Received debit card in the mail … that we didn't request

July 23, 2022 5:02 PM

A debit card from Spendwell in my spouse's name arrived in the mail today. The problem is, we never requested one. Is this part of a new or known scam? Or should we fear identity theft and go on high alert?
posted by StrawberryPie to Work & Money (12 answers total)

Spendwell is one of those reloadable cards, so while it's possible he's the victim of identity theft, someone has also (un)intentionally just sent him money. Money that he now controls directly, by virtue of having the card in his name.

Have you been a beneficiary of any legal settlements or prize programs? I have received an "unsolicited" debit card that turned out be connected to a class action settlement I was a part of, so the $24 on that card was actually mine, and was actually supposed to go to me even though I had forgotten that I'd joined the class action five years ago.

IMO, contact Spendwell to see why the card was issued, how much is on the card and whether the account can be closed (with reloadable cards this might be ... tricky if there's money in the account that you don't believe belongs to you). Also put credit freezes on his files, just in case, and maybe have your bank put a warning on his accounts.
posted by aramaic at 5:10 PM on July 23, 2022 [5 favorites]

I've also gotten prepaid cards in the mail as part of mail-in-rebates.
posted by primethyme at 5:19 PM on July 23, 2022

When I personally filed taxes this year (previously my ex did ours as a couple), I was surprised to learn that one can get their refund as a debit card instead of paper check or direct deposit. Could it be your tax refund?
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 6:05 PM on July 23, 2022

Response by poster:

Could it be your tax refund?

I wish! But sadly, no—on the contrary, my wife and I had to pay additional taxes … (But thanks for the suggestion, nonetheless.)
posted by StrawberryPie at 6:17 PM on July 23, 2022

I would definitely worry about identity theft. Here's the identity theft scenario where this exact thing has happened to me: (i) someone gets enough info about me to file a tax return with my identity (my employer's W2 preparer got hacked), (ii) they open a reloadable debit card account with my identity, which will eventually be mailed to me (but the account is active immediately), (iii) they file a tax return with fake numbers that aims to maximize the check from the government, with this card number as the destination for the tax return, (iv) some indeterminate time later I get the actual card in the mail. I can't actually remember how long this took but iirc it was well after I'd discovered the fraud, filed paperwork with the IRS, etc. Now, I doubt that this is tax fraud in your case given that this is mid-July, but I imagine there might be other sorts of things like this that could use one of those refillable cards (maybe benefits fraud of some kind?).
posted by advil at 6:42 PM on July 23, 2022 [3 favorites]

Interesting. Spendwell is a "reloadable VISA Debit" card, generally for people with bad credit. There's no reason for you to be receiving one. I suggest freezing your credit immediately, as well as contact Spendwell and try to deactivate the card and the associated account, or at least have it frozen pending investigation.

If you paid additional taxes in April, could IRS be handing you a refund for overpayment?
posted by kschang at 1:23 AM on July 24, 2022

Do you know how much the card is for? I wouldn't completely discount the possibility of identity theft but yeah, I've received random prepaid cards for things like class-action suits, rebates, even refunds/account closings - sometimes they come so long after the last time I interacted with whoever is issuing the card that I've completely forgotten what they're for.
posted by mskyle at 4:49 AM on July 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

SpendWell is like Netspend. It's NOT a prepaid card. It's more like a bank account with attached debit card, but it can be reloaded all over, not just via ATMs and bank branches.
posted by kschang at 5:14 AM on July 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Last year I received an unsolicited card from MoneyLion, which seems like it uses a similar account model. In my case, it was indeed related to identity theft - specifically, someone had fraudulently attempted to claim unemployment benefits in my name and have the benefit money routed onto the card. I contacted the card and referred them to all the reports I had filed with all the various government agencies as well as the credit bureaus. They closed the account immediately.
posted by fancyoats at 12:23 PM on July 24, 2022 [4 favorites]

Since it occurs to me that it might be useful not just to you:

Specifically, I filed reports with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and identitytheft.gov, as well as having filed a police report when I initially learned about the fraudulent unemployment claim. Having those reports on hand to show MoneyLion that this account was also fraudulent made them take me seriously. Request that they give you written confirmation of both the account closure and complete release from all liability associated with the fraudulent account.
posted by fancyoats at 12:33 PM on July 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: We called Spendwell and cancelled the card, taking care to provide as little info as possible (out of paranoia more than any rational reasons). It's been a couple of months and we have not seen anything else suspicious. I'm beginning to think that I agreed to some offer earlier in the year (not tax related but something else—maybe a settlement) and didn't write any notes and completely forgot about it. That would be the simplest explanation.

I appreciate everyone's replies and comments, and will continue to be watchful, especially for signs of scams.
posted by StrawberryPie at 10:21 AM on September 17, 2022

Response by poster: Well, spoke too soon. Yesterday a very real-looking CapitalOne debit card arrived in the mail. Problem: we don't have a CapitalOne account. We're assuming the two events are connected.
posted by StrawberryPie at 7:57 AM on October 13, 2022