Someone has stolen my identity, what else do I need to do?

[LouLou198]

Letter from 02 today addressed to me, demanding payment for £100 for phone bill arrears. I've never had a phone from 02. Contacted them and a phone was apparently delivered to my house in August!! Someone has set up an account in my name. They knew my full address and date of birth. 02 have reported to their fraud team, and someone else will get back to me in 30 days. I have reported online to the action fraud and have a crime reference number. I have no idea how my identity has been stolen, I shred everything with personal details on. I can only assume some of my data has been leaked as I do a lot of online shopping. Can I do anything else? I'm worried I they have used my identity for other things! Thanks in advance.

You should run a credit report as anything taken with payments outstanding will show against your name

You've done all the right things. I would also suggest checking on this website to see what might have been leaked in terms of passwords: haveibeenpwned.com/

Then you may see what information was leaked and react.

I would phone my bank & explain it - it might be a pain in the neck but perhaps you could get your debit / credit card cancelled and reissued. Dh had money taken from his Paypal account and will never use it again - he has cancelled it.

Agree with the poster above, use something like Clear Score to check your credit search history to see what else they have signed up for. O2 should offer to register you on Cifas too which makes it more difficult for thieves to buy things under your details. If not you can go on the site and register yourself for a small amount of money.

I had my details stolen a while ago, think it was a fake competition I entered 😩

My DH had similar, the goods were delivered to an address with the names and nothing was done as it just gets claimed via insurance.
We no longer have telephone banking as recommended by the fraud squad, not sure why. It didn't affect our credit rating as everything was reported.

Thanks all. I have requested a credit report which should be with me in the next few days. Will check out the other suggestions too.

Who has access to your property? Assuming someone ordered the phone with the intent of picking up the package form your house? Did O2 send it by recorded or signed for delivery? Who signed for it?

The Credit Karma app is free to use to check all details on your credit report.

The advice I received when it happened to me;

• Report to Action Fraud
• Report to Bank
• Report to all Credit Card Companies and have each Credit Card reissued
• Take an Experian Report
• Take out Experian monitoring for a year
• Change every password used online
• Use a Password Manager and use a different password for every account / sign up
• Close all superfluous accounts
• Don't sign up to any suspicious websites

I hope you are able to nip this in the bud @LouLou198

I had my identity stolen a few years ago when our postman had his trolley stolen with my new bank card in. It was a right pain.

I second the poster above to ask O2 to register you with CIFAS. It will mean no direct debits can be set up without a double authentication from you, so will prevent them trying to do it again. I had it on my account for a year and it was really helpful.

You can sign up to MSE credit club, or clearscore (and there's another free main one which the names escapes me), all online and free, and you can check it anytime you like. I keep an eye on mine for fraud reasons.

You should be able to gain instant access to your credit report online with the main CRAs.

I would also make sure you keep tabs on O2 and nag them relentlessly if they don't call you. My Gran had the same issue last December except we got the phone delivered too because the scammers were a bit shit, and it took them until August (via me threatening them with a journalist who was willing to run the story) to bother to reply and reassure my Gran that she wasn't going to be in thousands of pounds of debt. Their fraud department is worse than useless.

Otherwise good advice on the thread already and I'm sorry you're having to deal with this :(

Some great advice, thank you. Just in the process of changing all my online passwords! @GiltEdges what is CRA's please?

@Iwritethissittinginthekitchensink this is what is concerning me, 02 have said the phone was delivered to my property and signed for by me. I work from home most days and it certainly hasn't been delivered to me. Nobody has access to my house except my mum! I'm worried someone was loitering outside my house waiting for the delivery!

You can get an online credit score and report immediately. You don't have to wait a few days. Clear score is one but there are others.

Can they send you the copy of the signature?

There was a very worrying programme on Radio 4 today - You and Yours - where they were talking about people who'd had their houses sold without their knowledge. You really need to get on top of this, OP.

So someone else paid for the phone but took out an airtime contract in your name?

Yes ask them for the delivery company, delivery number and a copy of the signature

Do you know if it was contract or a pay as you go phone? I’m curious as to how (if it was a contract) they’ve verified your identity linked to your address and verified your bank details for direct debit purposes. Presumably at some point they’ve failed to get bank details otherwise they wouldn’t have perused you for payment - really odd to send out a phone without it being paid for.

O2 say on their website that they’re authorised by the FCA for both the provision of phones and phone insurance. So they’re suppose to have adequate systems and controls to prevent fraud. So definitely send a formal complaint and go to the ombudsman if they don’t sort it out. I’d spell out to them the distress and inconvenience so they can compensate you for all the hours you’re going to have to spend studying your credit report and changing passwords etc. What a pain!

I don't understand why your date of birth is regarded as 'secure'. All the people you have ever worked with know it and probably all your friends too. On top of that, you can't even change it.

@AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair I'm not sure if they paid for the phone or not. Don't some contracts cover the cost of the phone in instalments each month? First I knew of it was a letter demanding payment for an unpaid bill.
@Iwritethissittinginthekitchensink they told me a direct debit had been set up to a bank account. The account must have no money in for the direct debit to be taken. They gave me the full sort code and account number that had been provided and asked me if it was mine!! Erm no!! I don't know if there is any way for 02 to trace them with the bank account details. 02 have disconnected the phone.

Sorry, Credit Reference Agencies e.g. Equifax, Experian, TransUnion. They’ll all give you instant access to your credit report when you sign up with them after asking you a few verification questions.

@GiltEdges thanks I have just done one with clear score, nothing untoward apart from the 02 contract. I will keep an eye on it.

I have also emailed 02 complaints department.

They sound awful - result giving out bank details on the phone doesn’t fill you with confidence!

just another thought - it would be googling your name and name + city etc to see what comes up in search results. Just to make sure you’re not accidentally left your DOB etc visible anywhere.