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DRAPER — A Draper couple said they're on the hook for thousands of dollars in charges racked up on a credit card they never opened.
Justin Bryner and his wife learned of the charges when an out-of-the-blue collections notice hit like a thunderbolt.
"We looked at it, and like, holy cow," Bryner said. "Almost $16,000."
The charges were made on a Chase credit card. The notice said it was issued to Bryner's wife. The thing is — she doesn't have a Chase credit card.
Falling on deaf ears
After many calls to Chase, Bryner said he finally got access to statements for the mystery card. It showed the card was never used in Utah.
"All of the charges were either in stores in Georgia or Florida — places where my wife has never been," Bryner said.
And the card's billing address is over 1,300 miles away from their Draper home, in Lisle, Illinois, a west Chicago suburb.
"The address that (the credit card statement's) been being mailed to is a UPS mailbox in Illinois," he said.
For the Bryners, that proves fraud, but Chase Bank didn't agree. In a letter, the company insisted the Bryners "accepted responsibility" for the account.
"At one point, somebody that we had worked with said, 'Well, you've made a payment which shows that you own it,'" Bryner said. "And I was like, 'We've never made a payment.'"
In another letter, Chase also wrote a "one-time passcode" sent to a "verified phone number" proved their responsibility. That "verified" number has an Illinois area code.
"It's more than frustrating — it's mind-numbing," said Byner. "We're trying to provide evidence that we've found or at least we think is showing that it's not ours, and it falls on deaf ears."
So, their next call was to someone who listens: Get Gephardt.
Widespread fraud
The Bryners are, of course, far from alone in reporting credit card fraud, and Chase is certainly aware it's a significant issue.
In 2023, it was the most common type of identity theft with 416,582 cases reported to the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Network. U.S. consumers experienced $246 million in credit card fraud losses. Worldwide, the total value of losses grew to $34.36 billion.
And if it is fraud, federal law is clear — you are not liable for debt on a new account opened in your name without your say so.
The KSL Investigators contacted Chase's public relations team to ask why they don't believe the Bryners have proof of fraud.
Charges resolved
In a statement, its spokesperson told us it "can't discuss customer details" and that "customers are never responsible for confirmed fraudulent activity."
But the Bryners got a much more definitive answer. In a new letter, Chase told them they reviewed the account and confirmed they're not responsible for it. And Chase has asked the credit bureaus to remove that account from the Bryners' credit history.
Justin Bryner said after we contacted Chase, it told him they're reviewing internal processes for credit approval and fraud investigation.
