A B.C. man is raising identity theft concerns after he was mailed 10 Capital One credit cards in other people's names.
Pitt Meadows resident Valli Laza was surprised to find someone else's name engraved on a Capital One credit card in an envelope addressed to him last week.
The bank asked him to cut it up, but when he opened his mail this week, he discovered more cards made out to other names.
"Not one but nine letters from them, with my name, my address, but inside all of them with different names on the credit card. It's unbelievable," Laza said.
He's says he's been a victim of identity theft before, so he's sensitive to fraud issues and wonders what could have happened if the same thing happened to someone with looser ethics.
"I'd probably have a trunk full of stuff by now," Laza said.
He's still waiting to receive a new card in his name.
Capital One told Laza that he's not the only one getting extra cards in the mail, explaining that it's a production error and that between five and 10 customers have received similar mail-outs.
But the bank insists the extra cards don't put customers at risk.
"This was not a fraud event and none of those cards were active, but we do have very rigorous fraud protections in place, and just as an extra precaution, we are reissuing new cards for everyone who was impacted," spokeswoman Laurel Ostfield said.
The Better Business Bureau of Mainland B.C. says identity theft is a growing problem.
"The Canadian Bankers Association reported a loss of $365 million in 2010, and there's unreported fraud, also. It's coming to you in different ways now," the BBB's Lynda Passecreta said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Julia Foy
