AIBU - calling all am amateur sleuths

[Busydays13]

Ladies - not a traditional AIBU post - but having read previous posts here and the very clever responses - I thought I would give it a go...... as I am baffled.....

Basically my husband has had someone order an iPhone 6S (rose gold colour) on his mobile phone account. They did this by calling the phone company and asking to set up a new account - (the mobile number the call came from is not his and is now dead) - the phone company said you already have an account with us which he does - but let's do a credit check on you to see if we can supply you with a new phone. From what they have listened to so far (calls are monitored for training and recording purposes etc) - they gave his date of birth - knew where he banked - post code of where he lived etc - and while they failed one or two questions - they basically passed this person to get the phone - they had tried to get 2 phones - but because they failed some of the credit questions - they only got one!!! (don't even start me on the fact that it was a credit reference company which ADVERTISES that if you pay them they will help protect you from fraud!!!! Meanshile they give some scamster a phone by failing to follow basic control procedures). My husband is not from the UK and has quite a distinctive foreign accent - this caller was English apparently - so definitely not my husband. This call to order the phone was made on the 23rd of August when we were not in the country and can prove that by flight records. We arrived back on the evening of the 23rd late. The email address used for confirmation of the order was not the email address which the phone company holds for my husband and is quite obviously a fake - so I am very annoyed with them for not at least checking by phone, text or email to my husbands current records. Therefore my husband knew nothing about this until his phone got blocked on Monday and he rang his provider. Delivery was scheduled for the 24th August and occurred around 1pm according to the deilvery company. My husband was in at that time as was our au pair and children and no such delivery was made. I rang the delivery company - and they sent a scanned copy of the signature they received for delivery (it was not even remotely like my husbands) - their records show that the delivery van co-ordinates placed the van on our street at the time of delivery. Even more worryingly apparently the delivery was signed for using my husbands passport (though the passport details which the delivery driver took - do not match my husbands passport - so am assuming IF one was actually provided it was a fake). The Delivery company states that identification must be provided and it would only be delivered to our house - i.e. someone had to be in the house to accept delivery. So Ladies, does anyone know how this could have occurred. I thought at first that perhaps they intercepted the driver - as they send texts giving an hour window for delivery - but the van co-ordinates dispute this. Then I thought maybe someone hung around outside and just pretended to have exited the house - and signed for it - but the delivery company stated that it had to be taken in by someone actually in the house. So I am baffled. This is a genuine fraud....... we have to contact the police with respect to my husbands passport and report it - as god knows what else they could have done or accounts they may have set up. If the driver didn't follow orders with respect to ensuring the person who took delivery was actually in our house - then I don't expect them to admit it - but how else could this delivery have been made? They had said they will get a descripton Any Sherlock Holmes out there?

[dowhatnow]

It's got to be the au pair, in the house, with a fake passport.

[steppemum]

either
the driver is in on it
or
the driver is lying and didn't follow procedure. But it would be pretty risky to stand outside your house waiting for a delivery!

[cuntinghomicidalcardigan]

Could it have been the delivery driver? Have they delivered to you before, therefore could have opened any of your dh's previous personal post with his details in? Easy enough then for them to provide a false decryption of an imaginary recipient.

[MrsPear]

I hate to say it but the au pair?
She / he would have been in and as living with you would have access to documents.

[PinkSquash]

Have they cancelled the cheque phone OP?

[MadameCholetsDirtySecret]

My first thought was someone from the mobile phone company.
Or a neighbour who has recieved some of your post in error and has used it fraudulently
Or professor Plum in the library with lead piping.

[Busydays13]

Apparently - the driver would only deliver to the person named - or someone with the same last name - and while we cannot speak to teh driver yet - it appears it was a male - with a passport. Yes - they may not have followed procedure - but not sure they would admit that - if it were the case. Have had this company deliver before - but it's usually to me - and I have a different surname to my husbands (didn't take his when we married)..... it would break my heart if it were the au pair - as we have been so so kind to her........ she has now left to return to Uni...... is it possible to track this phone in terms of it's location? i.e. suppose a new number were set up and calls are being made from it - could it be tracked? Does the phone ID get registered to a SIM card ever? So that it's identifiable???

[gleam]

Does your street have anything unusual about it so the delivery driver could have mixed up addresses? My street joins a different street and it's really not obvious.

[SaucyJack]

It's your au pair's boyfriend.

Sorry.

[dowhatnow]

Did the au pair now you were returning from holiday the night before or did she think she would be in an empty house?

[dowhatnow]

know

[LouisvilleLlama]

It could be your husband, you don't have to be in the UK to make a phone call, and some people can put an accent on easily. Some people have two passports especially from abroad, and it's not hard to make a signature not look like your signature.

[badtime]

The driver is lying.

I have had delivery drivers bullshit so many times about what they had done (e.g. saying they attempted delivery, but I was definitely in and there was no card left), and I have also heard of a similar scam to this where delivery is taken by someone outside the house.

TBF, if you went to deliver something and met someone just outside the door of the house you were delivering to with a passport in the name of the person you were delivering to, you wouldn't really think anything of it, would you?

[george1020]

Au pair or delivery driver

(And place mark for hopeful update once police have sorted it)

[LurkingHusband]

Given that the whole world + dog has a smartphone with a camera nowadays, maybe the suggestion that the delivery tracking software requires a photo of the person collecting/accepting the delivery would have been useful here ?

[steppemum]

really think it has to be the driver or the au pairs boyfriend. If it was au pair, it would explain how they had so many details.

[Queenbean]

Au pair's boyfriend? Or delivery driver is telling fibs

[Busydays13]

ok - definitely not my husband........ yes au pair knew we were returning on the 23rd - so couldn't be sure of our whereabouts on the 24th in order to have an empty house for delivery - I can work from home when I choose...... Plus she couldn't present a male passport as she is female - unless the driver really didn't care less - which is not beyond the wit of man......... yes deliveries like that are a nightmare - last week I had a delivery from another company (one I actually ordered) - which had to be signed for - went to the same house number - 3 streets away - because our street and their street started with the same letter - got signed for - and only that my neighbour brought it round the next day - I would have been none the wiser - as I had recieved texts and emails saying - "your package has been delivered" - in light of the fraud I rang to complain - but their records did show that the driver WAS 3 streets away and they were going to investigate - so I told them what happeend. This phone delivery however - places the driver on our street at the time of delivery and if they didn't follow protocol - then they are unlikely to admit it.......... but there was no delivery....

[hippydippybaloney]

I agree. The most obvious answer is usually the right one, it was the au pair who had access to all of this information while in your house, probably via a boyfriend or male friend so she could say it couldn't have been her.

[wowfudge]

The driver will be aware that the company has a contract to deliver for X phone company, but then it seems that others may have had the opportunity to access your husband's information. Contact Action Fraud. Your husband needs to get advice on identity theft and change all his passwords, make sure he has security software installed, etc. I would say a rose gold phone is more likely to be a woman's choice, but I may be wrong.

[VladmirsPoutine]

How was Maui?

[PikachuSayBoo]

Maui?

[BeMorePanda]

they gave his date of birth
knew where he banked
post code of where he lived
call to order the phone was made on the 23rd of August when we were not in the country
delivery occurred around 1pm
au pair in at alleged delivery time
delivery signed for
the passport details which the delivery driver took - do not match my husbands passport
au pair returns to uni shortly afterwards

Sorry OP but look at all the above, this has been planned by someone with inside knowledge about your family. I would guess the au pair with an accomplice.

If it was the delivery driver, it wouldn't be a one off - it would be an ongoing scam and easier to detect.

Though it is puzzling - why wouldn't she have done the fraud against your name as it would be easier for her to impersonate you? Is it possible your personal info was less accessible to her? Or you don't have a phone account? Do you think perhaps she came across your H's passport one day and took the details for future use? Did she have a boyfriend and did he come to your house? perhaps it was him and he got her involved?

[ABloodyDifficultWoman]

What have the Police said about all this OP?

[ohtheholidays]

We had similar happen with Yodel they said they'd delivered a blazer(school one and it was expensive)and that I'd signed for it.

They hadn't and I was in the house at the time,the signature was nothing like mine.They spoke to the driver,he still denied any wrong doing but they'd had suspicions about him before,they told him that I'm disabled and that the item that didn't turn up was for a disabled child(both facts were true),funnily enough he changed his mind then and said that he may have delivered to the wrong place by mistake of course.

He was given the sack and we got refunded the cost of the blazer and delivery but it took 2 weeks to sort out and I had to order another one and we had to sort out collection.

So there is a possibility that the delivery driver is lying.