired the follow up story, including extended interviews with John Liddell and Sam Conver!

They say the police won't give up until they catch the guy, and that the third Martial Arts Instructor who called in had also used the same uniform company!

If WHAS11 posts a story about it, I'll post it right away! Sam did great in his interview, which of course they only played a few seconds of.

CONCLUSION: (So Far)

Good News: The credit card companies are supposed to be crediting us back with the stolen charges, although nothing yet on our end.

Bad News: The bad guy swiped a fake credit card in the store, and then when it wouldn't go through, he READS the number to the clerk, who doesn't ask to see an ID or anything. She then sells him 2 $400 gift cards!

Good News: He was allegedly caught on video using the fake card, and then giving the stolen #'s.

Bad News: The police here in Kentucky are not going to go to Georgia to catch him. Also, the police in Georgia won't come here to Kentucky to deal with any of us. So.... he gets away with it...maybe....so that's the end....

MJ