Consumer complaint received 2024-08-03
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (CA)

I received several calls from Costco customer service number on my cell ( XXXX ). I XXXX  the number and picked it up on their XXXX attempt. An agent first verified my name to make sure they are speaking to the same person, and then wanted to find out why I was calling previously to complain about shipments that's not received. Bear in mind I do not have Costco membership ( even though my in-laws do ) and I do not shop at Costco. When I told the agent that's a mistake and that's not me, he started telling me that someone opened this Costco credit card account 5 months ago and have been making purchases. Thy did web orders online and the previous orders were delivered. However, no payments has been received and the account is now in default about to be sent to collection. I then asked him about the membership details, such as email address and address on file, and it leads to an old address of mine from 12-17 years ago. The email was also a very 20 year old email that I still use, but is full of spam mails. I told the agent about this, who spent a lot of time telling me how to protect myself, and ask me to recall where could i have leaked these information. Never once did he ask for my social security number or current address etc. So I genuinely thought that I am a victim of identity theft. When I asked more details about where these shipments went to, and where was the applicant located, he revealed that these addresses were all in a XXXX XXXX. At that point, I thought someone got a hold of my old information and opened a credit card in XXXX, so I was genuinely concerned of identity theft across borders. The agent said that there's not much he can do for me since the card was opened overseas, so he couldnt report as a fraud on US soil. He said he can first of all untie the credit card account away from the email address online, and I did shortly get a no-reply email from costco regarding a security code. This seemed believable at that time, but since I was on the phone I didnt think too closely about it. He then asked me to call the police headquarter in the XXXX XXXX, of which I XXXX  the number. He asked me for that number and I gave it to him, and then he connected me ( this was when I should be suspicious, but in the midst of the moment I didnt think of it because i dont know how to call internationally ). I spoke to the " cop '', spent more than an hour going through the entire ordeal trying to file a XXXX police report, so that I can be off the hook for some payments that I owe on a XXXX credit card. I am not from XXXX, but I do know the language, and perhaps that's how they target guys like me. The " cop '' then told me his name, his badge number, and asked me to XXXX him on the XXXX XXXX search engine. It did came up and everything matched. However, he was cutoff in the middle of the conversation, of which he later called back. The number that he was calling back from matched the XXXX police station number that I found on XXXX  ( XXXX ), so everthing seemed somewhat reasonable. Then we proceeded to do the online report, of which he said he will need to XXXX  me and record the incident. When he did a video call, I saw the cop who's in uniform inside an office with the precint 's station name behind him. He even looked to be the same person as the officer that I found on the XXXX XXXX search engine ( with his name, experience, position and location of the station ). He showed me his badge and ID, however, the entire video was flipped so I had trouble reading it. However, I thought that's perhaps the videocam being inverted, so I ignored it. I think overall we spent 2 hours going over what happened, the XXXX addresses of where the packages were shipped, when the credit card was opened, what items were purchased, the amount owed, my account of never leaving the US during all this time, and of course identifying myself as to who I am by showing them my driver 's license and passport being recorded on video. However, the story went crazy from this point on and that's when I realized I've been had. The cop called out to a dispatch with my driver 's license and passport number, and that dispatched radioed him back after 20 minutes of " research '', and found that my name was associated with a local ongoing investigation of XXXX XXXX of XXXX and money laundering, with an account of my name opened under XXXX XXXX  ( a XXXX affiliated bank that has branches located here in XXXX XXXX ). All the while the cop played like he was just as confused as I am, and started to interrogate me if I am telling the truth. So it's getting unbelivable, and my head was spinning fast. I thought that I should check with costco directly to see if there's actually a credit card account opened under my social and name, and then call XXXX in XXXX XXXX to see if someone opened an account with my name and social ( I never had anything to do with that bank, ever ), and also pull credit reports to see if there's any unrecognized activities or inquiries since XXXX and or if there's any outstanding debts etc. I also thought I should file a police report locally to make sure my name wasnt stolen to be involved in any international crime ring. The " cop '' told me not to hang up and keep the phone alive while I head to the police station to file a report, so that he can monitor if any sensitive information is released to the police which might jeopardize the safety of the XXXX  being XXXX. So at that point I am pretty sure this was a scam and I hung up and checked the credit bureau, checked XXXX, checked with Costco and turned out there's no account that's associated with me at all. Credit inquires are all legit and my scores were fine ( these days there are a lot of free credit protection softchecks from credit cards, and I always monitor them and didnt see anything suspicious ). I then proceeded to file for fraud alerts with 3 credit bureaus and filed a police report at my local police station. I cant do much about the fact that they got a video of my driver 's license and passport, except to be extra careful from this point on. With the fraud alerts, I believe any account that involves my social security number requires a phone verification by me, so that adds a layer of protection. However, I would be careful to make sure when such calls come in, they are actually who they are claiming to be and not give out any information at the first call. I would have to call them back instead to make sure I am speaking to the right organization doing such verification