Glad I opened what I thought was just a solicitation for my business [View all]

Picked up my mail Monday from my mail box, brought it into the house. I got 2 envelopes from the same bank that has their corporate offices in Atlanta. Usually I'll just tear in 2 without even opening what I think is a solicitation for my business and set aside to recycle . But for some reason, I opened the envelops.

Inside each was a letter thanking me for my business. One for opening a savings account and the other a checking account. The checking account letter had an initial supply of checks with my name and address and the savings account letter had an initial supply of deposit slips with my name. I did not open any accounts with this bank.

It was after 5 so I couldn't go to their local branch. Called the # on the letters. Eventually got to their fraud department, but the service was "off shore", connection was bad, and it was difficult understanding the person. I was also getting concerned that I was going further down the rabbit hole in some scam. The woman did give me a fraud claim #, but it was so difficult communicating with her, I thanked her and told her I would follow through with their local branch.

So many questions.
-How could someone open an account without my SS#,
-How could they open an account without money
-What was the point of opening an account in my name without any money.

I was at the Branch when it opened yesterday morning. Spoke with both the Customer Service rep and Branch Manager, They said this was NOT an uncommon situation.
-The scammers can open an account online without any funds.
-They may have gotten my information through any one of a number of data breaches in the last few years.
-They can use the accounts to support their request for money. (I don't understand that one.)

In any event they cancelled both accounts and told me that actually 4 accounts had been opened in my name. All now cancelled. They also advised me to call the 3 credit reporting firms; Equifax, Experian and Transunion and have them put a credit freeze on my records. So no one can get any credit info on me. Ha!

Anyway, just thought I'd share. It was pretty scary until I spoke with the bank staff. Also checked with my actual financial service to make sure nothing funky was going on with my accounts. Not sure there is anyway you can totally protect yourself. There was the big Equifax breach in 2017 and who knows, maybe that's where they got my info and are just now getting around to using it. That breach exposed the personal information of 147 million people.

I won't be throwing away junk mail in the future until I make sure there is nothing suspicious about it.
Stay safe and alert everyone.