In September 2018, a fraudster who seemed to know everything about me tried to obtain credit cards in my name via the Internet from a dozen financial institutions (even Ontario). Several of them, but also Equifax, then contacted me by telephone; they wanted to check. My answer was very simple: I haven’t requested any cards recently and we are dealing with a fraudster. […]
On Wednesday, we did the same thing to my wife. She received a credit card in the mail (American Express, with annual fees and a limit of… $20,000, forgive me a bit). The fraudster wasn’t quick enough to grab it from our trunk and activate it. She quickly contacted the card-issuing financial institution to inform them of a fraud, not forgetting Equifax. The latter’s interlocutor himself advised my spouse to contact TransUnion, which was done.
Getting a credit card is way too easy these days. The request should be made in person, with supporting identity cards. There would be a lot less fraud (and potentially fewer deadbeats, with their panoply of credit cards), but financial institutions seem too voracious to take the time to get it right. The government must therefore get involved.
To see in video