In the past 2-3 years my mother has received collection letter from things that she has never applied for nor had any knowledge of, It hasn't been mayor stuff maybe a letter once a year. A couple of years ago someone broke into her jobs HR department and stole all the employees personal information. Ever since she has been receiving these letters.
We have the address to the person that is using my mothers info, however we have not taken action yet. Im not sure where to start or what to do. I know if we dont act now, something critical is to happen.
Any advice on what to do, where to start?
Run her credit report. You should run one once a year. Find out what accounts have been opened in her name.
2-3 years? What? What took her so long to tell you about this? If your mom owns a home, they could attach a lien to it in order to get their money. Get going and file a police report. She may need to hire a lawyer to help her navigate what is surely really messy by now.
If she ever tries to buy a house or car on credit, she may have deep-sixed herself in that regard. Having to clear your credit for identify fraud is a big job and can keep her from being able to borrow any money.
You have to get your mom to stop sticking her head in the proverbial sand. Time to get to the police and a lawyer - so sorry!
Dawn
File a police report. She should also get copies of her credit reports on www.annualcreditreport.com She can then show anything to the police showing someone is using her credit. Collector letters will not get the police to do anything since they can be in error. She can then have the credit bureaus place warnings on her files so no one can get credit and any companies will see the notes.
Mine was stolen last year. A complete nightmare! And I shred everything. I have no idea how they got my info. She MUST file a police report. She should also check her credit and alert the credit report companies. So sorry that this happened to her. Good luck!
Why have you not filed a police report?
Do you know for a fact who is doing this?
We've not had our identity stolen... I shred everything that has any inkling of our name on it. However, that does not stop people. I received a call about 3 yrs ago from the credit card fraud department. They asked me if I had my card in my hand, I said yes. They said well someone is in CA trying to buy gas with a hard card with your number.
We've had the credit card compromised a few times and the card company jumps right on it and we've never paid anything. You can place alerts with the credit card companies as well.
Also, there are some magic numbers for thieves... a theft of $600 or less is basically a slap on the wrist... SO they steal several cards and never charge over $600.
We put a security alert on our credit report. If anyone trys to get credit in our name, including the mailers you get adverising... we get a phone call to verify.
Do wait until more happens to file a report.. It will only get worse, especially if the theif sees that you are doing nothing about it.
Is this someone you know, by chance?
A police report WILL get the ball rolling.
File a police report immediately.
My sister had her identity stolen about 5 years ago. The "thief" picked through the garbage at her college apartment and took out all of the credit card offers, filled them out and changed the address. Needless to say, when the collection agency called my parents' house... $10,000 worth of debt in airfare to Iraq, hotel in LA and luggage/travel expenses. Outstanding.
They didn't have to pay any of it because they filed the report AND were able to prove that my sister was not in LA at the time. Due to various privacy laws, they could not pull the flight manifest to see "who" the person was, but they were able to pull the hotel records and traced the person from there.
If you don't file a police report you are liable for the charges. This will also impact her credit for several years- she will have to show photo ID for some purchases.
I had mine stolen a couple of years back and it was horrible. I actually caught the people in mid theft (not in person) but a they ordered tickets on three sets of airlines through my name. The sad part is that when I realized it and the flight wasn't due for a bit, I called the airline and told them to stop it and they wouldn't. I won't say which one, but it was very disappointing. Well the after results were horrible, but the outcome was good. You need to make sure you have some sort of protection. And call and go to the police/file a police report. I actually continued to talk to a detective who 'almost'had it figured out. All was forgiven and I knew to protect myself after that.
I also kept getting calls from a phone company who thought I lived in a different city and wasn't paying my phone bill. They were very nice also.
I also called the FBI. They actually were interested and very, very nice. They are real people, too.
I wonder if your mother works at my husband's business. The same thing happened there.
You should call the police dept and file a claim. They have detectives assigned specifically to identity theft cases. A friend of ours is one of them and this is what he has always suggested if we ever get into an identity theft situation. They'll be able to help you and hopefully track down the person responsible. Good luck!
First, make a police report. In California, with a police report you can get a judicial finding of identity theft and then send that to the credit reporting agencies. The agencies are required to block any entries on your credit report that are attributed to the identity theft.
START WITH A CREDIT CHECK!!!
If you find anything fishy, call the police!
