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Friday, April 20, 2007

Strange Things Are Afoot at the Circle-K

So I think something’s up with my mail carrier.
For the last 6+ weeks, I have been missing mail on a regular basis, and that’s just WEIRD, cuz I’ve been at the same address for almost 2 years with no prior problem.

I’m starting to get concerned because I got verification from Revenue Canada yesterday that a refund and tax assessment were sent out by mail on March 8th, and I have not seen it.
I don’t really care about the check - you’d have to be a retard to try and cash someone else’s check in this day and age; especially a government issued one.
What concerns me more is that my personal information is all over that shit. I’m talking SIN, date of birth, address, income information - basically everything anyone would need to steal my identity. That’s scary.

I spoke with Revenue Canada yesterday, and they said that they now have to send me out a shwack of forms, and that I have to get someone to witness me filling in the info, sign it, and then I send it back in to them. Then they do their paperwork, and send out a new check.
So I asked the lady why don’t I just send in a direct deposit form and void check so that it doesn’t go missing again, and she said “once a paper check, always a paper check.”
Damn it. I know this is true from my own accounting background but eff. I don’t want my info falling into the wrong hands again.
Here’s hoping this package actually gets delivered..

The other things that have been going missing include credit card statements, utility and telephone bills.
Like they just don’t even show up at all for the month. And I check the return to sender mail pile all the time - my stuff is never in there.

So add all 3 of those things together, and if someone wanted to, they could literally become me.
That shit’s not funny.
I already had an issue with this in 2005 when someone stole my wallet. Luckily I am on a fraudulent activity alert for any account openings, credit card applications, etc for the next 5 years. Which is a bit of a relief, but I hate the feeling that someone has my personal information. It seriously worries me.

ANYWAYS.

I called the post office yesterday, which for general info/complaints, is a 1-800 number. So I call, and was polite enough to the wench on the other end. I told her that only some of my mail is getting through - sporadically at that, and I have verification of mail out dates from Enmax, Telus, Mastercard, etc.
It’s not showing up for some reason.
Right away she cuts me off and says “If you getting any mail, that means your service is in order. It’s not like we pick and choose people to steal their hydro bills from.”

PSSSSSSSHHHT.
Kay, I didn’t even remotely accuse the postal service of that, and what’s with yer snot rag tone. Chriiiist.

I told her I had a concern and wanted to get to the bottom of it. Whether it’s a new mail carrier unfamiliar with the route, whether my stuff is going to the wrong building, or whether there’s a pile of my mail sittng in the abyss at the post office, I want it looked into.
She takes my phone number and gives me a reference number, says a rep from my area will contact me and place a delivery monitor on my mail. Well good.
If the guy ever calls that is.

It’s totally plausible that my mail is being delivered to a building one street over with a similar address. My guess, as I said, is a new mail carrier.

But there have been a couple things that have kind of seemed weird in the last month.

I opened my mailbox one day to find my capital one statement. On the front of the envelope, where it says “What’s In Your Wallet?” (the logo), there was hand writing. It said “Fuck All”. (On a side note, I did think it was kinda funny).

Now it could have been the mail carrier, who in my scenario is totally disgruntled and hordes ppls shit in his/her basement and has 45 cats, or it could be a disgruntled worker at Capital One.
Whichever, it’s unnerving.
Then the next month, I don’t receive a statement at all. Strange. This only started happening 6 weeks ago. Before that, no problems.

I also got a mysterious call from some guy in Ontario last night saying he was calling from my bank to see if I was happy with my recent credit card acquisition through them. This seems normal enough, but I deal with the ATB Financial - an Alberta based bank. Like wtf.
He was totally stumbling on his words and said he just needed to “verify my account number”. I said no way man - you should have that info on your screen if you are in fact calling from the bank.
I called the number back and it was “not in service”.

Like fuck.

Now I’m all paranoid about where my stuff is and who’s doing what to it.

Probably nothing bad is going on, but I can’t help but feel like there is.
It just seems so odd.

1 Comments:

  • CC. Why don't you have your mail routed to a PO box? Anybody can get one. Then that stops the possible new carrier from getting your mail and two if someone is stealing your mail. I'm wondering if your mail isn't being stolen from someone right in your building. I had my wallet stolen once (pickpocketed out of my back pocekt - hence why I always carry it in my hands now) I lost everything, my SIN#, birth cert. drivers licence, credit cards the whole works. Anyway I cancelled everything but was worried about my birth cert and SIN # floating around. I called revenue Canada and I had some warning put on my SIN watching for any suspicious activity - most likely it was nothing, just said to ease my fears.

    Long story short, the place where my wallet was stolen from was the apt. building that my cousins lived in at the time. Somehow this guy was arrested for soemthing else and when teh cops raided his place it was full of stolen mail, wallets, you name it. I never did get my wallet back and nothing has happened.

    Also remember when Curtis had that identity theft? He had to go thru hoops to prove it wasn't him opeening accounts and racking up bills.

    Just be careful and do all that you can to stop this.

    By Blogger Jeff Skybar, at 2:24 PM  

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