Fraudulent credit card

[Anonymous]

My youngest brother (21) recently pulled his CR and discovered a Chase cc that is not his. He "doesn't like talking to people" so he went online to check the status of this card. He learned that the card is in his full name, with his SS#, and two addresses where he does not live. One is for an uncle in another state, and one is our parents'. The phone # listed with this account is a very old number of our great-grandmother (dead for about 9 yrs now). The account was opened in '03 when he was sixteen.

He said it looks like there has been little activity with no balance but it is still open. We are pretty sure we know who did it, another sibling who has serious issues and goes on trial for theft (unrelated to this) in two weeks.

I told him to call Chase and immediately close the account and tell them it is fraud.

What should he do now? He really doesn't want to deal with this but I'm worried it could turn into something really bad.

[tunseeker1]

Is there a balance or any bad history with the account?

If there isn't have him call the bank and update the account info to his current info and get a card. If it has good history then it isn't hurting him at all, but if other people have access to the account then he needs to shut off access or close the card.

[mrlimo]

If it was myself, I would update all the information to his right status if the card is in good standing no lates no ballance. Report the card lost/stolen have a new account # issued so any cards floating around with the dishonest sibling can not be used. Then set up with the c.c company to secure access to only the rightful owner of the c.c. Why loose 5 years of credit history just because it was filled fraudently take the negative out of it and turn it possitively in your own favor.

 I was trying to get an account that had a 12 year history that was unused for so long it just went inactive. Unfortunatlly was unsuccesful at doing such and lost almost 15 fico points on expieran for that cards account being erased and sent to inactive.

[Anonymous]

Oh come on. This account is dirty as heck and you don't have a clue what trails behind it. If there is no determent to your credit history....dump it.

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Bzzzymom wrote:
My youngest brother (21) recently pulled his CR and discovered a Chase cc that is not his. He "doesn't like talking to people" so he went online to check the status of this card. He learned that the card is in his full name, with his SS#, and two addresses where he does not live. One is for an uncle in another state, and one is our parents'. The phone # listed with this account is a very old number of our great-grandmother (dead for about 9 yrs now). The account was opened in '03 when he was sixteen.

He said it looks like there has been little activity with no balance but it is still open. We are pretty sure we know who did it, another sibling who has serious issues and goes on trial for theft (unrelated to this) in two weeks.

I told him to call Chase and immediately close the account and tell them it is fraud.

What should he do now? He really doesn't want to deal with this but I'm worried it could turn into something really bad.

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[Anonymous]

Do you think there is any way he can get other account info or prove anything? We've been having quite a bit of trouble with this other brother. There's no way he would ever admit anything and if youngest brother questioned him he would never talk to him again. He did this to me after I questioned some of his activities.

[FretlessMayhem]

If it were me I would call and have this reported as fraud.

Just because there is no negative history now doesn't mean it can't be used to ruin his credit in the foreseeable future.

[Anonymous]

I do not know. I'm not close to being expert here. I know this person collected information from multiple sources and was able to string enough information together to pull this off. I'd say that if he was clever enough to do it once, his best avenue for doing something like it again might be the account itself.

As far as one good person being afraid to talk to a person of questionable character for fear of loosing a relationship with the later, I's say the later is already holding you hostage emotionaly and if he is known to be guilty I'd ask him any bloody thing I wanted. Let him go stand in his corner and pout.

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Bzzzymom wrote:
Do you think there is any way he can get other account info or prove anything? We've been having quite a bit of trouble with this other brother. There's no way he would ever admit anything and if youngest brother questioned him he would never talk to him again. He did this to me after I questioned some of his activities.

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[Anonymous]

I would report it as fraud, because it is FRAUD.  I do not agree with the advice of updating the info, reporting it lost/stolen, and then being issued a new card in order to keep the positive history.  There may very well be other fraudulent accounts out there.  I would put a FA on all three CBs.

Just my opinion.   

[Anonymous]

I would do all. Call the cc company to see if there were even neg activity, lates, ect. Hey if the account is super clean I would report as stolen, clean up all the wrong addresses, put an FA on the account and check your CRs every 30 days from now on.

Who ever finds the card canceled already has your ID so they could call as you to take back the account. Put a code word on your account like your favorite food or something a relative would not know.

This could really help your credit. If you don't need the help just cancel it as fraud. But you would need to weigh options.

Chances are this same person has used your social before. Could be other items out there. Check Chksystems for bounced checks and call banks to see if you have accounts with them.

Personally I'd keep it if in good standing and report Stolen..

[Anonymous]

OK, I am back to add my 2 cents again.

I have been a victim of ID theft.  Not fun...

I would put a FA on all three bureaus, pull all three reports, and check every last item.  You must check for unknown addresses, inquiries that you did not initiate, etc.  You need to check every last detail on each report.  If you have had one fraudulent account opened, there may be more out there.

OK, I am done.  Best of luck...