Boss used credit card. It has my name on it.

[rk47]

Situation: Boss used credit card. It has my name on it.

I found out when walking past the accountant's desk. I saw a bill on the claims folder. Dinner for $120.45, then I saw my name. Not my credit card number. Definitely not my signature! Definitely aint my dinner!   
I never applied for it. I didn't remember getting it. He signed the bill with my last name. I never do that.
So...what are the implications ?

[Tebonas]

Your boss has too many business dinners and needs to spread them around among his employees for tax purposes?

[Trippy]

He's engaging in identify theft and should be sent to jail (but won't be) for fraud. I.e. he's using SSNs and other personal information from the HR files to open financial accounts in the names of company employees for his own use.

I would contact a reputable credit reporting company and get a copy of your latest credit including accounts that have been opened in your name/SSN.

Edit: actually it's possible it's a "corporate" card under a corporate account rather than a real personal credit card in which case what he's done is intercepted the cards from being distributed to the real recipients and using them for himself, for some reason (maybe his boss has been watching his corporate spending). Again I would check your credit report and see if he's actually creating fraudulent financial accounts in your name/SSN.

Edit2: Where are those reimbursement checks going? It doesn't sound like you are receiving them. So is he cashing those checks at a bank account he opened in your name?

[rk47]

Apparently so. This is pretty fucked up cause he is my uncle. So the accountant told me she never noticed anything wrong with it. 

[UnSub]

So...what are the implications ?

That you've got a credit problem that you don't know about.

Collect the evidence you need to protect yourself. Don't go and see him until you have that protection. Make sure your uncle doesn't go on any long holidays in the near future.

If he's paying it all back, he's being (at the very least) unethical. If he isn't, he's ripping you off.

[rk47]

I would contact a reputable credit reporting company and get a copy of your latest credit including accounts that have been opened in your name/SSN.

Doing this tomorrow.

[Trippy]

Another you can do is "freeze" your credit meaning that anytime somebody (including yourself) tries to apply for something that would potentially affect it you get notified first. This costs money (unless you are a senior citizen) and I've heard it can be a pain (having to freeze and unfreeze and then refreeze, etc.) but since he (and who knows who else) has your info now you are kind of boned forever and forever, or at least until he dies.

edit: your are?

[Trippy]

Here's a primer on how to contact a credit agency in cases of identity theft. I don't know how good the advice is since I haven't tried it but it should give you a general idea what of the procedure is.

http://www.tulanemba.org/tulane-lost-my-social-security-number/

[Ironwood]

What a Cunt.

[Big Gulp]

Uncle or no uncle, I'd beat the hell out of the cocksucker.

[Oban]

Family! 

[Merusk]

Family doesn't matter when they're fucking with your personal credit and, these days, your future.   I'm with Gulp and I'd beat the hell out of him.  Then I'd file the legal/ civil papers and hope to have him jailed.

[schild]

Your uncle is a thief.

Not much else to say about it.

[Signe]

Don't do anything if your in the Mafia, though.  Maybe move to New Zealand.  Dude.  He's your uncle.  Tell your aunt!

[murdoc]

Tell your aunt!

ha!

[slog]

Situation: Boss used credit card. It has my name on it.

I found out when walking past the accountant's desk. I saw a bill on the claims folder. Dinner for $120.45, then I saw my name. Not my credit card number. Definitely not my signature! Definitely aint my dinner!   
I never applied for it. I didn't remember getting it. He signed the bill with my last name. I never do that.
So...what are the implications ?

This is a big deal. Follow these steps exactly.

1) Go to "www.freecreditreport.com" and pull your credit history immediately.  You get 1 freebie a year.
2) Call each financial institution that you don't recognize as yours, tell them your are a victim in Identity theft and have them put an immediate freeze on your accounts.
3) File a police report. The Credit card companies will require you do this anyway. 
4) Be prepared to testify against your Uncle.   You can even pretend you didn't know it was him until the police figured it out.

[Oban]

In all seriousness, you want to move quickly on this since you already let one person know there is an issue and the guilty party may be alerted. 

Last thing you want is AmEx coming after you for fifty thousand dollars worth of hookers.

[Lakov_Sanite]

step 1:blackmail

step 2: there is no step two

step 3:Profit

[Riggswolfe]

What everyone else said. It's time to get the police in on this. I don't know if he is your uncle by marriage or blood but either way you might also need to warn some people so they don't get blindsided by this. I cannot overstate how big of a deal this is and how you cannot, under any circumstances, try to be a nice guy about this. This could ruin you for years if you don't stop it.

[Abagadro]

Don't use freecreditreport.com.  It is a pay site that will try to upsell you on credit monitoring and will bug the hell out of you if you refuse.  Go directly to the reporting agencies' web sites and you can get one free report from each of them per year directly.  You can stagger them so you get one every four months.

[Furiously]

Is this entire operation family?

Do you trust your uncle?

Could it be a simple misunderstanding?

Is his credit good?

Would you feel comfortable talking to him about what happened?

Protecting your credit is the important thing here. Is it five or ten years those things stick around for?

[Signe]

I can't wait until tomorrow.  I have to know what his uncle says.  This is like Law and Order or something.  I have to know.

[Yegolev]

Putting fraud alerts out with each of the three credit bureaus can be tedious, but that's what I pay LifeLock for.  Anyone tries opening an account with my information and I get a phone call.  There was much less sweating when my wife had her wallet stolen in Chicago a couple weeks ago.

[HaemishM]

Don't use freecreditreport.com.  It is a pay site that will try to upsell you on credit monitoring and will bug the hell out of you if you refuse.  Go directly to the reporting agencies' web sites and you can get one free report from each of them per year directly.  You can stagger them so you get one every four months.

And if you make the mistake of signing up for their shield service just to get your free credit report, they will charge you for the service for months even after you cancel it. You can go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp instead. That's the official site for that sort of thing.

Also, donkey punch your uncle.

[Morat20]

Do try to find out if he's got a corporate card in your name, which is a type of business fraud, or he got a personal card in your namem which is regular old fraud.

On the former, I'm pretty sure you're not liable (the company is generally ultimately liable for those debts) and I don't think that card will show up on your reports.

If that's the case, I'd suggest contacting the better business bureau or a friendly lawyer with some business experience. He/she can probably tell you how illegal those actions are and what to do about it.

If it's a case of "He opened personal cards in your name, which you are liable for" they'll certainly show up on your credit report. Freeze your report, cancel the cards, and start screaming to the police.

No matter HOW he's doing it, the fact that he IS doing it shows there's a serious problem with his business or his finances. Either he's doing it to hide personal expenses as business expenses (and trust me, you do NOT want the IRS thinking you're helping) or he's trying to hide business expenses from creditors, the bank, investors, partners -- someone. One way or the other, he's using you to shield the true state of something and you really don't want to be involved.

Find out if it's a true corporate card or not, then protect yourself ASAP. Freeze your credit reports, cancel the cards if they're personal, contact the IRS, the police, lawyers -- nip this fucker quick.

[Furiously]

Don't use freecreditreport.com.  It is a pay site that will try to upsell you on credit monitoring and will bug the hell out of you if you refuse.  Go directly to the reporting agencies' web sites and you can get one free report from each of them per year directly.  You can stagger them so you get one every four months.

And if you make the mistake of signing up for their shield service just to get your free credit report, they will charge you for the service for months even after you cancel it. You can go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp instead. That's the official site for that sort of thing.

Also, donkey punch your uncle.

Also start looking for a new job.

[Signe]

Don't use freecreditreport.com.  It is a pay site that will try to upsell you on credit monitoring and will bug the hell out of you if you refuse.  Go directly to the reporting agencies' web sites and you can get one free report from each of them per year directly.  You can stagger them so you get one every four months.

And if you make the mistake of signing up for their shield service just to get your free credit report, they will charge you for the service for months even after you cancel it. You can go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp instead. That's the official site for that sort of thing.

Also, donkey punch your uncle.

Also start looking for a new job.

Really good advice.  Even if they're business accounts and you never see a bill, he has no right to mess with your name unless he's had your permission. 

[slog]

Don't use freecreditreport.com.  It is a pay site that will try to upsell you on credit monitoring and will bug the hell out of you if you refuse.  Go directly to the reporting agencies' web sites and you can get one free report from each of them per year directly.  You can stagger them so you get one every four months.

never had a problem with that.  I suppose if you are not a smartie and sign up for stuff then ya.

[Abagadro]

I'm on my PDA so can't link it bit google "Don't fall for freecreditreport.com" for a good article that warned me away from using that place when I was checking my credit reports.

As for "not signing up" for stuff, they run that "free trial membership" scam where you HAVE to sign up and then affirmatively cancel(and even then they have charged people).  Avoid the hassle and just get the report from annualcreditreport.com.

[Oban]

On the former, I'm pretty sure you're not liable (the company is generally ultimately liable for those debts) and I don't think that card will show up on your reports.

Employees are liable for business credit cards if the company fails to pay.  A corporate card requires that the employee has good credit and therefore they do run a check of your SSN as well when the card is issued in your name.

[Merusk]

Lots of folks confuse freecreditreport.com with annualcreditreport.com.  Make use of the latter, but not the former.  Equifax, Transpirian et all will try to upsell you anyway.  "$7.50 to find out your actual score instead of just this meaningless 'paid/ hasn't paid on time' stuff!"

[Salamok]

Don't use freecreditreport.com.  It is a pay site that will try to upsell you on credit monitoring and will bug the hell out of you if you refuse.  Go directly to the reporting agencies' web sites and you can get one free report from each of them per year directly.  You can stagger them so you get one every four months.

And if you make the mistake of signing up for their shield service just to get your free credit report, they will charge you for the service for months even after you cancel it. You can go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp instead. That's the official site for that sort of thing.

Also, donkey punch your uncle.

freecreditreport.com is owned by experian (one of the 3 credit bureaus), annualcreditreport.com is the site set up by the governement so listen to Haemish.  the reports should list every open account that you are associated with along with payment history and balances.


edit: some more info on the difference:

The FTC recently settled a lawsuit against Consumerinfo.com – which did business as Experian Consumer Direct – over the “free credit report” promotion it advertised on television, radio and the Internet, including its websites freecreditreport.com and consumerinfo.com. If you ordered a free credit report from Consumerinfo between November 1, 2000 and September 15, 2003, and were enrolled in its credit monitoring program, you may be eligible for a refund under the FTC’s settlement.

edit 2: uncle or not if he opened a credit card account under your name AND your credit report shows that you are liable for it then it is effecting your credit rating, I wouldn't even talk to him about it i'd cancel the card so he looked like a dork next time he tried to use it then I would have the talk with him which might end up with reporting his practices to the powers that be (starting with the credit card company that allowed this to happen). 

[Numtini]

You can weave your way through freecreditreports stuff and get a free report out of them, but they do fill your box with spam forever after. Or that was my experience.

LifeLock looks nice, but pricey. Great name, if I remember Lifelock the technical name for the palmflower in Logan's Run.

I agree with everyone. Get a credit report and find out if its there. If it is, don't bother with him, pretend you don't know and go to the police to protect yourself. A friend of mine had a similar situation with a brother in law and the family business and once they started lifting up the rocks, they figured out he was looting her family's business dry for his coke habit.

I have to admit, I'm similarly intrigued about the outcome. Not surprising considering the number of detective and true crime shows on our dvr.

[Salamok]

Also sounds like the accountant might be in on it and as stated previously it could just be him cooking the company books and not be directly related to your identity or credit.

[Oban]

A friend of mine had a similar situation with a brother in law and the family business and once they started lifting up the rocks, they figured out he was looting her family's business dry for his coke habit.

Coke is evil shit.