Let me just preface this before anybody feels the need to chastise me--I know that I've waited far too long to deal with this. A variety of factors made it extremely difficult if not impossible to respond promptly, and then Covid hit and I went into a very long depressive episode. Hopefully it's still possible to reach a resolution.
On February 5th 2020 I received an email from Barclay's with the subject line " Account Alert: Security Options Change." I followed the link in the email and registered an account to find, to my surprise, that a Barclay's credit card had been opened in my name in November of 2019. A $2,500 charge was made at an Apple Store in my city.
This was obviously confusing. What made it even more confusing was during that same period of time (November-December of 2019), I applied for and received 2 new credit cards which I used for balance transfers. So at first, I thought maybe I had applied for a Barclay's card? But the Apple Store charge didn't make any sense (this particular Apple Store is on the other side of town from me and not the one I would ever go to). I contacted Barclay's and they informed me that the credit card was opened at the Apple Store at the same time the purchase was made. So somehow somebody got enough of my information to open a credit card in my name and make this purchase.
I never found out this card had been opened and the charge made because whoever opened it used their contact information. It wasn't until the phone number this person entered went out of service that Barclay's resorted to sending me an email (how the person who opened the account found my email, I'm not sure) in February to notify me of payment due. At this point I contacted Barclay's demanding an explanation and also learned that the person who opened the account also specified a completely different name for my mother's maiden name. I never even received a physical card from Barclay's until I contacted them.
At this point, Barclay's requested a bunch of identifying documentation from me. I was not able to provide this documentation until May because I was out of the country. When I got back, I provided all of the documentation they requested and a very detailed letter explaining the timeline of events similar to how I've described them here. I went through two fraud investigations (submitting my stories by mail) and they denied both--no explanation, just a firm "we've investigated and determined this charge not to be fraudulent." So I've been stuck paying for it since.
Is there anything I can do at this point? We're coming up on a year since the account was opened and the charge was made.
Submitted November 19, 2020 at 02:08PM by throwaway010124 https://ift.tt/35LIMQf
