UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR WITHIN USCIS

[Drogs 24]

(My very first instinct was to cross out a row of the numbers for each credit card that I copied)

Who is judging who? you have already found USCIS guilty have you not?

IMHO it would have made sense to First contact your Bank/CC company before jumping to conclusions.

[boomummy73 2]

(My very first instinct was to cross out a row of the numbers for each credit card that I copied)

Who is judging who? you have already found USCIS guilty have you not?

IMHO it would have made sense to First contact your Bank/CC company before jumping to conclusions.

[boomummy73 2]

Im not going to have you sit here and interrogate me like i've done something wrong, all i did was sent them in what i thought that would help my case, of course i didnt use proper judgement... all i'm clearly stating is that it's not normal that two weeks after sending in a copy of my credit cards to USCIS that i would receive a letter stating that there's been a suspension put on my account. i'm hoping for more positive results due to what happened... like someone had stated earlier that maybe this raised an alarm with USCIS that i sent the copy in without covering it up, and they wanted to be careful by putting a cap on it so that they won't have problems like this... i still say there's no doubt in my mind that this didn't happen as a result of me sending in a copy of my credit cards to USCIS.

[boomummy73 2]

Something about this doesn't sound right to me. I've had my card frozen several times for real charges that they suspected were fraudulent-- I travel a lot and use my card in foreign countries and sometime forget to alert my bank in advance of my travels. EVERY time they have called me and emailed me long before that letter arrives in the mail.

Is the bank you use very small? Do they not have your phone/email address? They should have a 24-hour fraud prevention line, and they should have been able to resolve the issue when you were on the phone with them. The fact that they got personal information from you and then still did not "resolve" your problem is very suspicious to me. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but THIS is what reads scam to me. Are you sure your cards were accounts were ever even closed? Had you tried to use the card? Can you log in to an online account and check the balances?

[boomummy73 2]

nmcrawford i'm not for sure how big the bank institution is. i realized when i called the bank today that i needed to update my phone number but they should've had my email address... they asked my moms maiden name and a couple more questions and told me that i had to send in identifications proving that i am who i say i am before they reopen my account. i have three credit cards issued by this bank one that i've used and two that i haven't, for the two that i haven't used i had just open those accounts. i havent tried to use the cards but when i call the banking system i can't get any type of info about the credit cards.

[boomummy73 2]

Most likely no one at USCIS had anything to do with your credit card info. You send them copies, without numbers blackened out... It is OK, but let me ask you just ONE question - where those copies came from???? Did you use public copy machine to make copies? Staples, Office Depot, ETC...? MOST of modern copy machines do have memory, and everything you copy stays there for a while (if that option turned on), so anyone could see what you copied, later on, from memory... And if scammers used to put skimmers right inside bank ATMs, imagine what can be done in low security places, that have copy machines.

stvm I used my copier at home

[boomummy73 2]

I have worked with Nigerian Police before and Feds. Most likely numbers were gotten via our mailing. Don't know how you mailed this. Contact the CC and banks involved request a complaint form, advise them you will prosecute. Get more informaiton fom your banks and they will give you new cards. Take his name off all the cards except one. Put your husbands name on one card only, that will be sufficient for their purposes, use a low limit card. I would send a similar letter to USCIS in an advisory capacity only. They might have seen this before. Be careful.

bigdog thanks for your advice.

; I hope things will get more clear after you make the phone calls!

thanks Channah&Aaron!!!

[trillium13 84]

OP, please stop posting your replies separate from the posts you're quoting. Quote the post, then type your response below it. No need to make a separate post with each; it makes this thread very hard to read and that much harder for people to understand and to try to help.

[boomummy73 2]

OP, please stop posting your replies separate from the posts you're quoting. Quote the post, then type your response below it. No need to make a separate post with each; it makes this thread very hard to read and that much harder for people to understand and to try to help.

trillium that's probably why i'm confused about the post, but as i stated before i'm new here so please have some patience till i figure it out.

[Harsh_77 718]

Drog if you knew any better you would know that every case is different, yes i did call the credit card company and they told me that the matter could be addressed once i sent them in the info that they needed... the way i've always known it to be is guilty until proven innocent.

That is little weird though, none of credit card companies has ever asked me to send anything to them.

They verify your identity over phone as they did with you and that is it.

LIke many have said unless you are dealing with really small bank they might not have the other resources to check you identity.

Most credit card companies have 24 hrs customer service.

Are you talking to Peggy..... lol j/k

[Kathryn41 3,205]

A number of years ago my boss had fraudulent activity on one of his credit cards. The credit card company cancelled the card and re-issued him new a card with a different number. As he was traveling out of the country when the new card arrived he didn't try to activate it until his return. When he went to activate it a few weeks later(the card was in an unopened sealed envelope delivered to his home and inside the home) he discovered it had already been 'activated' and had charges. He called the credit company, was able to prove that the card sent to him still had not been activated by him and had not been used. The credit card company cancelled that card then did an investigation. It turned out that one of their own employees was actually involved and had been using recently issued card numbers expecting that the owner would immediately authorize the card and start to use it and his activity would go unnoticed.

Without knowing the source of the activity it is premature to state that it was someone at USCIS who used your credit card information. The fact that it was these cards used could be circumstantial and there may be other factors at work. Your credit card company is the best able to investigate the fraudulent activity and if it turns out to be someone at USCIS, you can rest assured that the individual involved will be discovered - and will live to regret their 'choices'.

Considering the immense volume of private information released to USCIS as part of the immigration process, I am sure they take all sorts of precautions to prevent something like this happening. The need for this type of 'trust' is crucial to the successful operation of this department. That doesn't mean that some sort of internal fraud doesn't happen but it is definitely is a very rare occurrence

Edited July 20, 2011 by Kathryn41

[SalJoy 11]

It seems there is nothing really going on. If you really wanted to see whats going on, go online and check the card activity. Even if your account was suspended, you will be able to see your card activity. Call customer care and you will be able to get the last transactions on your card. Instead of bragging here and if you really care abt identity theft, go to your bank's local branch and get hold of the manager and see what really is going on. There is no way someone from USCIS would have done something like this. What did you send to USCIS? Credit card statements? Mind that no credit card statement displays full account number. They only display last 4 digits of it so there is something fishy in your story.

[boomummy73 2]

It seems there is nothing really going on. If you really wanted to see whats going on, go online and check the card activity. Even if your account was suspended, you will be able to see your card activity. Call customer care and you will be able to get the last transactions on your card. Instead of bragging here and if you really care abt identity theft, go to your bank's local branch and get hold of the manager and see what really is going on. There is no way someone from USCIS would have done something like this. What did you send to USCIS? Credit card statements? Mind that no credit card statement displays full account number. They only display last 4 digits of it so there is something fishy in your story.

To set the record straight, I sent in a copy of my full credit card number with nothing crossed out. I didn't want to cross out anything because I didn't want to raise any suspension with USCIS, now that you know what really happened you would probably say I was silly for doing so, and I don't need to come on visajourney to brag about something like this, you're saying my story sounds fishy to say what? I have far more better things to do than to sit on visajourney and waste peoples time, let alone put folks in my business... Also never say what a person or institution is not capable of not doing, because as long as you're human people are capable of doing anything. I'm handling the situation, thanks!!!!

[Drogs 24]

So you have no news yet on what the problem was with the cards?

[boomummy73 2]

So you have no news yet on what the problem was with the cards?

In the beginning of the week i sent the credit card company the info that they requested... by the time i called yesterday evening they were closed.. i should most definitely be able to get some info as of tomorrow.