Upset - fraud - someone help

[pinkblonde311]

Long story short - moved into my house 12 months ago

Few days ago I get a text from previous owner asking me to keep any mail I get for her partner as his identity has been used for credit. I didn't know her partner's name so up until then I had returned 'unknown' post in his name.

Looked at my credit report and OMG. I had bad credit anyway, but there's dozens of searches on there that I didn't make!!! And a credit card and a catalogue which were opened! (the only 2 out of about 20 odd searches)

funny thing is - it was my name and address but the date of birth was completely wrong, by day, month and year (over a decade wrong!)

I called the credit card who said there was a small balance on there but they'd blocked the card after it was used at an ATM (they didnt get any cash out)

Called the catalogue who wouldn't tell me much as I couldn't pass security (obviously!!!) but they insisted items were delivered to MY house! I asked if they could trace the IP of the order and they said if my internet was open (it was, its not now) then it's pointless?!!

Previous owner was told the same - goods delivered to MY house in her fella's name.

She managed to get a statement sent out which showed a baby monitor (my youngest is 4 so that shows its not me thank god) and generic crap like clothes. I don't know what else as she's still going through the companies.

I''m so angry - I'm going to report this in the morning but from what I''ve read, the police aren't likely to go through shop/ATM footage from months ago.

I''m also terrified - is someone watching my house? I work a lot so my neighbour normally takes in my parcels (I had too many go missing so I insisted they either go back to depot or to a neighbour if I'm not in) so obviously she'd have noticed if they werent in my name!

Told my boss today as had to leave work early from the stress of it all. She said no doubt the police will turn up to arrest me, as all these items were "delivered" to my house! Now I'm scared as I can't prove it wasn't me! I never took any parcels I wasn't expecting, never signed for any (though faking my signature is the least of whoever did it's crimes) and seeing as my hubby committed suicide 18 months ago and im estranged from all family, if i go to prison my kids go in care! and have no parents!

i dont know what to do!!!

[JuniperBeer]

Ok. Stop. Calm down. You’re not going to prison. What do you think you’re going to prison for?

You’ve done the right thing by doing a credit search. You can get things removed so don’t panic too much. It’s good news from the credit card company. Sounds like they were very helpful.

The catalogue company will have experienced this before. Inform the police.

Someone better on here will be able to advise you from experience.

[JuniperBeer]

Going forward I would get parcels delivered via click and collect from the post office/co-op or to an amazon locker.
Companies will have procedures in place for this

[pinkblonde311]

Prison for all these items in the old owners name that were “delivered” to my house... short of opening my house up to show the old owner, how can I prove my innocence?

The stuff in my name I can deal with, I can send in ID to prove it wasnt me (the dob the scum used was wayyyy off)

But god knows what the poor woman who lived here before thinks!

[Redglitter]

Ok firstly the Police are not going to come and arrest you and youre not going to prison

Get as much stuff printed off as you possibly can and report it to the Police.

[NickMyLipple]

I always have loads of searches on my credit history that I didn't directly make. Insurance companies, banks, mortgage companies etc all make searches without you directly knowing. It's probably in the T&C somewhere that you've agreed to it!

It's done to check identities mainly, rather than approve you for credit.

Have you done any online insurance comparisons recently? Bought a new car? Got a new energy supplier?

[JuniperBeer]

There isn’t a burden on you to prove you’re innocent. You haven’t been accused of theft.
It could be that the person you spoke to didn’t get the full picture. Billing address and delivery address can be different. They might not have seen the whole account. They weren’t able to give you full details, you said yourself.

Honestly. I know it’s easy to say but chill out. Yes it’s not very nice, but don’t get hysterical and lose site of what you actually need to do. Contact the police on non-emergency. Ask the catalogues etc what they need from you.
They’ll have done it before.

[JuniperBeer]

I would also not be keeping any post. They need to set up a mail forwarding for their name and inform the companies.
Anything else that gets delivered I open - and no, it’s not illegal!

[MaverickSnoopy]

First of all I would contact Action Fraud www.actionfraud.police.uk. They'll give you advise on what to do and they'll also give you a crime reference number. They don't investigate what's happened but they're a good source of information.

Secondly calm down. You will sort this out and you won't go to prison. If you do what action fraud tell you to do you can fix this.

Just a note. When you phone companies ask to speak to their fraud dept. They're specialised in dealing with fraud, whereas normal staff can muddy the waters (speaking from experience).

[PyongyangKipperbang]

Your boss is a dick. You are not going to prison!

[MrsPerfect12]

My husband has had this before. Goods were delivered to an address 100's of miles away. We had no idea until we got a letter from a debt collector but funnily enough never a bill from the company credit was sought from. We got a crime ref number and had to fill out some online form and it was sorted for us. No harm to credit etc. We're both with clear score now and check it monthly to make sure this can't happen again.

[pinkblonde311]

The billing and delivery address are both mine according to the companies! How am I meant to prove I didn’t receive something? I’m freaked out to think someone could be watching my house!

The searches aren’t mine - I haven’t opened any catalogues or credit cards for years

My letter box is one attached to the wall, rather than one on my door. Think I’ll tape that up!!!

My boss means well but she’s scared me with saying people get done for catalogues in other people’s names all the time! Except I didn’t do that!

[Hittapotamus]

You are innocent and also a victim of crime. Call Action Fraud for advice.

[BrieAndChilli]

Could it be the neighbour who takes in your parcels?? The connection seems to be your address so it must be someone who can access your property or takes in the parcels

[scaredofthecity]

This happened to me, it was a next account and they'd put on the delivery instructions to leave outside. I only found out when an account letter was sent to me.

They'd only used my name and address, everything else was wrong.

Next were very apologetic and the account was closed straight away.

Since then I've been very careful about making sure I leave nothing with my name and address. I shred everything.

[redexpat]

My boss means well but she’s scared me with saying people get done for catalogues in other people’s names all the time! Except I didn’t do that! Exactly! If anyone gets done it will be the person doing it to you.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

It may be worth getting a protective CIFAS on your accounts

www.cifas.org.uk/services/identity-protection/protective-registration

It will make it harder for you to access new financial services, but will also make it much harder for other people to open accounts in your name.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Also, read this:

www.cifas.org.uk/services/identity-protection/victim-of-impersonation

[skunkatanka]

When you moved into your current house, did you change the locks? It sounds to me that the likely person to blame here is the ex owners partner.

[skunkatanka]

keep any mail I get for her partner as his identity has been used for credit


But then you say that your credit history is poor as things have been taken out in your name?? Which one is it?

[pinkblonde311]

Skunk - both. As I said, she told me her partners name was being used. It prompted me to check my credit report where I found out mine had been used too. Yes I changed locks

Brie - no I don’t think it’s the neighbour, she’s a lovely elderly lady, I know her well

Scared / funny you should mention that, I had a lot of parcels go missing that the courier had chucked outside. That’s why my neighbour now takes them in

Spoke to the catalogue this morning and asked them for a statement of what was ordered - they refused!!!!! She did tell me verbally that it was clothing and baby items but wouldn’t say any more. My youngest is 4 so obviously I don’t need baby stuff which is more proof it’s mot me but she just said to get a crime number.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

just said to get a crime number

Do this. From their point of view they have no idea if you are the scammer or not.

And follow the rest of the steps in my previous posts.

[Redglitter]

My youngest is 4 so obviously I don’t need baby stuff which is more proof it’s mot me

The catalogue company aren't going to factor that into things though. You could have ordered for a friend etc

You need to report it and get a crime number and get the ball rolling that way

[JuniperBeer]

Any news OP? Did you contact the police?

[WiltedDaffs]

DH and I have had this issue before, all got cleared up and removed from his credit report. It was just time consuming making phone calls and constantly repeating ourselves to call centres.

First of all, you do not need to prove it wasn’t you. You do not need to prove you didn’t receive anything.

What you do need to do is report each account to action fraud and get a crime reference number.

Then you call each company, ask to speak to their fraud department. Tell them there’s accounts on your credit report that you didn’t open, someone has used your identity and give them the reference number. It’ll take some time, you may have to chase them up, but they will remove this information from your credit report.

They won’t give you any information on what was ordered because you’ve told them it wasn’t you that ordered it. It may have your name on it but even so the information doesn’t relate to you. It’s the fraudsters data really and so under the data protection act they can’t give it to anyone else. It’s GOOD they won’t give you any information, it means the person on the end of the phone realises it’s not you who’s done this and it’s not really your information.