Identity Fraud
Author
Discussion

meeja

Original Poster:

8,290 posts

277 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4311693.stm

Anyone experienced this?

It happened to me two years ago.... very, very stressful.

£14k of debt run up in my name

All sorted now though.

groucho

12,134 posts

275 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
Did you have to pay any of it yourself?

meeja

Original Poster:

8,290 posts

277 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
groucho said:
Did you have to pay any of it yourself?



Not once proof that I had not run up any of the debt was established, no.

There was one point where I feared that the financial institutions concerned were going to take me to court....

bga

8,134 posts

280 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
Not happened to me yet but I do some work in this area. For some reason the media is portraying it as a new phenomenon wheras the main methods have been around and used for donkeys years.

Of course the governments latest track will be that ID cards will fix this.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune meeja, there are soem real scrotes out there.
Having a nice car doesn't help, as soon as one ofmy friends started using her Boxter more she was fair game for getting skimmed in petrol stations. Between them her & her fiancee have been stung for about £30k so far. They haven't had to pay it but have been investigated by bank & police.

birdbrain

1,564 posts

268 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
I heard somewhere that 50 out of 71 local authorities have had reports of theft from people's dustbins - looking for documentation. One of my friends who lived in a posh area regularly got her rubbish stolen.

I always shred anything wih my name and address on it before I chuck it away but it still amazes me when I go to work and people leave bank statements, credit card statements and utility bills on their desks.

neil.b

6,546 posts

276 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
I'm interested in these statistic that are being knocked about - 1/4 of all people questioned had either been a victim themsevles or knew someone who was?

How about a quick PH poll? If figures are correct, we should see the same results on here, no?

Have you, or someone you know, suffered "Identity Theft"?

vetteheadracer

8,273 posts

282 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
Got a great email this morning from support@msn.com asking for all my bank, address, phone, mother's maiden name etc. type info.........wonder why MSN who of course would have all of my credit card details etc (NOT) want with this

chim_knee

12,689 posts

286 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
neil.b said:
I'm interested in these statistic that are being knocked about - 1/4 of all people questioned had either been a victim themsevles or knew someone who was?

How about a quick PH poll? If figures are correct, we should see the same results on here, no?

Have you, or someone you know, suffered "Identity Theft"?
Yep, meeja.

In all seriousness - no, I haven't (AFAIK!) and don't know anyone.

lazyitus

19,931 posts

295 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
No, I haven't.

Regards
PetrolTed

Snoremeister

812 posts

313 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
my credit card was used 5 times last May at assorted petrol stations around Belgrade, total value of purchases nearly £2500. Funnily enough I was sat in my office in York at the time.

meeja

Original Poster:

8,290 posts

277 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
lazyitus said:
No, I haven't.

Regards
PetrolTed


bga

8,134 posts

280 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
I know a few people though my line of work who have been victims of ID theft. None in my personal life (although a few who have been victim of card fraud).

If anything I would imagine there to be a greater instance of ID theft within the PH community as many within it fit the demographic which is more likely to be targetted - more so than in a standard sample of individuals.

While the BBC survey does not mention it, many of the earlier stats that were gathered in this area combined ID fraud and card fraud which are 2 very different beasts

maxf

8,443 posts

270 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
I dont know anyone who has been a victim of identity theft as I understand it - which is applying for loans, credit cards etc in your name.

I have, and know lots of people who have, had credit card details cloned.

>> Edited by maxf on Thursday 3rd March 08:58

rude-boy

22,227 posts

262 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
ID - no

Debit card - yes

meeja

Original Poster:

8,290 posts

277 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
My case wasn't credit card fraud.... it was ID theft, resulting in unsecured personal loans taken out in my name, and even a huge loan application which was to be secured on my property!

wolf1

3,097 posts

279 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
It's not just you that has to be careful. If you move house you need to ensure the re-direction of mail is done correctly. Had a friend move and the bloke who bought their house was renting it out. The new tenants had recieved some of the mail that was supposed to be redirected and they started on the catalogues and cards etc. The first he heard about it was when the the landlord finally evicted the tenant (who hadn't payed him either) and forwarded the mail to my friend. There were a few court and solicitors letters etc demanding payment. Now most of this was done using the junk mail that arrives as well as the fact that some of the places had done business with my friend and didn't question it as it was the same address. The icing on the cake was when after hours of changing bank details and cancelling all sorts of payments and instructions. The bank sent the new details confirmation with all the account numbers etc to the old address! It's other peoples incompitence as well that can drop you in it.

Edited to add:- How many people are now panicking changing passwords from pets names and dates of birth etc.

>> Edited by wolf1 on Thursday 3rd March 09:24

pdV6

16,442 posts

290 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
sorreee

pug406

3,636 posts

282 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
lazyitus said:
No, I haven't.

Regards
PetrolTed





Lazyitus to the SinBin

john75

5,303 posts

276 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
When I temping in financial services about 10 years ago we had a call from a guy who wanted to close his PEP but could not remember his mothers maiden name yuet had the correct account number and said he had moved house.