Fraudulent Credit card applications....

[Thaco]

Just curious how beyond would suggest i handle this... a couple months ago i had some fraudulent credit card apps on my name, i called the lenders and had it all cleared up and the inquires removed from my credit...

Fast forward to today, My wife had the same thing happen, 4 applications in 2 days, 2 on equifax and 2 on transunion, we've contacted all the lenders and they either have been cancelled or they are investigating.... but this situation is a little different...

One of the lenders provided us with the address that the perp tried to change to after the initial application... so i looked up the address and it's in Huntington, i googled it and found out it's a rental, i found an archived rental ad that had the landlords phone number on it, so i called up the landlord and he gave me the guy's name because the guy is currently 3 months late on rent and the landlord is taking him to court and having him evicted at the end of the month....

So, previously i did file a report with the cops as one of the lenders required a police report, but obviously nothing ever came of it, but given that we have a suspect, is it worth it this time? There really hasn't been any harm to us, couple credit checks that will drop off, and we're moving soon so this issue should go away once our address changes.


WWBD?

[Pacman]

How did you know these applications were being made? Did the credit companies give you a call to confirm or had they already flagged it as a scam and were calling you to give the heads up?

[?????]

Hey my wife had the same thing happened a couple weeks ago (end of Jan) but we didn't even know until we accidentally received an RBC credit card statement. The account had been open since July 2020. Also around the time we received the statement (end of Jan) they also tried to apply for a few loans and credit cards.
We have also disputed the inquiries and closed the account.

Come few days ago on the 13th of Feb one of the accounts ended up being approved and opened (but flagged) and we were alerted by credit karma. They also tried to open another capital one account which was also flagged as she received a phone call confirmation.

Anyways.. The coincidence is that the latest application was also an address in Huntington.

Maybe we can PM and share the information and cross reference our police case numbers to put on file if it's the same Huntington address?
The culprit has all her info (sin, drivers) and we're really unsure how they acquired the information.

[ThePenIsMightier]

I interpret OP's question as "should I bother filing a police report because I actually have a bit of a lead on this crook?"
I say [yes]. It's probably a 15min phone call to get it done. Yes it will likely go nowhere, but I think it's the right thing to do and hardly inconvenient.
If it was 3hr of paperwork and faxing, I would have a different opinion.

[phubu]

How did you know these applications were being made? Did the credit companies give you a call to confirm or had they already flagged it as a scam and were calling you to give the heads up?

Also curious. I had to get a new MC because of recent fraud "Apple" charges, so I'm keeping my eyes out for any potential frauds happening again.

[?????]

How did you know these applications were being made? Did the credit companies give you a call to confirm or had they already flagged it as a scam and were calling you to give the heads up?


Also curious. I had to get a new MC because of recent fraud "Apple" charges, so I'm keeping my eyes out for any potential frauds happening again.

Once Trans Union and Equifax puts a fraud alert on you file any credit applications should be flagged and they have to contact you to confirm it was a legitimate application.

My wife signed up for credit karma which did send her alert notifications of recent credit applications.

[nzwasp]

Once Trans Union and Equifax puts a fraud alert on you file any credit applications should be flagged and they have to contact you to confirm it was a legitimate application.

My wife signed up for credit karma which did send her alert notifications of recent credit applications.

They send you alerts however the loan / credit companies rarely check with you before extending credit. I had this same situation happen to me about 1 year ago. I got a bunch of loan applications in my name and the guy even signed up for a cellphone account under my name and I had put the alerts on and everytime he applied for something I called up the loan companies and shut him down. Theres been no new loan / credit applications since July 2020. However that was because I called them when I got the alert. They never called me. When I called the companies they were like "oh yeah we saw the alert....and then ignored it" I also added to my police file after every single time it happened. They give you one case number. My credit also went down to 700 and now its backup to 795 but it took alot of calling transunion/equifax and lodging investigations.

[?????]

They send you alerts however the loan / credit companies rarely check with you before extending credit. I had this same situation happen to me about 1 year ago. I got a bunch of loan applications in my name and the guy even signed up for a cellphone account under my name and I had put the alerts on and everytime he applied for something I called up the loan companies and shut him down. Theres been no new loan / credit applications since July 2020. However that was because I called them when I got the alert. They never called me. When I called the companies they were like "oh yeah we saw the alert....and then ignored it" I also added to my police file after every single time it happened. They give you one case number. My credit also went down to 700 and now its backup to 795 but it took alot of calling transunion/equifax and lodging investigations.

Makes sense. Thats good info.
We figured that's what happened on Feb 13th when the account was still allowed to be opened. It's something we will have to actively follow up with for years to come.

[nzwasp]

Makes sense. Thats good info.
We figured that's what happened on Feb 13th when the account was still allowed to be opened. It's something we will have to actively follow up with for years to come.

The thing that annoyed me about the cellphone activation is according to bell who I called about it they said he went into a store, yes the guy didnt have any of my actual ID it was all stolen in an online hack. So not only did this person not look like me they didnt have any ID to prove it was me and just took their word for it.

[ThePenIsMightier]

The thing that annoyed me about the cellphone activation is according to bell who I called about it they said he went into a store, yes the guy didnt have any of my actual ID it was all stolen in an online hack. So not only did this person not look like me they didnt have any ID to prove it was me and just took their word for it.

Bro - gotta make commish, Bro.

[ExtraSlow]

Companies that extend credit are generally not in the business of refusing credit.

- - - Updated - - -


Bro - gotta make commish, Bro.

Also this.

[Thaco]

How did you know these applications were being made? Did the credit companies give you a call to confirm or had they already flagged it as a scam and were calling you to give the heads up?

One if the companies called to verify the address change and then we pulled credit reports and saw hard inquiries.

[nzwasp]

Companies that extend credit are generally not in the business of refusing credit.

- - - Updated - - -



Also this.

I dont know what mighty penis was talking about.

Regarding the extending credit thing the cop told me that they should take the alerts seriously because the companies would be on the hook for ignoring the alerts. Also having an extensive police file with credit issues helps to defend that these companies should be verifying who the loan applicant is.

[Thaco]

Hey my wife had the same thing happened a couple weeks ago (end of Jan) but we didn't even know until we accidentally received an RBC credit card statement. The account had been open since July 2020. Also around the time we received the statement (end of Jan) they also tried to apply for a few loans and credit cards.
We have also disputed the inquiries and closed the account.

Come few days ago on the 13th of Feb one of the accounts ended up being approved and opened (but flagged) and we were alerted by credit karma. They also tried to open another capital one account which was also flagged as she received a phone call confirmation.

Anyways.. The coincidence is that the latest application was also an address in Huntington.

Maybe we can PM and share the information and cross reference our police case numbers to put on file if it's the same Huntington address?
The culprit has all her info (sin, drivers) and we're really unsure how they acquired the information.

Sure i'll PM you, They also had all my wife's info, i am assuming it's related to all the recent bank data breaches

[nzwasp]

One if the companies called to verify the address change and then we pulled credit reports and saw hard inquiries.

In the USA you can freeze your credit so noone can get credit at all not even yourself. However that requires the provincial government enforcing the credit companies to do that which they haven't.


Sure i'll PM you, They also had all my wife's info, i am assuming it's related to all the recent bank data breaches

The biggest issue I think is that they have your wife's SIN number and theres no security around that, and you cant get it deleted even if you get a new one you would just have two.

Make sure she signs up with two factor authentication on her CRA account - it recently became an option. Because a perp in order to apply for cerb just needs your details and SIN number.

[loweg]

We had a similar circumstance with my wife . Two cards . Both through whomever superstore has their banking with.

Basically, they went in through fido, added a forwarded number , applied for cards and had long distance numbers forwarded to them . Added an address which was within Calgary (centre street north) and applied for two cards.

When verifying the second card, they got disconnected , and the credit card company randomly called my number from. Some other form and I was able to discontinue it. Actually, I wasn't able to cancel it as despite the fact that they called me . He goes "you can't cancel this card or flag it, it's not your card. But don't worry you won't be ok the hook for charges "

Cps seemed to not be able to do anything even with address. Called the number on the card apps too and no answer. Their number and address had managed to make it to my wife's credit report as the first card was 10000 and maxed right out from 3 months prior. That was a head ache and took a few months to get off of the report. And now we pay for credit monitoring.

[Thaco]

Companies that extend credit are generally not in the business of refusing credit.

- - - Updated - - -



Also this.

I really cant imagine credit card companies want to be on the hook for fraudulant credit, they need to cover it if it does get used.

[Thaco]

We had a similar circumstance with my wife . Two cards . Both through whomever superstore has their banking with.

Basically, they went in through fido, added a forwarded number , applied for cards and had long distance numbers forwarded to them . Added an address which was within Calgary (centre street north) and applied for two cards.

When verifying the second card, they got disconnected , and the credit card company randomly called my number from. Some other form and I was able to discontinue it. Actually, I wasn't able to cancel it as despite the fact that they called me . He goes "you can't cancel this card or flag it, it's not your card. But don't worry you won't be ok the hook for charges "

Cps seemed to not be able to do anything even with address. Called the number on the card apps too and no answer. Their number and address had managed to make it to my wife's credit report as the first card was 10000 and maxed right out from 3 months prior. That was a head ache and took a few months to get off of the report. And now we pay for credit monitoring.

Yeah these guys used a site called borrowwell, it's like credit karm/mogo that tells you your score and gives them credit history so they can answer the questions on the online apps... I contacted borrwell in both situations and shut then down so hopefully that'll give them the hint that we're on to them.

[Pacman]

so what's the best way to monitor this type of thing if the credit companies (equifax/transunion) aren't great at enforcing it. I see Credit Karma being mentioned and a quick look on their website shows they offer free monitoring.......

[Thaco]

so what's the best way to monitor this type of thing if the credit companies (equifax/transunion) aren't great at enforcing it. I see Credit Karma being mentioned and a quick look on their website shows they offer free monitoring.......

I have started using Mogo, it doesn't stop it from happening, but it alerts you fairly quickly, and it's free, they just try to sell you credit products. It only monitors equifax though, my scotia bank and my wifes RBC offer free transunion checks as well, so if i see something suspicious on one, i check the others. And i think CIBC monitors equifax through their cellphone app. and you can pull a free report online now though equifax once a month.

[killramos]

so what's the best way to monitor this type of thing if the credit companies (equifax/transunion) aren't great at enforcing it. I see Credit Karma being mentioned and a quick look on their website shows they offer free monitoring.......

Identity theft insurance

[Thaco]

Identity theft insurance

After my breach i talked to my broker, he said it's a joke, basically all it does is compensate you if you need to fill out paperwork, it's worthless.

[killramos]

After my breach i talked to my broker, he said it's a joke, basically all it does is compensate you if you need to fill out paperwork, it's worthless.

If you are a victim of a major fraud coverage for your legal fees is where the benefit comes in.

[Thaco]

If you are a victim of a major fraud coverage for your legal fees is where the benefit comes in.

If you're victim of a major fraud wouldn't you sue the suspect to recover your fees?

[killramos]

If you're victim of a major fraud wouldn't you sue the suspect to recover your fees?

And be out the cost out of pocket while it hangs out in the courts?

I don’t even have identity theft protection. I’m just saying I can see the value.

Get a coverage package that includes credit monitoring and someone to help in the case of suspected fraud? Sounds helpful. How many hours of your life are you out so far because of this relatively benign incident?

[Pacman]

seems like the safest way is to put holds on credit with equifax/transuniuon so they can't process any type of credit application without calling you first. Even then, based on what some of the comments are here, it's not reliable.

[nzwasp]

If you're victim of a major fraud wouldn't you sue the suspect to recover your fees?

I think most of the time their wouldn't be a suspect to sue, these guys doing this are ghosts. It would be you vs the credit company.

Also that credit protection insurance is $25-50 a year - peanuts for some peace of mind.

[ZenOps]

Had this problem my entire life. Everyone wants to be me. Can't say I blame.

[flipstah]

Yeah these guys used a site called borrowwell, it's like credit karm/mogo that tells you your score and gives them credit history so they can answer the questions on the online apps... I contacted borrwell in both situations and shut then down so hopefully that'll give them the hint that we're on to them.

So Borrowell sucks eh? Damn I was reading up on it when I saw your original post

[Thaco]

So Borrowell sucks eh? Damn I was reading up on it when I saw your original post

i dont know if they suck, never used them, but it is what the scammers seem to be using, might be a good idea to sign up just so they cant sign up later with your info.

I use Mogo, so far i have been using them for a couple years and they've been fine, they have a new monitoring/alert service that's free as well and i just enabled that last week... But they only monitor equifax so you still need a way to monitor transunion.