Thursday, 4:30 PM
Coakley's credit card info stolen a week before becoming AG
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
Martha Coakley got a first-hand lesson about what it is like to be a victim the week before she took the oath as the new state attorney general.
Rushing to leave for a ski trip before taking office, Coakley got a phone message at home from Dell computers early last week to confirm a $1,200 purchase on her Visa card. The order was about to be shipped to an address in Texas.
"I immediately knew that it was incorrect," Coakley said today in a telephone interview. "I called back and said that I hadn’t placed any orders."
The transaction was cancelled and Coakley cut up her Visa card without being charged for the merchandise, which she assumed was a computer. That was the end of the case because the order was stopped.
As a prosecutor, however, Coakley couldn't help being frustrated that no one was going after the perpetrator. She has no idea how someone got her credit card number -- or how Dell got her home phone number.
"It certainly gave me empathy for the victims of credit card theft," said Coakley, who was sworn in on Wednesday. "It reaffirmed for me that the attorney general’s office has a role to play."
In her new position, Coakley said she plans to work to strengthen the state's fraud and identify theft laws to catch more criminals and help victim's restore their credit ratings.
