Mail Fraud? Credit Fraud?
Discussion
Apologies in advance for the length of the post...
I have for a couple of years been getting mail mistakenly delivered to my house (IE, my house number, street name and postcode) in someone elses name, that should have been sent to an address nearby. This other person is under the mistaken impression that his house (what was an old pub, now being renovated/turned into a private residence) has my mailing address. I've put a number of the letters through his letterbox (during the renovation he's never there to speak to) with notes telling him it's not his mailing address, the rest of his letters I've put back in the post-box marked "not known at this address".
Some of the mail is obviously credit related, which has me worrying about him getting and potentially defaulting on credit agreements under my postal address, and possible repercussions to the credit score for my address.
So, I've opened two letters - at best naughty, at worst?... Well they're addressed to my house number, but not my name, so I guess it could me mail fraud?
The first letter, from a mortgage company, resulted in me 'phoning the company to make sure they weren't about to secure a loan on my address - I was assured over the 'phone that the company would speak with the customer and sort things out, but I heard nothing since.
The second letter was from a financial service provider, again the letter suggested some insurance/credit agreement against my address. This prompted a rather sarcastic letter to the finance company, pointing out that credit agreements against my address to which I'm not a party could be construed as fraud. I rather stupidly put this letter back in the same envolope and marked "return to sender". The envelope is also stamped in red letters, "if undelivered, please return to...".
The letter was certainly undelivered, but the Royal Mail, rather than return to sender, actually put it through his letterbox (D'Oh!).
Cue exceptionally irate call off him, saying he's not about to be accused of fraud, and accusing me of stealing his mail (apparently a lot goes missing - no surprise considering it's got the wrong address, but now he's accusing me of stealing it all, despite my assurances that everything goes back in the postbox).
So now, as well as me worrying about potential credit foul-ups against my address, he's also accusing me of mail fraud!
I have for a couple of years been getting mail mistakenly delivered to my house (IE, my house number, street name and postcode) in someone elses name, that should have been sent to an address nearby. This other person is under the mistaken impression that his house (what was an old pub, now being renovated/turned into a private residence) has my mailing address. I've put a number of the letters through his letterbox (during the renovation he's never there to speak to) with notes telling him it's not his mailing address, the rest of his letters I've put back in the post-box marked "not known at this address".
Some of the mail is obviously credit related, which has me worrying about him getting and potentially defaulting on credit agreements under my postal address, and possible repercussions to the credit score for my address.
So, I've opened two letters - at best naughty, at worst?... Well they're addressed to my house number, but not my name, so I guess it could me mail fraud?
The first letter, from a mortgage company, resulted in me 'phoning the company to make sure they weren't about to secure a loan on my address - I was assured over the 'phone that the company would speak with the customer and sort things out, but I heard nothing since.
The second letter was from a financial service provider, again the letter suggested some insurance/credit agreement against my address. This prompted a rather sarcastic letter to the finance company, pointing out that credit agreements against my address to which I'm not a party could be construed as fraud. I rather stupidly put this letter back in the same envolope and marked "return to sender". The envelope is also stamped in red letters, "if undelivered, please return to...".
The letter was certainly undelivered, but the Royal Mail, rather than return to sender, actually put it through his letterbox (D'Oh!).
Cue exceptionally irate call off him, saying he's not about to be accused of fraud, and accusing me of stealing his mail (apparently a lot goes missing - no surprise considering it's got the wrong address, but now he's accusing me of stealing it all, despite my assurances that everything goes back in the postbox).
So now, as well as me worrying about potential credit foul-ups against my address, he's also accusing me of mail fraud!
Don't worry about the mail fraud. To be quite honest it could be him committing mail fraud and all sorts using a false address for all you know... And you might tell him that too.....
And you can write to the Debt Agencies (there are three now I think, Experion and I don't know the others!) and have his name removed from your own on the register, and also get it removed from the Credit Reference Agencies for your address.
And you can write to the Debt Agencies (there are three now I think, Experion and I don't know the others!) and have his name removed from your own on the register, and also get it removed from the Credit Reference Agencies for your address.
I've had this and went to the police to report it but they're not interested as no crime has been committed - FFS!! there will be when I get hold of Andrew Pickup
I opened all the mail and phone up the relevant companies informing of them of what's going on. Will take a while to stop it but nothing much more I can do
I opened all the mail and phone up the relevant companies informing of them of what's going on. Will take a while to stop it but nothing much more I can do
used to get this quite a bit for the previous occupants who sold up quick to avoid 4 banks, 3 bailiffs and countless other people. I open all mail sent to my house, if the guy is so clueless that he does not know where he lives then tough. if he goes on about it, charge him a handling fee of some sort
the couple moved to their parents on the isle of white and they dont have a clue where they might be staying, so all mail gets returned to sender.
suggest u have a covering letter explaining the clueless muppet keeps using your postal address and that the companies need to contact him to get the correct details.
repeats can be returned via the postal FREEPOST system, had some car company keep sending me stuff i not want after being assuered that my details had been wiped. got an irate MD on the phone whining that it cost his company £1.34 to get their junk mail back, so asked him if was going to send more junk mail and he said words to the effect that he would make sure it was wiped this time
the couple moved to their parents on the isle of white and they dont have a clue where they might be staying, so all mail gets returned to sender.
suggest u have a covering letter explaining the clueless muppet keeps using your postal address and that the companies need to contact him to get the correct details.
repeats can be returned via the postal FREEPOST system, had some car company keep sending me stuff i not want after being assuered that my details had been wiped. got an irate MD on the phone whining that it cost his company £1.34 to get their junk mail back, so asked him if was going to send more junk mail and he said words to the effect that he would make sure it was wiped this time
All sorted with remarkably little fuss - considering that the 'phone call was so aggressive. It's his/post office's error, apparently they gave him that (my) postcode because the old inn had no official mailing address.
Seems this was a mistake, and now they've given him a proper one (whether all this is bluster or not, I don't know - I can only take the guy at face value). Looks like he'll have to spend a few hours contacting all his banks, etc to sort things.
Is there any way to check credit against an address, as Experion (on-line check) was just checking against my name.
Seems this was a mistake, and now they've given him a proper one (whether all this is bluster or not, I don't know - I can only take the guy at face value). Looks like he'll have to spend a few hours contacting all his banks, etc to sort things.
Is there any way to check credit against an address, as Experion (on-line check) was just checking against my name.
my engineering prof at university used to attach unwanted/junk mail to a lump of scrap metal (he'd cut to fit in a postbox) and return to sender. he got lots of irate letters from companies who just had to pay huge excess postage costs which amused him no end. one complaint letter made the mistake of including a return envelope, needless to say they received an A4 sheet of steel for their trouble.
Firstly before one talks of fraud is there any other similar addressed road/street/ avenue etc. etc to your address.
Being a residential landlord I have had numerous instances of "address fraud", where a person knows the property is in multiple occupation will use the address for registering a vehicle, opening a bank account or obtaining a credit card etc. etc.
At one time I use to try and assist the banks, police, courts, mail catalogue companies etc. etc. , but when the roles will reversed and I went to them to trace an absconding tenant, they threw back at me the Data Protection Act, so sod them.
Any such mail should not "appeared" to be opened, for that in itself is an offence, neither should the mail be destroyed, again an offence, what one should do is merely write on the envelope "Return to sender, does not reside at this address". That should not only alert the banks etc. etc. to a possible scam, but also may stop further mail being sent from them to your address.
Being a residential landlord I have had numerous instances of "address fraud", where a person knows the property is in multiple occupation will use the address for registering a vehicle, opening a bank account or obtaining a credit card etc. etc.
At one time I use to try and assist the banks, police, courts, mail catalogue companies etc. etc. , but when the roles will reversed and I went to them to trace an absconding tenant, they threw back at me the Data Protection Act, so sod them.
Any such mail should not "appeared" to be opened, for that in itself is an offence, neither should the mail be destroyed, again an offence, what one should do is merely write on the envelope "Return to sender, does not reside at this address". That should not only alert the banks etc. etc. to a possible scam, but also may stop further mail being sent from them to your address.
mr2aw11 said:
All sorted with remarkably little fuss - considering that the 'phone call was so aggressive. It's his/post office's error, apparently they gave him that (my) postcode because the old inn had no official mailing address.
Seems this was a mistake, and now they've given him a proper one (whether all this is bluster or not, I don't know - I can only take the guy at face value). Looks like he'll have to spend a few hours contacting all his banks, etc to sort things.
Is there any way to check credit against an address, as Experion (on-line check) was just checking against my name.
Seems this was a mistake, and now they've given him a proper one (whether all this is bluster or not, I don't know - I can only take the guy at face value). Looks like he'll have to spend a few hours contacting all his banks, etc to sort things.
Is there any way to check credit against an address, as Experion (on-line check) was just checking against my name.
The way that credit works is that they check your name and only use your address as a way of checking the credit you have at the address.
Even if the guy has got credit at your address, I dont see any way that this will affect you.
If the worst case scenario is that he took out a second mortgage on your house in his name, he would have to forge the land registry documents etc or lie on the application forms to do so. This if the proverbial hit the fan it would be him being done for fraud.
There is also a fundamental concept of UK contract law that you can only be held accountable to contracts you are personally party to.
If you are worried about the credit file situation, they also only go on credit in your name and other 'linked' people. A quick check with them will tell you everything that a potential lender can see.
justinp1 said:
There is also a fundamental concept of UK contract law that you can only be held accountable to contracts you are personally party to.
If you are worried about the credit file situation, they also only go on credit in your name and other 'linked' people. A quick check with them will tell you everything that a potential lender can see.
Cheers Justin - does that mean then that the nightmare stories one hears of people being blacklisted etc because of their house's previous occupants are just that - stories?
Any way, like I say, I reckon it's sorted.
francisb said:
my engineering prof at university used to attach unwanted/junk mail to a lump of scrap metal (he'd cut to fit in a postbox) and return to sender. he got lots of irate letters from companies who just had to pay huge excess postage costs which amused him no end. one complaint letter made the mistake of including a return envelope, needless to say they received an A4 sheet of steel for their trouble.
i used to just stuff the junk back into the return envelope and post on but i will being doing the above from now on.....genius.
mr2aw11 said:
apparently they gave him that (my) postcode because the old inn had no official mailing address.
Seems this was a mistake, and now they've given him a proper one (whether all this is bluster or not, I don't know - I can only take the guy at face value).
Seems this was a mistake, and now they've given him a proper one (whether all this is bluster or not, I don't know - I can only take the guy at face value).
This secario was my first thought on reading your original post. I had an office that had this problem, a bloke about 200 yards up the road was getting all our mail, and as there were three companies in the building, he quite justifiably got a bit pissed off about it. Took ages to sort out, but with the PO as a common enemy relations quickly thawed.
francisb said:
my engineering prof at university used to attach unwanted/junk mail to a lump of scrap metal (he'd cut to fit in a postbox) and return to sender. he got lots of irate letters from companies who just had to pay huge excess postage costs which amused him no end. one complaint letter made the mistake of including a return envelope, needless to say they received an A4 sheet of steel for their trouble.
What a brilliant idea!!! Now I know what to do with all that junk mail, I'm sure of got plenty of heavy dead car bits about & a few spare bricks too
mr2aw11 said:
justinp1 said:
There is also a fundamental concept of UK contract law that you can only be held accountable to contracts you are personally party to.
If you are worried about the credit file situation, they also only go on credit in your name and other 'linked' people. A quick check with them will tell you everything that a potential lender can see.
Cheers Justin - does that mean then that the nightmare stories one hears of people being blacklisted etc because of their house's previous occupants are just that - stories?
Any way, like I say, I reckon it's sorted.
Yup, stories. It may have been tht way years ago, but it certainly isnt now. If you are worried you can get a report from experian or equifax for £2 each. If you flit past all the premium and more expensive services you can get the £2 one which they post to you on plain paper. Says exactly the same things though.
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