I’m undecided what to make of this, although it certain is unusual. Is somebody simply enjoying a trick on me, or is that this half of a bigger drawback?
My suspicious bank card scenario
Final week I acquired a telephone name from Citi, asking to talk to somebody with the very same center preliminary and final title as me. Nonetheless, his first title was Brian, whereas my first title is Benjamin (curiously each begin with “B”).
I used to be confused, and defined the above to the agent. The opposite factor is that I’ve a particular final title, and I do know that nobody with the title she requested for exists. The agent thanked me for my time, and that was it. I believed that complete scenario was bizarre, however didn’t put way more thought into it.
Anyway, yesterday I acquired a letter within the mail with a bank card rejection for the Citi Diamond Most popular Mastercard. The letter acknowledged that the rejection was as a result of Citi “couldn’t confirm among the info” on the appliance.
There’s just one factor — I by no means utilized for this card, and it was as soon as once more addressed to Brian (with the identical center preliminary and final title), moderately than me.
I’m undecided what precisely to do right here?
Clearly I may name up Citi concerning this, however I’m undecided what that will accomplish? As soon as they notice I can’t confirm no matter particulars “Brian” placed on the appliance, they gained’t be capable of speak to me concerning the account.
I might think about that what’s occurring right here is someplace between a sensible joke and an try at id theft. Over the previous 15+ years of running a blog, I’ve had a numerous variety of folks attempt to screw round with me. I’m undecided why, precisely, however… I’ve gotten used to it.
However this one is sort of odd, as a result of I’m undecided I get the motive. There have been no inquiries on my credit score report, so it doesn’t appear to be this particular person has truly managed to steal my id in any form of significant manner. In order that makes me assume that it’s extra a bizarre sensible joke than the rest.
The one different factor value mentioning is that I’ve had some odd fraud-related conditions prior to now couple of weeks. For one, my AAdvantage account was shut down and changed by a brand new account, attributable to alleged unauthorized entry (although no particulars past that had been shared with me).
Moreover, simply yesterday I had a fraud alert on a Citi card, the place I used to be informed that Citi had recognized that somebody had allegedly tried to name in as me, however couldn’t make it by way of the automated system. Nonetheless, this particular person didn’t truly try and make any purchases, or essentially have entry to my account data.
I proceed to intently monitor my credit score, use two issue authentication, monitor my factors balances, and many others. I’m undecided if there’s something I ought to be doing past that, as a result of I don’t assume there’s quite a lot of motion I can take right here.
Backside line
I’ve handled bank card fraud prior to now. If somebody tries to make a $500 buy at Kohl’s in Irvine, that’s simple sufficient to repair, as a result of it’s apparent fraud that’s simple to determine, the costs are eliminated, and a brand new card might be issued.
However this can be a bit completely different, because it’s laborious to know what precisely is occurring…
What would you do in my scenario?