New Type of Identity Thieves?

These rascals will pay your bills!

The old feeder has a gasoline company credit card. I got it to keep track of my fuel expenses, and have used it for more than 20 years. It is a commercial card, issued in the name of a business. Once I got situated here in New Mexico I tried to change the billing address on the card. I paid the most recent bill (in full, as always) and checked the little box on the statement stub indicating that I had printed my new address on the back.

The other day I got a letter from the card issuer demanding that I formally request the change of address on my 'letterhead' and confirm the new address by enclosing a utility bill showing the same. The letterhead would have been easy. It's just a Word document that I can edit any time. For a number of reasons, I've never had my utilities in my own name. Not the telephone, the gas or the electric, and as long as the bills were paid on time, nobody seemed to care. I decided to call the card issuer by phone and get this straightened out.

The customer service person was most helpful and the address was changed after I identified myself to their satisfaction. No need for the letterhead or utility bill. The incident left me wondering, what kind of shenanigans was the original request designed to prevent?

Is there some new type of identity thief who is willing to pay your bills just to use your name? One that changes the billing address on your credit cards so that the bills come to their house instead of yours? Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see the advantage to the thief or any great risk to me.