Wayfair's call center insists you give them your SSN before they'll file a report for credit fraud

I just got a bill for a Wayfair credit card that was issued by Citi bank that I did not apply for. I never even shopped on that website.

I tried contacting both Citi bank and Wayfair, but since I don't have the full account number, I couldn't get past Citi's automated phone menu.

Wayfair's phone system was a fucking nightmare getting transferred to various departments, but eventually transferred me to a foreign call center where they insisted that they needed my social security number and birth date to file a report, but I'm not giving them that.

The best thing is that the scammer managed to get a higher credit limit than I was able to get on my own card.

OtisRamflow ,

Just a friendly reminder to lock your credit.

gregorum ,
@gregorum@lemm.ee avatar

I would, but mine’s on an upswing right now.

ryathal ,

Locking credit doesn't prevent it from changing, it just makes it so no one can get your report until you unlock it. This should be the default behavior, but it would prevent these companies from making as much money.

gregorum ,
@gregorum@lemm.ee avatar

Oh! Thanks!

OtisRamflow ,

Yeah locking it just means nobody can open new lines of credit on the social security number. Then you can use multi factor authentication on the different bureau sites. You'll need to lock it on all three... Which sucks.

It's annoying, it's stupid that we have to do this. But you gotta look out for yourself.

Zikeji ,
@Zikeji@programming.dev avatar

You're a victim of identity theft. You should start here: https://www.usa.gov/identity-theft

ExtraMedicated OP ,

Thanks for the link. I wasn't aware of that site.

Granite ,
@Granite@kbin.social avatar

Start with a local police report and take that to the credit bureaus; that way you don’t have to deal with Wayfair itself.

CosmicTurtle ,

Look into the benefits offered by your other credit cards. My identity was stolen a few years ago and I learned like a few months ago that one of my credit cards offers free identity protection services if/when your identity gets stolen.

They handle all of the annoying shit like contacting the bank, getting the debt off of your credit card, etc.

If not, and you were part of the Equifax (or any) hack, you likely have this same service available to you for free.

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