got this from US Cellular: US Cellular 5117 W Terrace Dr. Madison, WI 53718 BAN: XXXXX, XXXXX & XXXXX [these appear to be account numbers] Dear Crowmom, Our records indicate that an account with U.S. Cellular has been opened using the identification information for the person named above. If you did not open these accounts it is very important that you contact us at the number below at your earliest convenience. Fraud Dept: 866-838-3173 Hours: Mon-Fri, 8am and 6pm CST. Respectfully, [its hand signed] Richard x4664 Fraud Analyst what the heck? this seems very fishy to me. I know not to give them any personal info when i call. but my question is, what makes a company think that they have a case of fraud in the first place? I'm thinking the letter itself is fraud. I checked the Wisconsin BBB and there are a lot of listings for US Cellular, all with satisfactory records, but no entry for the address on the letter. there are some PO boxes tho. its strange to me, and i just wanted some input before i call.
Call US Cellular's business office using the phone no in the phone book and ask them what their fraud dept. number is. If it's not the same as in your letter talk to them about it. If it is the same, guess it's okay.
that was a good idea. I called their main office and asked for their fraud number. She said they had several, depending on where I was calling from. I told her the number I had in the letter, and she didn't recongnize it. She did, however, recognize 'Richard', at ext. 4664. She connected me to Richard, and I got his voicemail. I didnt leave my phone #, but told him I'd call back later. Then, I called the main # again, and asked to be transferred to the fraud dept. I talked to someone named jennifer, and she got my name & address (they obviously already have that, so I didnt mind telling her) and she said, 'yes, these accounts were opened using a social security # that matches your name." She of course tried to get me to tell her my ss#, and i said I wasn't comfortable giving that out, so she said she'd tell me what she had, and lo and behold it WAS my ss#. She asked if i she could transfer me to Richard, who was handling these accounts, and I said sure. Richard told me there was someone who used my social to open 3 (THREE!!) cell phone accounts. He said their system flags multiple accounts that are opened that quickly as potential fraud. So this joker mustve opened an account for him/herself, gotten away with it, and decided to open two more accounts...probably for friends/relatives. Richard said this person's SS# was similar to mine, but not enough that this could just be a case of a typo or messy handwriting. This ass just used part of his SS# and added random numbers at the end. And i was the lucky one who's numbers got picked. why cant the lottery be that good to me?? anyway, US Cellular is sending me a fraud affidavit, and a letter absolving me of any liability. just in case, ya know. i have a feeling this will pop up in about 6.5 yrs on my CR....reaged, of course... I'll for sure be making copies of the letter they're sending...and keeping them for a very long time...in a very safe place. never thought this would happen to me. i'm sooooo ridiculously careful. just goes to show this can happen to anyone. oh, also...Richard couldnt/wouldnt give me the name of the a-hole who did this. He said that info would have to be subpoenaed (thats a hard word to spell!) because there are--get this--privacy laws protecting him/her! believe me, if theres some joker out there who knows he can use my ss# and get a cell phone, he's probably stupid enough to use it again for a CC or worse. its a lovely feeling. grrr.
It might be worth it for you to put a fraud alert on your files. I understand you can set it up so you can't open an account without them contacting you. Of course, this means no instant credit. But in this case it might be worth the hassle.
i don't really care about instant credit, so that's not an issue. are there any other negatives? ive read over and over that there are, but cant find exactly what they might be. is it worth it in the long run?
A fraud alert does not force anyone to contact you before credit is granted, actually it virtually doesn't require ANY special procedures (until FACTA kicks in in December; at least). The fraud alert is only temporary, depending on the CRA, 3-6-12 months; although you can request a longer alert period (they may tell you to provide them with a DNA SAMPLE, your first born kids, all utility bills, all your ids, and birth certificate -- you know all of the information that someone could use to steal your identity if it got lost, strayed, or stolen. (ok, maybe I am being a little over-dramatic with the one CRA's documentation requirements for the extended hold, they don't require the DNA SAMPLE or the first born kid, yet.)) Again, depending on the CRA, you will be opt-outed for a period of time, up to 2 years (TU apparently reduced their opt-out period for fraud alerts to SIX MONTHS, from the flyer they sent.), you'll want that longer if possible. You'll want to make sure you hit all the national CRA's and not just the big 3, since that'll leave a back-door for PRMs and for un-alerted reports. Usually when the big 3 tell you to contact the other CRA's they only give you the other big 2's contact information. I sent the letter I just sent to the opt-out address (two of the big three placed the alerts on when I disputed a trade line.) Experian PO BOX 919 Allen, TX 75013 Equifax PO BOX 740123 Atlanta, GA 30374 Trans Union PO BOX 97328 Jackson, MS 39288 Innovis PO BOX 219297 Houston, TX 77218 You may be able to find their fraud specific mailing address by going to their web sites. But you want to either include a request for a long-term PRM block with your alert request, or to mail to the PRM block address as well requesting a long-term PRM block.
One suggestion, take the letter you got from USC (and the letter they're providing with the FA), and go to the police department where you live to get an investigation started, they can then subpoena USC to get the information for the perpetrator. As a precaution, at least you'll have the police file # on hand in case you need it in the future.
I don't know if CC companies actually act this way, but if you were a CC company, and you were pulling AR inquiries on your customers, if you saw a fraud alert on a subset of customer reports, you could assume that these customers were now no longer receiving the most rate-competitive CC offers. You could use that information to weigh whether to raise their interest rates if they are carrying balances, to enhance your income, since the ability of that customer subset to transfer balances to new lower rate cards would be diminished. Normally, CC companies do not see the PRM inquiries of their competitors.
But if you had good credit you could always APPLY for other cards, they just need to verify that it's you.
ontrack: Just because there is a fraud alert, doesn't mean that their credit file is still PRM BLOCKED. The two are separate, the consumer can opt-in at any time by contacting the CRA, just like they can opt-out at any time by contacting the CRA. Theoretically, if you like being bombarded with junk mail, which is derived from illegal breeches of your credit report information. (The FTC has an 80+ page explaination of why pre-screening reports are actual consumer credit reports, without a PP. But basically, even though the 'actual' report information isn't divulged, because the PRM puller provided enough of a profile to the CRA, technically the PRM puller can reverse engineer enough information to warrant the PRM report to be a consumer credit report.) You can drop either the fraud alert, or the PRM BLOCK at any time, by providing a request to the CRA.
