Was this ever possible?

[taxguykarl]

If you have power of attorney, then yes, you can at least in the US. It's actually made for situations where a person isn't able to do things so they have someone else (usually a family member).

You're right about that, Nurian. I have a steady who has power of attorney for her father, an alzheimer's patient. Every year I have to not only view, but copy the docs that show that she can sign his tax return for him and keep them on file. I have to do the same for military couples where one is deployed.

My question is, was it ever possible to legally open a card in another person's name? Even before credit agreements became 80 pages long? I'm 26 and I've never had a customer ask for something like this. The only reasonable situation I can think of is maybe if someone had legal guardianship over an adult but even then I don't know. The whole encounter confused me.

In the scenario described in the OP, that was always called FRAUD! In the last couple decades or so, special laws against identity theft were passed.

Tell me you brought this to the attention of law enforcement.

[Caractacus_Potts]

While I agree that someone not able to leave the house generally wouldn't need a credit card if someone else was helping them obtain the necessities,

Could be wanting a card to make purchases on line (and I was also going to say to the person you replied to the disabled =/= no income or money).

[emilochka]

Tell me you brought this to the attention of law enforcement.

We didn't get her name. We reported it to our district manager and the mall management office, who emailed the other stores in our mall and plaza. We talked calling the police but we couldn't give them any meaningful information and weren't even sure what to tell them. Frankly our description for the police - mid-40s, white, brunette, slightly below average hight, slightly above average weight - would apply to huge numbers of women here in the Midwest.

[Yarnil]

No camera's?

[emilochka]

No camera's?

None, which also makes it next to impossible to prosecute or even ban shoplifters. It's a small store compared to others in our company and our layout is very boutique-like, with quirky displays and lots of blind spots. It's really difficult to monitor.

About 5-10 years ago our company stopped using security cameras, deciding they weren't worth the cost and weren't effective as a deterrent. They decided to focus on training the employees to intercept shoplifters in non-confrontational ways. You can imagine how well that works.

The thing is, security cameras are not useful as a deterrent, really - they're useful as evidence. Even if we see someone put merchandise in a bag and walk out of the store without paying, we can't do anything because it's our word against them and legally we can't search their other bags or request a receipt. So, if a customer stuffs a sweater and a few pieces of jewelry in her purse or bag from another store, we can't search her, even if the sensor alarms go off. (If she has a bag from our store, though, we can search it and ask for a receipt. If she has merchandise in her bag that is not on her receipt, we're supposed to turn her over to mall management...who never ban or prosecute anyone.)