In today’s mail I received a bank statement in my name (First name Middle initial Last name) and another name (Adam Middle initial My Last Name) with my home address. I opened this piece of mail, as it came in my name. It is a savings account bank statement from Bank of America, a bank I have never ever had an account with (not when they were First Union, not when they were Barnett Bank). This bank statement is for an account that was opened in June of this year. It contains a lot of money (in my world, in your world, it might be an insignificant amount of money).

I called BoA to discuss the fact they they are mailing me at my address account information that does not belong to me. I expressed concern that perhaps I am a victim of identity theft. I refused to give them my social security number. I’m willing to tell them my last four so they can discern if I am in some way associated with that bank account, but as I will likely never bank with them, they do not need my SSN. They said they could not help me without my SSN and gave me the number for the Federal Trade Commission.

Long. Automated. Menu. I reached a nice woman to whom I was also reluctant to give my SSN. She wanted to know when I discovered my identity had been stolen. I told her I don’t know if it has and explained the situation. She pulled up my name and was shocked at how many people with my First name Middle Initial Last name there are. I laughed and said, “yeah, it’s like Smith.” Because in some cultures, it truly is like Smith. She put a notice into the FTC system about possible fraudulent activity. She tried said she could not find my name associated with my address. Weird. She also could not find this Adam’s name associated with my street name (I told her there is a person with our last name four doors down, because there is — it’s like Smith in some countries). She suggested I go into a BoA with the bank statement and try to discern if I need to be concerned. She also suggested I contact the Credit Bureau to report possible fraudulent activity and identity theft.

What do you think?

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