Identity Theft
Discussion
Today a letter arrived from Next confirming my £1,500 credit agreement - great but I've never applied for credit. I called the number and it appears someone has used my name, address and date of birth to open an account. Thankfully it took me about 5 minutes to close this down. The lady at Next suggested I undertook an Experian Credit Search to see whether they've applied for anything else.
The Experian search flagged that someone has applied for 2 credit cards, a personal loan and credit at Vodafone on the 27/11 and 29/11 respectively. I hopefully, after 2 hours on the phone have managed to register the Vodafone account as fraudulent even though someone went in to a physical shop with fake ID and apparently stolen credit card and walked out with a rose gold iPhone 7 128gb on a £50 a month contract - I'll wait and see whether this disappears from my credit check in the 7 days they promised. I do have the fraudulent account number and even the phone number which I've passed on to Action Fraud.
I can't see which loan or credit cards they applied for as the searches are in the name of Clearscore, a third party credit checking company.
Now I have the pain of waiting for other letters to arrive at home and convincing the lenders that this credit was all obtained fraudulently as I can only act retrospectively when I see notifications appear on my credit reports and when my score further decreases.
Annoyingly there's little I can do, I've registered with Action Fraud and have a reference and also with CIFAS which hopefully adds an extra layer of protection to any credit checks but ultimately I'll just have to ride this out until the thief gets bored - at which time they sell my details on.
Now this is pure speculation but I think this happened when my secretary was asked for my credit card details and a copy of identification to pre-authorise drinks at a big property do yesterday. I had no issue with this as I do the same every year but I suspect that someone at the hotel has passed my details on for their benefit.
So far, I've called my bank and my Amex to let them know the situation but is there anything else I can do as I feel pretty helpless at the moment?
The Experian search flagged that someone has applied for 2 credit cards, a personal loan and credit at Vodafone on the 27/11 and 29/11 respectively. I hopefully, after 2 hours on the phone have managed to register the Vodafone account as fraudulent even though someone went in to a physical shop with fake ID and apparently stolen credit card and walked out with a rose gold iPhone 7 128gb on a £50 a month contract - I'll wait and see whether this disappears from my credit check in the 7 days they promised. I do have the fraudulent account number and even the phone number which I've passed on to Action Fraud.
I can't see which loan or credit cards they applied for as the searches are in the name of Clearscore, a third party credit checking company.
Now I have the pain of waiting for other letters to arrive at home and convincing the lenders that this credit was all obtained fraudulently as I can only act retrospectively when I see notifications appear on my credit reports and when my score further decreases.
Annoyingly there's little I can do, I've registered with Action Fraud and have a reference and also with CIFAS which hopefully adds an extra layer of protection to any credit checks but ultimately I'll just have to ride this out until the thief gets bored - at which time they sell my details on.
Now this is pure speculation but I think this happened when my secretary was asked for my credit card details and a copy of identification to pre-authorise drinks at a big property do yesterday. I had no issue with this as I do the same every year but I suspect that someone at the hotel has passed my details on for their benefit.
So far, I've called my bank and my Amex to let them know the situation but is there anything else I can do as I feel pretty helpless at the moment?
Been there about 2 years ago, similar story to you. You've done the right thing, keep an eye on the statutory reports, I ended up with accounts with all the mobile phone networks, they all sorted it without hassle. Very little you can do - simply keep an eye on your report & make sure the entries have vanished.
If it's an comfort they stopped using my details after 48 hours (once things started being declined due to the amount of credit being requested), nothing since.
If it's an comfort they stopped using my details after 48 hours (once things started being declined due to the amount of credit being requested), nothing since.
You could pre-empt things by sending a letter to each credit agency asking them to perform enhanced identity confirmation checks on any credit application for your name/address. They do share anti-fraud info but getting your own wording on file first can smooth things in future.
Edited by 4x4Tyke on Saturday 3rd December 19:42
It's a massive ball ache and appears they've opened a Clearscore credit checking account using my details to view my credit score. I've managed to freeze this while they investigate that I'm the real me. In the meantime I can't sign up as it says my details are already registered to a different email address.
I've now registered with CIFAS and requested a password is put on my credit file.
I've now registered with CIFAS and requested a password is put on my credit file.
A right ball-ache indeed. We have also been targeted in the last two months with a PayPal account hacked last week, spurious loan applications (only found this out by looking at my credit agency report today) and UK credit card fraudulent purchases two weeks ago. The problem we have is that we live in France although all our financials are registered to our UK address, someone has obviously got hold of details that should have gone to my UK address which is occupied currently by a trusted relation. I tried to register with CIFAS but can't as we have to be UK resident.
I've cancelled the PayPal account and had my credit cards replaced but am concerned at what else might surface over the coming weeks.
I've cancelled the PayPal account and had my credit cards replaced but am concerned at what else might surface over the coming weeks.
Perik Omo said:
A right ball-ache indeed. We have also been targeted in the last two months with a PayPal account hacked last week, spurious loan applications (only found this out by looking at my credit agency report today) and UK credit card fraudulent purchases two weeks ago. The problem we have is that we live in France although all our financials are registered to our UK address, someone has obviously got hold of details that should have gone to my UK address which is occupied currently by a trusted relation. I tried to register with CIFAS but can't as we have to be UK resident.
I've cancelled the PayPal account and had my credit cards replaced but am concerned at what else might surface over the coming weeks.
Have you logged the fraud with Action Fraud (police)? If you call the companies that are providing the loans to the fraudster and say you've been the victim of identity theft and provide your Action Fraud reference number they should register you with CIFAS for freeI've cancelled the PayPal account and had my credit cards replaced but am concerned at what else might surface over the coming weeks.
OK, thanks for that. Am just on the way out but will get onto that first thing in the morning.
The loan applications were with Capital One but all their contact numbers assume that I have an account/card with them (requiring input of account/card number) which I don't have. I did find an email fraud email address and have used that with the details and hope that gets somewhere.
The loan applications were with Capital One but all their contact numbers assume that I have an account/card with them (requiring input of account/card number) which I don't have. I did find an email fraud email address and have used that with the details and hope that gets somewhere.
Edited by Perik Omo on Sunday 4th December 16:31
I have to say that companies like Next are asking for trouble though. I received a bill for £2000 from Littlewoods for a Sony laptop and a mobile phone (this was a while ago) that we hadn't ordered or even had an account with them. When I phoned to complain, an account had been opened in my wife's name, a check against the electoral roll is all they did and they were happy to have the first order being delivered to a different address.
As a form of validating, that does seem to say "Please rip me off..."/
As a form of validating, that does seem to say "Please rip me off..."/
boxst said:
I have to say that companies like Next are asking for trouble though. I received a bill for £2000 from Littlewoods for a Sony laptop and a mobile phone (this was a while ago) that we hadn't ordered or even had an account with them. When I phoned to complain, an account had been opened in my wife's name, a check against the electoral roll is all they did and they were happy to have the first order being delivered to a different address.
As a form of validating, that does seem to say "Please rip me off..."/
Is it actually Next though? Usually they are just a white label of one of the unbranded lenders with a mark-up added. As a form of validating, that does seem to say "Please rip me off..."/
Generally, it's far more profitable to offer a credit line to consumers and write off the theft (it's a pretty predictable % loss on revenue and literally just treated as a business cost) than it is to not offer credit in the first instance.
Vodafone Fraud department just phoned to confirm that they're happy the phone and contract was taken out fraudulently, apparently they were monitoring the account before I called them. The credit search should be removed from my credit file in 7 days and they'll write off the loss of the iPhone 7. Strikes me that they're not too fussed about loss and suspect they'll not investigate any further.
I had this about a month ago.
4 phones
credit card with debenhams
Pay day loan (They should be shut down)
Clearscore check (They should be shut down)
It was all an absolute nightmare to sort out the pay day loan, the rest of it was all sorted quiet easily.
Credit rating took an absolute hammering all because of the pay day loan.
Action fraud were absolutely useless. To be fair, they do pretty much state they can't actually do anything!
4 phones
credit card with debenhams
Pay day loan (They should be shut down)
Clearscore check (They should be shut down)
It was all an absolute nightmare to sort out the pay day loan, the rest of it was all sorted quiet easily.
Credit rating took an absolute hammering all because of the pay day loan.
Action fraud were absolutely useless. To be fair, they do pretty much state they can't actually do anything!
rich12 said:
I had this about a month ago.
4 phones
credit card with debenhams
Pay day loan (They should be shut down)
Clearscore check (They should be shut down)
It was all an absolute nightmare to sort out the pay day loan, the rest of it was all sorted quiet easily.
Credit rating took an absolute hammering all because of the pay day loan.
Action fraud were absolutely useless. To be fair, they do pretty much state they can't actually do anything!
Agree with you about Clearscore, and you're unable to contact them by phone.4 phones
credit card with debenhams
Pay day loan (They should be shut down)
Clearscore check (They should be shut down)
It was all an absolute nightmare to sort out the pay day loan, the rest of it was all sorted quiet easily.
Credit rating took an absolute hammering all because of the pay day loan.
Action fraud were absolutely useless. To be fair, they do pretty much state they can't actually do anything!
I've still got to work out who one of the credit card providers is and the personal loan as details of neither are showing on my Noddle or Experian searches. The only details are that Clearscore provided the credit search.
Unfortunately Vodafone are still unwilling to tell me which branch the fraudster took out the phone contract from.
It's all a massive pain.
I had 2 phones with Vodafone at a car phone warehouse in Portsmouth
2 phones with o2 at one of there stores
Debenhams was in store (registered the card then went on a little spree at the same time
Payday loan was done with a phone not registered to me and the money sent to a bank account not in my name. (Barclays apparently froze the account and launched a fraud case).
Having this done really does go to show how piss poor all this sort of stuff is.
If there was a way to get a case against the pay day loan company for being f
king useless and not keeping to any sort of 'rules' then I would in a heartbeat.
Even forgetting the bank account not in my name part, their website states a maximum of £400 on your first loan yet they managed to borrow £900.
Are you a director by the way?
I had 2 phones with Vodafone at a car phone warehouse in Portsmouth
2 phones with o2 at one of there stores
Debenhams was in store (registered the card then went on a little spree at the same time
Payday loan was done with a phone not registered to me and the money sent to a bank account not in my name. (Barclays apparently froze the account and launched a fraud case).
Having this done really does go to show how piss poor all this sort of stuff is.
If there was a way to get a case against the pay day loan company for being f
king useless and not keeping to any sort of 'rules' then I would in a heartbeat.Even forgetting the bank account not in my name part, their website states a maximum of £400 on your first loan yet they managed to borrow £900.
Are you a director by the way?
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