02 ruined my daughters life

I know someone this happened to and they managed to get it removed straight away. She should not have accepted it staying on her file. She needs to be persistent. A Google search will tell you what to do in this situation but you absolutely do not just accept it and wait 6 years for it to come off the file. She needs to get credit karma for starters so she knows if anything is taken out in her name immediately and can address it

I'm so sorry OP. You can go to the credit agencies and put a stop on credit being taken out in your name. There is more than one agency, and if she wants credit you will have to have it removed in order for that to happen. I know of someone who had a password put on their credit file, years ago, that came up when you searched, and that stopped credit going through automatically, which seems to me like something that should be on all credit files.

Sorry not read everyone else’s replies.

I assume as this has now happened twice it is someone she knows.

Therefore her first port of call is the police and she needs to tell them the name of the person (I’m guessing an ex boyfriend).

I’m sure you’ve done it already but phone the bank and cancel her card etc immediately as well as any companies that she thinks have been involved.
Tell them that the police are involved.

It’s one thing to try and take a loan out in someone’s name but they must have also had her bank details etc to set up a direct debit payment etc and so this has to be someone close to her and she needs to have them arrested over it else it’s just going to keep happening.

Contact Experian and do a victim of fraud referral

This happened to me. But with Sky, it's a pain, but it was sorted out within a week or two I don't think she is telling the truth. Or maybe she doesn't understand the system properly. Her broker should be able to point her in the right direction to getting it sorted out. It really was just a phone call to sky once I had the police report.

Many of the banking apps have a credit score facility (Trustpilot is one) - you can see all open and closed credit accounts in your name and the balance . She needs to keep on top of this and act quickly.

Do people not check their credit file? My banking apps show me my credititors, closed accounts, and status. It's not hard these days.

Are you sure your daughter is being truthful. Having to wait 6 years for it to be sorted points to a defaulted account rather than identity theft.
my daughter has recently been a victim of identity theft where credit had been applied for and given, bank accounts opened and a phone contract taken out.
This took less than a month to sort out and get everything removed from her credit score. She also had free access to CIFAS to double her security in the future.

Try Shari Vaal at radio 4 You and Yours, she’s been investigating fraud for a while.

Doesn’t add up. I had an incorrect entry from virgin and it was removed by them. And why wasn’t your daughter regularly checking her credit report?

Try Katherine Denham at the Times.

i second this. Amazing how quickly companies sort stuff once they hear from a journalist.

This happened to my partner. We only realised when we went to take out finance on a car and his credit score had tanked.
He contacted the credit score company not sure if clearscore or Experian but they did their own investigation and found it was not him and fixed his credit score by the next month. 6 years is a long time.

Get a police crime number first

Don’t count on getting a response here. Someone took an O2 mobile contract out at my 88 year old mothers address, I have written to complaints twice, no response, called them and no action taken and wrote directly to Lutz at the above email, not even an acknowledgement. Nada, zilch, zero from every department at O2.

Diabolical.

I've been trying since September.

I should now be in the timescales where Ofcom will accept a complaint.

Bit weird to include her name when you're worried about identity theft.

I’m not being funny but is she as naive as you are about putting personal details online? You have put her first name in your post, ask MNHQ to remove it asap. And your user name appears to give your year of birth, I do hope Wenders is not your surname too.

Did she go to the police?

I would contact one of the major newspapers for help e.g. Times or Telegraph. They have consumer champions who offer help. Or Which? the consumers association do too.

Action Fraud are part of the police.

OP - it isn't clear why she's had such a long time to clear things up, but if there's been fraud then she can fill in the form here: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/.

I had an issue when applying for a mortgage, I had swapped my bank account (which automatically swapped all my direct debits) and mid way through the application process, it came to light that my phone contract direct debit hadn't been swapped, so the payment rejected, it was the banks fault, but as it was now on my credit file, my mortgage offer was immediately rescinded.

I had to get the bank to write a letter admitting fault, which I had to send to my phone provider, and then the phone provider had to contact experian to get the mark removed from my credit file, it was a massive faff, but it worked, it was removed and my mortgage offer was reinstated as if nothing had happened.

There's something odd about this though, why was she unable to have it removed before, and why can't she have it removed now? You say she has contacted a lot of people what are their reasons for not being able to help her? Is it someone in her household taking out finance/contracts in her name?

To have it done once is unlucky, to have it done twice, in the same company, suggests that she isnt being as safe as she could be with her personal information or it is someone she knows (and who knows her) very well.

Not victim blaming, the people who do this are scumbags but sadly you really cant trust anyone anymore.

Yes the link is at https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr

When I had a credit account set up in my name, I was advised to apply for a protective registration, to add an extra layer of security. I think it cost me £20 or £30. Wasn't she advised to do this?

I also tried reporting to the police, but apparently it wasn't a police matter and I was told to contact Action Fraud.

Did you report to the police the first time around? This time? Also have you reported to her bank- they can put a note on her file to verify any new direct debit requests etc. check with the police what additional measures you can take.