I'm receiving someone else's credit cards - probably fraud

[Anonymous]

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@Lel wrote:

Here's the latest unusual occurrence.  Recently someone from a satellite TV company showed up at our door saying that she was here to install service.  She asked for the same person for whom the credit card orders had been placed.  We sent her away and then contacted the company to let them know about this pattern of identity theft.  This incident was added to the police report.

This kinda baffles me.  I can understand why CCs would have been ordered, but how could an identity thief benefit from ordering TV service using an assumed name?

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This is indeed baffling.  Can the police get the recorded call and phone number from the satelite company as to who is doing all of this?  Surely, this needs to be nipped in the bud quickly before it gets worse.

[Anonymous]

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@Lel wrote:

Here's the latest unusual occurrence.  Recently someone from a satellite TV company showed up at our door saying that she was here to install service.  She asked for the same person for whom the credit card orders had been placed.  We sent her away and then contacted the company to let them know about this pattern of identity theft.  This incident was added to the police report.

This kinda baffles me.  I can understand why CCs would have been ordered, but how could an identity thief benefit from ordering TV service using an assumed name?

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Interesting. I'm wondering if this is a legitimate person who moved recently and is screwing up the address on their applications.

[Calistal]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Lel wrote:

Here's the latest unusual occurrence.  Recently someone from a satellite TV company showed up at our door saying that she was here to install service.  She asked for the same person for whom the credit card orders had been placed.  We sent her away and then contacted the company to let them know about this pattern of identity theft.  This incident was added to the police report.

This kinda baffles me.  I can understand why CCs would have been ordered, but how could an identity thief benefit from ordering TV service using an assumed name?

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Interesting. I'm wondering if this is a legitimate person who moved recently and is screwing up the address on their applications.

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When I moved, at one point a couple apartments ago, I had moved to a "Watson" named street, and yet, for some reason, I kept giving the address out as a "Walnut" named street, with all the other information given correctly.  It took me about a week to notice and actually get everything changed and fixed to the correct address.

[core]

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@Lel wrote:

I can understand why CCs would have been ordered, but how could an identity thief benefit from ordering TV service using an assumed name?

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Maybe when the crooks come back to break in and collect their credit cards, they want to be able to sit down and watch the game?  I'd be on the lookout for the Budweiser truck next.

This is sounding more and more like a mistake (or family member of John Doe having issues) rather than a random ID theft by some scumbags.  It shouldn't be too hard to track the person down who's listed on the cards and give them a ring or send them a letter.  Did they live there before?

[Lel]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Interesting. I'm wondering if this is a legitimate person who moved recently and is screwing up the address on their applications.

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I would believe this if it were just the TV service.  I can't imagine that anyone, shortly after moving, would decide to go on a credit card app spree.  Also, there are other utilities that would have to be set up besides TV, and as far as I know I'm still paying for my electric, gas, water, and trash (though I guess I would't mind if someone decided to take over the payments).

[Lel]

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@core wrote:

Maybe when the crooks come back to break in and collect their credit cards, they want to be able to sit down and watch the game?  I'd be on the lookout for the Budweiser truck next.

This is sounding more and more like a mistake (or family member of John Doe having issues) rather than a random ID theft by some scumbags.  It shouldn't be too hard to track the person down who's listed on the cards and give them a ring or send them a letter.  Did they live there before?

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I have wondered whether the person or persons who did this might try to grab my outgoing mail, hoping that there would be a "return to sender" message with the CC inside.  In the end, the CCCs asked me to destroy everything without sending them back.  We're only the second-ever owners of our home, and the person to whom this stuff was sent has never lived at this address.

I hope that this is just some major screwup by someone who isn't paying attention to what he's doing when he applies, but I doubt that it's something that innocent.  I hope that with the alerts provided to the CCCs, the TV company, and the police, they'll be able to track this person down and settle this once and for all.

Thanks, everyone, for your input.  Much appreciated.

[mitchblue]

As an added step, if you're worried about identiy theft, freeze those CR's. Peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

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@core wrote:

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@Lel wrote:

I can understand why CCs would have been ordered, but how could an identity thief benefit from ordering TV service using an assumed name?

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Maybe when the crooks come back to break in and collect their credit cards, they want to be able to sit down and watch the game?  I'd be on the lookout for the Budweiser truck next.

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What if the satellite install technician was the crook, and he was scoping the house for the mail/credit cards? 

[longtimelurker]

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@Lel wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Interesting. I'm wondering if this is a legitimate person who moved recently and is screwing up the address on their applications.

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I would believe this if it were just the TV service.  I can't imagine that anyone, shortly after moving, would decide to go on a credit card app spree.  Also, there are other utilities that would have to be set up besides TV, and as far as I know I'm still paying for my electric, gas, water, and trash (though I guess I would't mind if someone decided to take over the payments).

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I still think you are reading too much into it.  For all you know, the new credit cards might have been renewals rather than as a result of an app spree.    Applying for ccs at an actual address and hoping to intercept the mail (especially as you said there is no external box, which a thief really would have checked), is, to my mind, much too much risk for the potential reward when there are much better ways.    I wouldn't have involved the police, just the credit card companies.  The cards weren't in your name, so there is no real reason to suspect identiy theft or indeed any crime at all.

[ScoreOrBeScored]

+100