I received a call from American Express asking about my applying for a new credit card. I informed them that I have had an AE card for number of years and that I didn't apply. They said they would cancel the application. I asked about the address and phone mumber of the applicant. Now the Joke.. I was told that they couldn't release that information to me because of the privacy act but that they would turn it over to their fraud department.
The only time I've used the AE card in the last year was last month to buy some ink from ATLEX.
Whoever it is applying for a new AMEX account in your name might have had no contact whatsoever with the one time you used the card. He or she might have found your name, address and phone number in many other places.
I think that you can tell the big credit monitoring companies that you don't want any new cards issued in your name for the next several months. Might be a prudent thing to do now that you know someone is trying to swipe your identity.
Same kind of thing happened to me a week ago, im in Kenya but my Mom got a call saying had I tried to spend over a £1,000 on my card, she said no but they said I had to call to confirm. Someone had registered my card with a staioners , spent like £50, then bought something else small, then spent like £900 on a kitchen appliance. The bank cancelled it all and gave me the money back. Now my ebay account has been defrauded also. Go figure.
I trust trust that you shred all of those offers for credit cards that keep showing up in the mail. ID thieves obtain your information from many sources your trash bin for one, your mail box is another. So it is imperative that you shred any confidential and not so confidential forms or applications with your name on them. Error on the side of caution with phone calls asking for information ( hang up) and emails asking for you to verify your information... it goes on and on. Very important to never leave personal information in your car or truck either.
