i have a pet peeve with banks.  while i sincerely appreciate the fraud prevention that many have implemented, i find it disturbing to be called at home by someone purporting to be from my bank, who asks me about my accounts and charges on those accounts.  my normal reaction is to give them absolutely no information and to request a name and phone number from them.  then i call the bank’s main number and tell them who i was contacted by.  if it’s a valid call, they’ll transfer me to the correct department.  it may seem somewhat paranoid, but with identity theft a very real issue, it’s the safest way.

this morning, i received a call from “tonya” at “imagine mastercard”.  she stated she was with the “fraud dept” and that they were trying to locate *me* to verify that i had opened an account with them in oct-2007.  when i wasn’t forthcoming with information, because i didn’t trust the phone call, she tried pumping me for information, “have you lived in missouri?”  no, never been in missouri.  i continued to remain skeptical of the phone call and, since i wasn’t a willing victim, she ended the call with, “i suggest you check your credit reports, as several accounts were opened using your information.”

well.  she’s right.  i checked my credit report and i’ve had accounts opened using my information… by me.  none in october of 2007.  no entries showing ‘imagine mastercard’ or it’s 1st bank of delaware.  no suspicious activity at all.

looking up “imagine mastercard”, i see that they’re a “bad credit, no problem” credit card company.  i called them directly and, as i expected, they required my ssn to be able to verify whether they had actually called or not.  since they do not show on my credit report and since i’ve never opened an account with them, i refused to give them that information.

i’m unsure what the actual purpose of the call was, but based on the behaviour of the woman who called me and their company representatives that i spoke with later, i believe something fraudulent was afoot.  two scenarios immediately came to mind: one, they call people alerting them of “fraudulent accounts”, hoping that it scares the people bad enough that they will react by divulging personal information that can be used to open accounts.  or.  two, they have bad debts that they’re trying to hang on anyone who is scared enough to divulge information, so that they can report it to credit reporting agencies and possibly be paid by a panicked consumer.  the 2nd may seem farfetched, but i’ve had a similar experience with someone calling and claiming that i’d written a hot check and to come in and pay it immediately.  when i asked for a copy of the check before i’d pay, it mysteriously became unavailable.  (it wasn’t mine and i knew that from the start.)

whomever it was and whatever their purpose was, *something* was wrong with that phone call.  be very very careful if you receive similar calls.  do NOT ever divulge ANY personal information to someone who calls YOU.  ask them for their name and a number you can reach them at.  then look up the company and call them directly.  let them connect you to the person who called.  the same holds true with emails.  never click through a company’s email to go to a url or reply to their email, unless you KNOW that the email is trustworthy.  personally, even if i believe / know the email is trustworthy, i still refuse to click through.  i go directly to the company’s website myself.

it’s entirely possible, as a 3rd scenario, that it was just a mistake (though they did have my name) and they called the wrong person. 

it’s better to be safe than sorry, however!