Identity Theft - will I be taken seriously by the police

[Greenmantle]

hello

I am a single home owner that has had my brother staying with me for a good few months. Just recently I was away on business. I arrived home to find my brother had gone and I found that the lock of my filing cabinet had been drilled out. Most of the files were to do with the house (bills, insurances, car, mobile phone, bank statements etc etc) and these were all taken. There was no sign of a break in to the house.

I am now fearful that my brother is going to try an impersonate me with these files. Also a number of these files refer to online accounts and I am worried that he will try and get access to them even though the passwords were never stored.

What should I do? Should I go to the police and report this as a crime? Will they take me seriously?

Thanks
John

[MacW]

I suspect at the moment you will get nowhere with the identity theft angle as there is no evidence that it has actually occurred.

You should, however, report the theft of your documents by your brother (allegedly).

[HantsRat]

Have you tried ringing your brother?

[Wings]

Report to Police, change credit cards, banks etc. info. Register with Land Registry on their anti-fraud alert, this being a must for ALL landlords.

https://www.gov.uk/protect-land-property-from-frau...

[TooMany2cvs]

Greenmantle said:

What should I do? Should I go to the police and report this as a crime?

Are you willing to see your brother prosecuted? If not, don't bother - you're just wasting everybody's time.

Change all your passwords NOW. Change any other ID answers (esp mother's maiden name and DOB, if you use the real ones). Alert your bank etc that you suspect some of your information's been compromised. Be proactive.

It'll probably come to nothing.

[eatcustard]

Register for a free month with a credit score company, see if anything looks wrong.

[Greenmantle]

Thank you for the quick replies

I have tried ringing my brother but he has gone to ground. He does this often and then pops up again like nothing has happened. You are right I dont have any proof of identity theft but I can't fathom why he took all those files. I have spoken to my parents and they haven't heard from him but they live miles away.

[andymc]

Greenmantle said:

Thank you for the quick replies

I have tried ringing my brother but he has gone to ground. He does this often and then pops up again like nothing has happened. You are right I dont have any proof of identity theft but I can't fathom why he took all those files. I have spoken to my parents and they haven't heard from him but they live miles away.

your dad hasn't just married Gayle from Coronation Street has he?

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=coronation%20street%20...

[photosnob]

Even if you are the victim of ID theft - it shouldn't really affect you.

TD fraudser takes out a loan - not your problem.

Clears your bank - bank give you your money back.

Takes out other forms of credit - not your problem.

I used to help out with a charity for this sort of stuff. One women claimed her son had done all off the above (I have my suspicions he did not - but that doesn't matter). The son had moved to Australia.

I thought it would be a fight - it wasn't. Report to actionfraud and the financial institutions will run for the hills before allowing it to go to ombudsman. All negative information removed from credit file in the same way. She even got a refund on interest payments to the sum off over 5 grand.

Thinking about it - if you took out loads of credit and claimed it wasn't you - you would nearly always win. They reject at first so you need to appeal to more senior people. They can't even use the IP address as proof if you allege the person lived with you.

[bad company]

I have been the victim of attempted identity fraud twice. The police won't be interested until / unless a crime has been committed so you could just report the theft of your documents.

I would also alert your bank and credit card companies etc., that the documents were stolen so their may be an attempted fraud.

[ging84]

you can register for Cifas Protective Registration service
https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr_for_individuals

[bad company]

ging84 said:

you can register for Cifas Protective Registration service
https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr_for_individuals

Yes, that sounds like good advice in the ops situation.