Warning Letter From Barclays Partner Finance

Harold.Finch

I hope this posting is in the right area. If not could someone please advise.

I have received a personal letter from Barclays Partner Finance advising that they are investigating the attempted opening of an account in my name. They believe that this was someone fraudulently attempting to impersonate me. They have not opened the account and have asked me to confirm that it was not me by completing and returning a two page form to them. It certainly was not me and it does cause me some concern as I try to be meticulous about security, including shredding all old documents.

They have indicated that I should check my credit file with one or more of the main agencies and have also stated that they will notify CIFAS so that they can protect my identity.

I will check my credit file in the next day or two, but was wondering if this has happened to many people and what the implications of what has happened might be.

Also, if anyone could offer any more advice I'd be very grateful. I'm quite worried as you can probably tell.

Many thanks.

[Deleted User]

Are you sure the letter is actually from Barclays?

It sounds suspiciously like a variation on one of those "Please confirm your identity by logging into your account" phishing emails.

In your position, rather than posting back the completed form (full of - useful to an ID Thief - personal information), I'd visit a Barclays branch in person.

Harold.Finch

Bob,

Yes it is from Barclays. I rang them, using a phone number obtained from their web site, to confirm the return address for the form was genuine.

CKhalvashi

Harold.Finch wrote: »

Bob,

Yes it is from Barclays. I rang them, using a phone number obtained from their web site, to confirm the return address for the form was genuine.

I'd still pop the form itself into a branch, rather than posting it.

HSBC have been happy for me to do this on numerous occasions over the past few years.

CK

C_Mababejive

Its genuine. Where a financial institution detects attempt fraud on a customers account, they register the account holders details with CIFAS to provide an extra layer of protection should a further attempt be made.
http://www.cifas.org.uk/

Harold.Finch

Thanks for all the info guys.

I called into a Barclays branch and they confirmed the letter and return address is genuine. I guess I'll wait a few days for them to deal with it and then set about getting my credit report.

Unless anyone else has any suggestions.

Thanks.

izools

I wouldn't hold off getting a copy of your credit files - and I think it very important that you get all three - Experian, Equifax, and Call credit - you need to see what other fraudulent activity has been going on - if you see credit searches you don't recognise you need to call all the companies who performed them and advise you have fallen victim to identity theft.

Not all lenders will be as vigilant as Barclays have been and you may have other accounts successfully opened in your name.

Hopefully you don't, but I wouldn't want to take the risk.

Harold.Finch

izools wrote: »

I wouldn't hold off getting a copy of your credit files - and I think it very important that you get all three - Experian, Equifax, and Call credit - you need to see what other fraudulent activity has been going on

Thank you very much for this advice. I am grateful and will do exactly as you suggest.

vusys1

Hi Harold
I hope the above has been resolved, I know a letter out of the blue asking for details is a shock, but if possible we do try to contact people direct if we can obtain a telephone number (obviously the fraudsters do not use your true number ) Once we receive the fraud pack, the details are uploaded onto Cifas and the credit search removed from your file (you should have received a letter confirming this).

Harold.Finch

Hi vusys1,

Yes this all happened in the way you describe.

It has now been concluded what happened. Someone obtained my credit card details, which is strange because that card is seldom used. They then set up a subscription with a site, which has poor (IMHO) setup security, to obtain my credit report from one of the three CRA's. This site acts as a go between and although I don't want to name them, I believe their security is a joke as they were prepared to give me all the details of how the account was set up, including the email address used and log in details, simply on the basis of an unverified phone call from me.

That person then tried to set up a credit account with Barclays Partner Finance. This was rejected and prompted the letter to me. The person also tried to buy £800 of luxury goods on my credit card. This transaction was blocked by my CC company.

My CC company have acted impeccably. They have issued a new card, blocked the old one, refunded the small charge to the credit report portal and I am presently assisting them in the fraud inquiry by passing on the information given to me by that credit reference portal site.

So at the end of the day it has been resolved with no loss to me. As you say there is no entry on my credit report and I have one entry on the CIFAS database which will drop off after one year.

I am pleased it is over but can't and probably never will be able to determine where my little used CC details were snatched from. I suspect an on line purchase from a small mobile phone dealer but obviously can't prove it.

H.

ChopperST

This happened to my barclaycard one Christmas.

Barclays rang me when I was in the car and said it was their fraud department, obviously I was skeptical and the person on the phone was understanding and advised me to ring back on the number on the back of my card but in the meantime there had been a temporary block put on the card.

I rang them back when I got home and got put through via the normal call centre number, someone had been downloading movies and buying takeaways in China using my card details!

From Barclays detecting the fraud and me getting the funds returned took 24 hours. Good to see the system works sometimes as it clearly has done in this case.