Citi keeps sending me alerts for someone else

#1

For the past two years I’ve been getting “account paid” and “bill due” notifications for some random person’s Citibank CC. I’ve got a first+lastname@gmail address and their name is identical.

There’s no unsubscribe or other way to report that I’m getting these things. I called Citi, they won’t do anything about it unless I’m the cardholder, they actually refuse to speak with me (I can understand why). I can just filter out the emails, but I’ve got a Citibank CC myself and don’t want to accidentally filter out bill notifications for my own account.

I even tried forwarding the emails to Citi’s scam department and an exec email I found online, but I unsurprisingly didn’t get any response there either. Anyone know what else I can try? Or do I just deal with this via a slightly complicated filter and hope it works?

#2

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#3

I’m not trying to bring you around to my way of thinking about this. But I’ll tell you what it is:

Were it me I would cancel my own existing Citibank CC ASAP and run like hell.

Citi appears to have their wires crossed, but you have been OK since the other cardholder is meeting his/her obligations timely causing you no worries or hassles. But that situation could change at any time.

I could not be less surprised about Citi’s disinterest in putting this matter right. That is exactly the reaction I would have anticipated from them. The only party in a position to take action is you. Later, some time having passed, you can reapply for a new Citi credit card. But right now:

There are a great many fish in the sea where credit cards are concerned. Why risk being shark bit? Get out while you can; return later when the coast is clear.

#4

Are you sure it’s coming from Citi? Could be spam / phishing, gotta check the email headers carefully. If it really is coming from Citi, maybe email the “victim” and tell them about it?

I’ve had different problems with Citi. They sent me account T&C updates and statements for an account that I closed almost 10 years prior. They did so more than once, a few years apart. I called multiple times to verify that the account was closed and to ask why they keep sending me statements (they don’t know, of course). They also keep sending me their annual privacy policy notice to an old address that I haven’t used for over 5 years.

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#5

Just because he’s getting an email intended for another cardholder does not mean that he’s responsible for that cardholder’s debt. Actually that might even be profitable if he goes codename47 on them.

#6

It’s definitely coming from Citi, and I’m not gonna close my account over this. I’d lose the credit history and it’s not a security issue IMO. I just wish Citi would confirm email addresses before allowing cardholders to send them to whomever they want. I could in theory set some alerts to random people and they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

Sure, I could just setup a filter for these, but in the back of my mind I wonder if I could be accidentally filtering something I actually need.

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#7

Sounds like you should update your citi email address to something different / distinctive - ie Normal.Email+really_me@gmail.com, with the +appended part, and then you can filter out stuff from citi that doesn’t have that piece.

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#8

I hate to sound remotely like CN47, but … If you live in an anti-spam friendly state, stop deleting the emails. After the first one, try multiple methods to get CITI to stop, documenting each attempt thoroughly, and recording any calls that you make.

Then sue them, according to your state’s laws.

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#9

Does the email contain the last 4 digits of their CC number?
You could filter the messages using that info.