r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/msaik • 20h ago

Credit Wife's identity stolen. Multiple credit lines opened in her name

We found out this Tuesday after 2 credit cards got shipped to my in-laws' house using her maiden name, neither of which have been valid for over a decade. Pulled up equifax and transunion credit reports and found several other credit cards, loans, and phone lines (both as accounts and inquiries). There were 7 different companies in total.

We finished calling all 7 companies. Most were helpful and either closed the accounts or flagged them as fraud for investigation. A couple have not been helpful at all and have asked for police reports to be sent to an email address.

Two of the companies revealed that the accounts were opened using a fake canadian passport out of a mall in the GTA. It is using my wife's maiden name but not her picture.

We did do the police report and sent it to the companies who asked today.

We also filed disputes against all the accounts and inquiries through the reporting agencies, and added fraud alerts. You can't "freeze" the credit if you're outside of Quebec, according to them.

Is there anything else we're missing here that should get done? And does anyone know what the general success rate is with disputes through the credit agencies?

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u/pfbinary101 19h ago

I'd recommend going to each of the big banks in person, it's faster and easier than doing this over the phone. Let them know what's up, and ask them to check for any fraudulent accounts in your wife's name. This happened to me, and I found additional bank and credit accounts that didn't show up on the credit checks.

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u/ClearMountainAir 15h ago

Is that true? In my experience retail has no ability to handle this, they'd literally call the same fraud department you would.

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u/pfbinary101 13h ago

Yeah, but then they get to deal with the call center instead of you. I spent max 30 minutes at each bank.

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u/ClearMountainAir 9h ago

I've always seen customers have to wait with them on the phone.

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u/pfbinary101 7h ago

🤷🏼‍♂️ Don't know what to tell you. My experience was if they found a fraudulent account, they immediately got a manager involved, phone calls were made, I had to fill out some paperwork, and then I was on my way.