Weird credit card problem - advice please

Suejb

I'm not sure if this is the right place, but this doesn't really fit any of the forum categories.

My husband received an unsolicited parcel on Saturday from an adult website. He contacted his credit card company and found that there had been a few other unauthorised transactions on his account so his card has been cancelled. We assumed that the parcel had been sent to our address instead of the theif's address in error (the street and town were correct but the post code was wrong so we thought perhaps the company had sent it to the registered address by mistake). However, I have just received another delivery - this time a box of business cards that someone has ordered in my husband's name and address but with an unknown phone number and email address. I guess this was one of the other items ordered using his card.

I'm now a bit freaked out - it seems that it's not a run-of-the-mill credit card scam and whoever is behind it has my husband's name and address. We've checked his credit file and thankfully no one has tried to apply for anything in his name. The credit card company is dealing with the fraudulent transactions but I'm wondering whether I need to take any other action - contact the police perhaps?

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

neilmcl

Pass all the details on to your credit card fraud team and contact the Police.

Suejb

Thanks - I've contacted the local police who don't seen particularly concerned. Doesn't make me feel much better though!

Equaliser123

Suejb wrote: »

Thanks - I've contacted the local police who don't seen particularly concerned. Doesn't make me feel much better though!

Police always seem to be rubbish at this sort of thing. Have you got a crime reference number?

Get onto your credit card company immediately. Sounds like an identity theft issue.

bap98189

It's a fairly standard credit card scam. Basically the criminals have your husband's credit card details and are using them to buy stuff online. Many online businesses will only deliver to the registered address on the card, and even if they do deliver elsewhere it looks more suspicious if the criminals do this. What they usually do is order the goods to be delivered to your actual address, then hang around outside to intercept the delivery drivers and take possession of the goods. Although if they are ordering personalised cards in his name, that sounds strange. I wonder if some kid has got hold of the card and is messing around on the internet.

Either way, you can contact the police if you like, but they will not be interested. Most online credit card fraud goes unreported for this reason.

Optimist

The police wont be interested although they might give you a crime number if you insist.

The Fraud Act 2006 made it the banks responsibility to report card fraud. You just report it to the bank

The theory is that it saves the public inconvenience reporting it to both the police and the banks.. My cynical view is that the banks rarely report it and thus it cuts crime figures !

ronald208

post the email address and phone number so we can spam it:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

artbaron

What happened when you rang the phone number on the business cards and asked for your husband?

epatolles

just to throw something else into the mix... this happened to a friend of mine.

angry insane jealous ex girlfriend had his credit card details somehow and kept buying stuff and sending it to his house! think she did it just to get a reaction and get his attention to be honest. he threatened her with police and said it would potentially ruin her career (she was training to be a teacher)
so that soon stopped her!

if they have his details and everything on it seems a bit weird some scammer going to all that trouble for no gain on their part (if everything is going to your house?)

perhaps try looking a littler closer to home?

Suejb

I Googled the phone number and it appears to belong to a bona fide business based in Devon, so I guess it was just made up or copied from the Internet. I guess the same is probably true for the email address.

The police took the details and gave me a crime number but they said that it was up to the credit card company to investigate.

The first parcel we thought might just be a case of the company sending to the registered address by mistake, but the business cards are really odd. I did wonder if it is someone with a grudge of some sort, but my husband isn't the sort of person who usually offends anyone. The only thing I can think of is that he used his card to pay for a meal in a restaurant and we couldn't leave a tip as they didn't let him add it to the bill and we didn't have any cash. Actually, as I type this it's just occurred to me that they made me sign their visitors book before we left and I may well have put our street address and town in there which would explain why they have the address and not the post code... Seems a bit extreme though.

GemJar_2

Suejb wrote: »

I Googled the phone number and it appears to belong to a bona fide business based in Devon, so I guess it was just made up or copied from the Internet. I guess the same is probably true for the email address.

The police took the details and gave me a crime number but they said that it was up to the credit card company to investigate.

The first parcel we thought might just be a case of the company sending to the registered address by mistake, but the business cards are really odd. I did wonder if it is someone with a grudge of some sort, but my husband isn't the sort of person who usually offends anyone. The only thing I can think of is that he used his card to pay for a meal in a restaurant and we couldn't leave a tip as they didn't let him add it to the bill and we didn't have any cash. Actually, as I type this it's just occurred to me that they made me sign their visitors book before we left and I may well have put our street address and town in there which would explain why they have the address and not the post code... Seems a bit extreme though.

Plus the post code would be easy enough to find with a quick search of the street address and I'm sure they'd do this since they are using the internet to send stuff to your house.