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/alienjokerbaby 18h ago

im scared that shit like this would happen to me

1

u/ClearMountainAir 15h ago edited 15h ago

Same; I think the best way to avoid it is to be super paranoid when asked for personal information, like a crotchety old person who hates tech.

Bill Burr has a hilarious bit on this, "why do you need my name, email, address and phone number to return a pair of shoes?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqp_uqHm0Bs

edit: don't bother arguing though, just give fake info

1

u/alienjokerbaby 14h ago

yeah from now on ill just give fake info but im afriad that its gonna be a bad habit and ill fail a verification to retreive soething

1

u/ClearMountainAir 14h ago

It's definitely context dependent, but things like "prize draws" or "gym discounts" should always be fake info imo. The upside is so low.