Credit card scammers

[Roadrunner53]

just got a letter from Wayfair's credit department thanking me for applying for their credit card but the application could not be processed until I call them.

I did not apply for a credit card thru them or anyone but someone did!

Previously, I have had my Costco Visa card compromised twice and had to cancel and get the card reissued. Have not had any problems in about a year and a half. Now this with the Wayfair credit card.

I guess this might be identity theft, not sure.

Does anyone have experience with this situation and if so, is there anything I should do?

[kingxiaodi]

Besides identity theft, what else could it be? Maybe there is an innocuous explanation, but it seems reasonable to treat it as identity theft. Have you checked your credit report yet? You may find that the individual who applied with Wayfair also applied for other lines of credit, and they may have been more successful with those other applications.

Beyond checking your report, you may also want to freeze your credit. There was a nice thread on the forum that described how to do so, but I can't remember the title or the name of the user who started it. Hopefully someone will be able to uncover it. I believe it was created shortly after the August 2017 Experian data breach.

[Catbert]

If you decide to call or otherwise contact Wayfair DON'T use the info in the email.  This looks like the perfect phishing scheme.  Email recipients in a panic call the scammers and give them lots of personal info so "wayfair" can confirm who they are.

[Roadrunner53]

I went to Creditkarma.com and did find that Wayfair did a hard inquiry on January 29th. It says hard inquiries stay on your credit report for up to 2 years.

Thanks Catbert, I will be sure to look up a Wayfair phone number. The letter looks legit and is from some name other than Wayfair but you are right. Gotta be very careful. So many bastard scammers out there.

[Fomerly known as something]

I always just google Clark Howard's how to freeze your credit as a resource when I need to do anything with my frozen credit bureau accounts.

https://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/

[Syonyk]

just got a letter from Wayfair's credit department thanking me for applying for their credit card but the application could not be processed until I call them.

...

I guess this might be identity theft, not sure.

It's nothing good.  That's for sure.

Treat it as identity theft until proven otherwise.  A hard pull on your credit record would argue, very strongly, towards identity theft.

Lock your credit access (NOW - hopefully someone else hasn't beaten you to the accounts needed to do it), pull your credit reports, and find out what you can.  Ideally, you caught it early.  If not, well, your next few years will suck.  Good luck!