New identity theft scam ( At least for me )

[Meanmchine]

2 days ago I get a letter from the USPS acknowledging receipt of my request for a change of address.  Problem is I never requested a change of address.

So yesterday I go down to my local post office branch and requested the change of address be canceled. After 20 minutes, the two clecks manged to cancel the request.

Today, I go to my mailbox and there are two Synchrony  store cards, Walmart and Samsclub.  The lightbulb came on finally and realized that the scammer wanted to have the USPS deliver the cards to the new address that way Synchrony wouldnt get suspicious.  All the scammer had to do was request a replacement card be issued. All in all not a bad idea

I call Synchrony fraud team and end up in the Burma call center.  I had the rep check all my Synchrony accounts ( these days about 8 ) and found out that they also got my Paypal account to send out a new card. The rep closed all three cards and is Fedexing out the new cards to me.

If it werent for the USPS alerting me about the change of address due to start 8/03, I wouldnt have caught it this quickly. Spoke with my carrier and reassured her I was not moving

Three new tradelines for my credit report. Oh joy. This will make the 5th Walmart account on my reports

[K-in-Boston]

Sorry this happened.  The change of address really was elaborate!  The three tradelines should still be dated the same as your original account, though, right?  My Amazon card had an Amazon purchase that I never made a year or two ago.  The replaced the card with a new account number and for about a month, I had duplicate Amazon cards on all reports, but then the original card number disappeared from all three.  I know Synch can be bad about redating PCs from store to bank cards, and when they acquire accounts from other lenders, but from actual fraud as long as the account itself is still open I don't think they redate them.

[Manonfire]

Are you going to freeze/lock your reports?

[Meanmchine]

For me, Synchrony closes the effected card, reports the account immediately closed to the CRBs and then issue new accounts ( backdated and history ) and report the new accounts a new TL tho. This is why I will have 5 Walmart account on my file due to 4 fraud attempts.

All CRB files frozen for quite awhile now

[Manonfire]

This is a good thread as it shows that frozen reports aren’t the only defense. Scammers are finding different ways. Glad you caught it OP

[Anonymous]

Glad you caught the fraud before it got worse.

Since you have the address that the cards were to be forwarded to... were the police notified? Or, will USPS pursue mail fraud? Synchrony?

Your Walmart card, multiple times? That is scary. Do you have any idea who, how, you are getting hit? 

btw, I'm new to credit cards, watch closely, but the chance of fraud spooks me.

[kerplunk]

I strongly suggest that everyone freeze their credit files; especially as it is free and easy to unlock now.

Here is a good wiki article on the subject and a list of the major credit bureaus: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Credit_freeze

[Meanmchine]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Glad you caught the fraud before it got worse.

Since you have the address that the cards were to be forwarded to... were the police notified? Or, will USPS pursue mail fraud? Synchrony?

Your Walmart card, multiple times? That is scary. Do you have any idea who, how, you are getting hit? 

btw, I'm new to credit cards, watch closely, but the chance of fraud spooks me.

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Credit card fraud like this hardly ever investigated. 99.99% the bank will not prosecute and the local PD would rather write parking tickets then look into this

[Anonymous]

Scary! uhhhh. ;(

[Anonymous]

That is insane. I guess if you know the person commiting fraud, it's probably a one-off crime. But if you don't, they are probably hitting many people. It seems like they should pursue it. 

It's bad enough to know it happens, quite a bit. But to know they don't even attempt to pursue it... very disappointing. 

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@Meanmchine wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Glad you caught the fraud before it got worse.

Since you have the address that the cards were to be forwarded to... were the police notified? Or, will USPS pursue mail fraud? Synchrony?

Your Walmart card, multiple times? That is scary. Do you have any idea who, how, you are getting hit? 

btw, I'm new to credit cards, watch closely, but the chance of fraud spooks me.

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Credit card fraud like this hardly ever investigated. 99.99% the bank will not prosecute and the local PD would rather write parking tickets then look into this

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