To think that 'Next' deserve to be defrauded.

[Grumpyoldpersonwithcats]

Some worthless lowlife piece if shit has opened a Next Storecard in my name and of course spent up the limit at the same time.
First I know about it is today when the credit agreement arrives in the post.
Apparently all you need is a name, address and DOB to open a Next card - BUT you don't need any form of ID to prove it.

Would it be too much for Next to ask for a driving licence or a utility bill in order to confirm that the applicant is who they say they are, rather than just an evil lying thieving toerag?

I ordered something from next a couple of weeks ago and my credit card company phoned me to make sure it was me as apparently there is a lot of fraud going through Next just now.

It's frightening.

My biggest concern is that since they found my details worked in Next (I.e. the credit check passed) they may have opened other store cards.

Years ago this happened to us. It was a neighbor who took it out in my name

It's the same with any credit though I suppose. Not just next. You can open up credit card accounts online with no ID. They just do the credit check and away you go.

Who knows you well enough to have your DOB @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats?

This is one example of why no one should put their DOB online ( ie Facebook profiles) or for any online site UNLESS it's a government one where your DOB is mandatory.

Shops and sites that ask for a DOB only use it for data gathering, and selling you stuff. You do not have to give it and IF they insist to open a loyalty account or card, give a date that is not the real one.

It's the same with any credit though I suppose. Not just next. You can open up credit card accounts online with no ID.

No I don't think so.

But with CC you usually have to have goods delivered to the address you register.

And surely you have to give bank details? I was trying to get a CC for my mum recently from a major bank and they wanted her bak account no, sort code etc.

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats
This happened to me a while back.
Someone opened a fake bank account with my details and proceeded to open up a bunch of contracts in-store.

Only one of them didn't give them the phones and one of them which was my own mobile provider.

I think it's a pretty common sort of fraud and the first I heard of it is when the overdue notices started coming in.

It's very annoying. I'd suggest you sign up with the free credit report agency services (middle is one and Money Saving Expert has another).

You'll be able to see any credit accounts against your name and get an idea of who needs to be contacted. You can also register for voluntary fraud protection which will basically flag companies to put a bit more effort into checking accounts opened in your name for a few years.

This happened to me with Next a few months ago! I couldn't understand how someone had managed to do it, I have zero credit with having had to take out a debt relief order last year. I spotted it on my clearscore report and phoned Next, it turns out whoever it was had used the full amount of credit, paid the first 2 months bills then stopped paying. Lucky they wiped the account off once they realised it wasn't me. I'm still furious though!

I’m really sorry to hear you’ve had to deal with all this. A long time ago (pre kids) I lived in a house that had been converted into flats. New neighbour moved in downstairs and started fishing through post which came through communal post box. They managed to get all my details from a gym membership which were on a transparency receipt the gym had (stupidly) sent in the post - Dob mothers maiden name, bank details etc. They then opened a few store / credit cards in my name and started ordering loads of stuff. First thing I knew about it was when some baby stuff arrived for me I knew I’d not ordered. ( She obviously intercepted other things when I was at work). Police got involved and raided her flat which was stuffed full of brand new designer stuff. I was one in a long line of people she’d defrauded including a former flat mate she’d lived with. I saw her afterwards and she had the gall to look unabashed but did a moonlight flit later that week. Thankfully I was not liable for any of it. Still horrible experience though which made my flesh crawl.

They must have relaxed their rules, when I worked for them your first order always had to go to your house.

Under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, a company has to take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect the privacy of their data subjects. You could say that by failing to operate a suitable identity verification process at the point of data collection, they are failing to use appropriate organisational measures to prevent identity fraud and invasion of a (potential) customer's private credit rating details. In other words, if to get a card, they run an Experian check on your information based on the unverified data provided by a third party, they are acting irresponsibly when it comes to protecting your data from being processed without your consent.
Tills are usually covered by cctv and it is not a great hike to inspect the POS information and match the card transaction to the cctv footage. By providing this to the police, it supports a prosecution for identity theft and fraud. If they aren't taking this seriously, then you need to. Go kick some butt!

My sister used to work at Next and said this is not uncommon apparently!

Surely they look at what addresses the stuff was sent to and catch the fraudster and prosecute that way