ID Theft

Identity theft?

I think someone has stolen my husband's identity. He had an attempt to use his credit card last week and yesterday we had a message on our landline to ring back some loan company regarding his online application - of course he never made one. When we phoned them back they said they couldn't give us any information unless we gave them his national insurance number!! The company in question were called "Pounds til payday". We also received a letter addressed to some unknown person at our address, again it was a loan company. I rang them and they said according to their records that person's account had not been used since last year, maybe they had moved since then. I've lived here 7 years! I told her that something dodgy was going on and she just said she wouldn't send anymore correspondance to my address and if I was concerned then phone the police. I WAS concerned so I DID phone the police and all I was given was a reference number! What else can we do? I know now we have logged it with the police and they're aware of it if anything else happens it should be nothing to worry about as they should deal with it but we feel violated, it's almost like someone's broken into my house and I don't trust anyone anymore. Surely there is more that we can do but to sit back and wait for the next attempt to fraudulently gain money under my husband's name? They bank have already cancelled his card and we are waiting for a new one. I am more concerned about people getting other credit in his name rather than using his existing accounts, the bank have been really good as it was them that alerted us to it in the first place.

Public Comments

1. First change all your passwords on any online banking, (not related probably but it never hurts anyway). Contact your bank and tell them, go through every transaction on your statements for all your cards and accounts and check for anything you didn't spend. Keep all correspondence. We had a problem with someone buying train tickets on our card .... we didn't lose out but it was a worry and took some time to sort out. We were issued with new cards. The police weren't interested, apparently if you want to steal money from people this is the way to get away with it. Good luck.
2. First thing to do is ask to be issued with a new credit card and have the old one cancelled. I don't think the police are very interested in fraud of this type. Write to a credit reference agency, such as Experian and explain whats going on. I think they can set up a process of double checkingf applications for credit if they come from your address.
3. cancell all your cards.and inform the the banks.
4. Its happened to us but not quite the same... After we moved mail still got through to the old address..The new tenant decided to order all kinds of things in our name and never paid for them...The bills mounted and 18 months later they came to our address... We knew it was'nt us ...We rang the various companies and provided proof and we were left alone.. However , we knew who it was and we went and had a little shall we say "word" with them.. They will not ever use our name again...They now cross the street rather than be near us....
5. Morning Choclover Unfortunately, your name and address details are readily available to anyone. You can protest all your existing bank accounts by getting new cards etc. But how do you stop someone using your name and address to get credit? Most lenders will ask for some proof of address, like a utility bill, but those are not that hard to forge. There may be credit check agencies you can contact to see what is being applied for in your name. Sorry, but you need professional advice on this one. Maybe the police have someone who specialises in this type of crime that you can talk to.
6. Call all three--- trw ,cbi ,equifax ask them to put a note on the bottom of your file that you want them to contact you before any credit is issued.This will take 48 hours to hit your credit, I work at a car dealer in the finance dept .When i pull credit and see this on someones credit i have to stop and make 2 phone calls we have made over 10 arrests in the past 12 months...........trust me it will help you sleep at nght
7. First, never, ever open letters which are not addressed to you. Send them back unopned marked 'not known at this address'. The sender will have more confidence that that person doesnt live at your address than if you open the letter and start to try dealing with whoever sent the letter. Also it is unlawful to open other people's mail. I wonder if the 'loan company' whom you rang back was in fact a scam to try and obtain your NI number? These type of calls are not unknown where someone claiming to be from your bank rings you and asks you to give personal details 'to make sure we have the right person'. If your bank or anyone else rings you (which should be in exceptional cases), they should be able to identify you - not the other way round.
8. This is awful,I really sympthise with you. I understand that you feel violated and angry, of course these things are normal at a time like this. I would suggest that if you get anymore mail for some one else alert the police and your bank, especially as they seem to be on the ball. I think that I may suggest going back to the police as fraud of any kind is a serious one. In this case not only have you been robbed but the loan companies have been robbed too. (I know so what?) Point being the loan companies may have ccctv footage, they will have some sort of application details on their records that can be checked. They can also cross reference information to see where else this has happened. An other reason I would go back to the police would have to be the loan company you mentioned. Giving details over the phone?? they should really know better I would think, I follow the rule of thumb that only the basics are disclosed over the phone or online. Recently I had to change my address on my driving licence (yeah I did mean to do it about 3 or 4 years ago) any way they wanted 5 bits of ID including my old paper licence. One of these had to bear my NI no. My birth lines were not accepted because any one can get them from the reistrar. Short stop was though I had to point out that in this day and age, documents can be altered via certain computer programmes and if I was of a mind to do so I could be some one else. The response? we wouildn`t let that happen, that`s why we need 5 bits of id.