Protecting Yourself and 'Non-Credit Accounts'

[Anonymous]

I was recently the victim of some type of scam where someone with my SS#/etc opened a deposit account (savings) using my info with Amex. Amex found this quickly, closed the account, and sent me a letter informing me of this (I verified this independently with Amex). See https://abc11.com/5908733/ .  Apparently this specific action/timing at Amex has happened to hundreds (or maybe thousands) of people. 

I am now considering what further actions I should be taking to protect myself. As best as I can determine there is nothing that I can do to protect myself from someone opening a non-credit account in my name. Fraud reports, credit freezes, etc. won't do that. Are there any services that actually can inform you when non-credit accounts are opened in your name? For example IdentityForce monitors financial accounts (they say) but I don't see how they would have known about the Amex problem until Amex reported it. 

Is this just 'the risk you take' living in this world. I am pretty new to all this stuff, BTW. 

dave

ps. Another question. Is this stuff getting so common that a 'Fraud Alert' is at risk of being ignored by creditors because "almost everybody has one"?

[MrCreditInternational]

I think Experian does that, but I haven't tried it.

Also, try reading about the other CRA like chexsystems. I'm not sure which ones exactly but I know that a couple of them record bank accounts.

[KLEXH25]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was recently the victim of some type of scam where someone with my SS#/etc opened a deposit account (savings) using my info with Amex. Amex found this quickly, closed the account, and sent me a letter informing me of this (I verified this independently with Amex). See https://abc11.com/5908733/ .  Apparently this specific action/timing at Amex has happened to hundreds (or maybe thousands) of people. 

I am now considering what further actions I should be taking to protect myself. As best as I can determine there is nothing that I can do to protect myself from someone opening a non-credit account in my name. Fraud reports, credit freezes, etc. won't do that. Are there any services that actually can inform you when non-credit accounts are opened in your name? For example IdentityForce monitors financial accounts (they say) but I don't see how they would have known about the Amex problem until Amex reported it. 

Is this just 'the risk you take' living in this world. I am pretty new to all this stuff, BTW. 

dave

ps. Another question. Is this stuff getting so common that a 'Fraud Alert' is at risk of being ignored by creditors because "almost everybody has one"?

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I think these are terrific questions. It's really scary that someone can open accounts in your name and you won't even have a clue. Apparently a ChexSystems report will only have negative information but it's worth a look.

https://www.chexsystems.com/web/chexsystems/consumerdebit/page/requestreports/consumerdisclosure/!ut/p/z1/lZLNDoIwEISfxSfoWLRwrYCFUH5UQO3FcDIkih6Mz2-JJgbQontrdma-drdEkR1RTXWvj9WtvjTVSZ_3ih3APT6dbSBFli7B_ThxNoWkSBnZdgWpK2wt8ByXJwsKgCjdZpkTCupAIli0_jVzWZRQWOj7ewDYXX8qcku3Szkv1ysgpC-_AaAM8S4b4WvBT_z3-4OcaoEvhUWjqVjNfvR_KY4_-cMFKXN8b35DgBrbv-pKPvwAY0a74rFL9hHDIRsFsT0iKECu5-JZO9RhHU4eyz6QQw!!/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the comments. It seems that Chexsystems has the ability to accept a fraud alert. I have not (yet) done this but see https://www.chexsystems.com/web/chexsystems/consumerdebit/page/IdentityTheft/securityalert/!ut/p/z1/...

dave

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was recently the victim of some type of scam where someone with my SS#/etc opened a deposit account (savings) using my info with Amex. Amex found this quickly, closed the account, and sent me a letter informing me of this (I verified this independently with Amex). See https://abc11.com/5908733/ .  Apparently this specific action/timing at Amex has happened to hundreds (or maybe thousands) of people. 

I am now considering what further actions I should be taking to protect myself. As best as I can determine there is nothing that I can do to protect myself from someone opening a non-credit account in my name. Fraud reports, credit freezes, etc. won't do that. Are there any services that actually can inform you when non-credit accounts are opened in your name? For example IdentityForce monitors financial accounts (they say) but I don't see how they would have known about the Amex problem until Amex reported it. 

Is this just 'the risk you take' living in this world. I am pretty new to all this stuff, BTW. 

dave

ps. Another question. Is this stuff getting so common that a 'Fraud Alert' is at risk of being ignored by creditors because "almost everybody has one"?

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Thanks OP for sharing this and the link to the article. I hope you were able to get this straightened out. 

[Anonymous]

When a bank opens an account they usually pull a TeleCheck or a chexsystem. You may also want to check with the latter.

Two other noteworthy check associated entities are EWS and Certigy.