jaywalker2

I apologize. You did offer very valuable information. I was actually responding to a post by NedR69 and mistakenly quoted you. He was the one disparaging, not you. As it happened, I arrived with an international account and I also had a brokerage account that I had been using internationally with no problem. But 9/11 and the Patriot Act changed everything, of course. Now it's necessary to have back ups in case your bank or brokerage suddenly decides it wants to change the rules without any notice. I have thought about switching my brokerage account to Schwab International although the lack of a transfer-on-death service has made me hesitate as the account would have to go through probate. Plus, there's the usual inertia since I've been with my current brokerage for so long. I will probably open an account at SDFCU in order to have a back up bank account and access to a credit card that doesn't require me to hide my real address.

You should go to work for Citibank. It looks like you're fully qualified.

Who said anything about following up every spam email? This was an obviously fraudulent account. You would think the bank would want to know about that. I was doing them a service.

Congratulations, you've just disparaged most of the Americans on this forum as well as all those other people who have had their bank and brokerage accounts closed unilaterally because they're not as smart as youl,

A post that manages to get everything wrong. Amazing. I don't work in tech, it wasn't a phishing scam, and Citibank confirmed the account existed. I gave them all the info they needed to check my "claim." You really are bitter, aren't you.

Thanks, very helpful information.

This is what I wrote originally: "I called up Citibank to report a fradulent credit card account. First of all, it took me several phone calls just to talk to a representative. Then it was not the right representative, I had to be transferred, they transferred to the wrong place, I had to be transferred again, I was cut off. I had to call back. Finally, I reached somebody who ostensibly could help me and I duly reported that my email address and the name on the account had been used fradulently to take out a credit card." So, yes, it was really Citibank. I got the number originally from the Citibank contact page. And what difference does it make if I have a Citibank account? The name on the credit card account and the email account isn't mine. Why do they need my personal details?

I'm sorry, I know it's difficult, but you actually have to read what I wrote. Otherwise, don't bother commenting.

They can check the social security number on the account and see if it matches the name. Why do they need my personal details?

That's true but that's different. Schwab is a brokerage not a bank for one thing. And you have to apply through their international division, which only handles clients who live outside the US. You can't apply for a regular Schwab account. You can get a brokerage account at Interactive Brokers as well. But neither one is going to issue you a credit card. To get a credit card, you have to in principle be a permanent resident of the US (or so I have been told). Citibank offers Global Executive Banking, which allows you to live overseas and have a foreign phone number. But again this is a special division of Citibank that focuses on global clients. So there are exceptions obviously but in principle most banks and brokerages won't deal with people who live abroad.

No, of course I didn't click on any links. This is the email address: [email protected] When I called Citibank, they seemed to indicate that it was a legitimate account although admittedly I had soe difficulty understanding the representative because of the poor quality of the call. She made no mention of a phishing scam. Heere's a Reddit post on the same theme: So I’ve been getting a lot of realistic emails and phone calls from Citi Bank saying I have applied for a card and it was accepted and being shipped to me, even though I have NEVER even so much as even thought about getting a Citi card. The street address in the email was correct, and they even left me a message with a callback number and reference number. I tried calling the callback numbers and it just says called failed. I also tried contacting Citi Bank directly about this from the number listed on their website and not only was the fraud prevention agent very rude and extremely hard to hear due to a terrible quality mic, they demanded my ssn, which I refused to share. I work in tech and know a phish when I see one, so despite how realistic and accurate these calls and emails seem to be I have to assume it is phishing. Citi bank support absolutely sucks and is totally unhelpful. I looked up the email domains and phone numbers and most posts/sites seem to say they’re not fraudulent? FYI, the emails usually come from [email protected] or [email protected] and the phone numbers were 8664933599 and +1 (866) 299-2421. Hoping this will at least find someone who’s also experiencing this, and if anyone has a similar experience please shed some light!

Maybe because I don't want a fraudulent credit card account associated with my email? And maybe because I thought Citibank would be interested in knowing that somebody had taken out a credit under a false name? Your Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® statement is ready, so have a look and schedule your payment or enroll in AutoPay today. Statement Summary Statement Date: September 26, 2024 Statement Balance: $99.00 Minimum Payment Due: $41.00 Payment Due Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2024 Available Credit: $5,301 Would you rather receive emails without your balance and Minimum Payment Due? Click Here

Did you read anything I wrote? I didn't ask for account information. I had the account information -- I had the name, the email address, the last 4 digits of the credit card number, the balance in the account. And I told her that I had never applied for this credit card. Why would she need my social security number to investigate whether the account is fraudulent?

Could you please name them? I just tried to open an Ally bank account and was refused even though I had a US address because of my lack of credit history. I tried to open a Vanguard account and they refused because they suspected I wasn't in the US. I have an account Citibank but they will not issue me a credit card because I'm living abroad. So, please, I would be very happy to know which bank would let me open an account from Thailand and issue me a credit cards using my Thai address.

I couldn't watch it either and turned it off after about 20 minutes. It was just a lot of noise. I don't even know what it was about.

The most important factor is to have optical fiber. A lot of places in Pattaya still seem to be using copper wire for the final leg to the room which will give you much slower speeds and less reliability. I've been using True fiber for several years. Never had an outage and I've never had to call for service. Before this, I had True ADSL, which was more problematic but True service was quite good. They had English speakers on duty and there usually wasn't much of a wait to get through.

I pay 90 percent in cash. For big items, I'll use a card but it hardly seems worth it for small purchases and I'm not interested in fiddling with my mobile phone and QR codes at the register.

Sorry, I was responding to the other post about opening US bank accounts from Thailand. Wise isn't a bank and I would certainly never put a substantial amount of money in it.

Even worse, most banks now have automated answering systems so it's almost impossible to talk to a real person or report a problem that isn't related to an account. I had to dial the number for credit card applications to get a live representative and then have him transfer me to an appropriate department (which didn't really work).

No, as a US citizen you can't open a bank account with a US bank. Almost all banks and brokerages require that you have a permanent US address to apply. And they might also run a credit check. You might be able to open an account if you have an address in the US that you can use but you run the risk that they will close it if they find out you're living overseas

Well, that was my exact question. I asked her if they issue credit cards without checking the application. She had no answer, of course. But,, no, there was no miscommunication. She understood what I saying. It was her position that she couldn't close the account without proof that it was actually fradulent. I told her to check the social security number and compare the name with the name on the account. They can't match, so that should be proof but she wanted my personal details as well. I can easily imagine this happening. In my former life, I worked with a lot of bankers and usually they have sales quotas. In this case, the maximum limit on the credit card ws only $5400, so I suppose that would be an incentive to rubber stamp it without checking the details in order to make a sales. That's how the financial crisis occurred, remember?

You've brought all your money over to Thailand?

No, citibank confirmed it was a real account. They said they couldn't close it without proof it was fake.

Yes, the integrity of the Thai justice system is something that can surely be relied on.

I received a credit card statement in one of my secondary email accounts from Citibank. Now, I don't have a Citibank credit card, I have never applied for a Citibank credit card. The name on the email account is not my real name, it's basically an account I use when signing up for things on the web to avoid spam in my primary account. But this credit card account was using my email address and the name on the email account. So as a courtesy, instead of just blocking it, I called up Citibank to report a fradulent credit card account. First of all, it took me several phone calls just to talk to a representative. Then it was not the right representative, I had to be transferred, they transferred to the wrong place, I had to be transferred again, I was cut off. I had to call back. Finally, I reached somebody who ostensibly could help me and I duly reported that my email address and the name on the account had been used fradulently to take out a credit card. Were they grateful? No. They insisted they needed my social security number and name, which I wasn't about to give them, of course. Instead, I told them that it was very easy to check whether this was a valid account. I gave them the last four numbers of the credit card account, the name on the account, the date the person became a card member. And I told them all they had to do was check the social security number on the application against the name. They can't possibly match. The representative, it sounded like a Filipino call center, kept giving me an argument, so I finally told them they could investigate or not as they pleased, but I wasn't going to be associated with a fradulent account and that I would block any further message. It's just amazing to me the hoops somebody who lives overseas has to jump through in order to open a bank account, keep it open, or get a credit card or do anything else. I tried to open an account at Ally Bank, for instance, and they rejected me because I didn't have enough of a US credit history even though I gave a US adsdress. And yet ithese banks seem to be handing out credit cards with no credit checks at all. And even when you report a fraud, they act like they don't care. Well, that's my rant of the day.