Identity Theft - (Nearly) Tax Credit Fraud

Hi all,

First post and let me apologise for asking a question before contributing more widely; where I lack in the deeper financial knowledge some of you have I hope I can one day be of assistance to you in other ways. Apologies aside...

As per the thread title, I wanting some advice on identity theft and tax credits. Let me start by saying I do not claim for any form of tax credits nor do I want to start claiming; I am merely wanting some advice regarding a specific incident.

Yesterday I received a letter from HMRC informing me that they "have indentified and stopped an attempt to claim tax credits using some of [my] personal details" - needless to say I am quite disturbed and distressed to hear of this, particularly because I am very private about my personal information. The letter goes on to say that they have taken steps to ensure information held about me is correct and have put in place additional measures to prevent this happening further. The close the letter by pointing me towards CIFAS and the Home Office ID Theft website - both provided links and phone numbers check out.

I immediately phoned HMRC and they confirmed that something had happened - although they would provide me with no information on the nature of the fraud attempt or how it was thwarted - and, although I never told them my bank account details, that the bank account they had on record was NOT mine (not surprising, it was obviously the fraudsters account).

So I spent most of last night trying to educate myself on how tax credits and tax credit fraud works. I also attempted to obtain my credit report (after reading one of the articles on this site) using Experian - they require further proof of identity (statements from the last 3 months and photocopy of passport/driving license) probably because I have only lived at my current address for a couple of years and am very cagy about giving my details or signing up for anything.

The only way I can think that someone has my personal information is from a laptop theft about 2 years ago which was reported to the police but nothing ever came of it (i.e. the laptop and documents were never recovered). I am not that is definately where the information came from, like all identity theft cases, I just don't know which is probably the worst part of all this.

This leads me to my questions:

• Can anyone shed any light on tax credit fraud and what information the fraudsters may have on me? Given I have never applied for any kind of state benefit I have no idea how easy/difficult it is to obtain them, nor do I know what information you must provide.
• Can anyone offer any advice of where I should go from here? There is so much information out there that I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the minute and I am not entirely sure of what is the best course of action.
• Should I send off the information to Experian or perhaps try another credit agency?
• I have, in my view, a good credit profile, no debts ever (excepting mortgage) I have always earnt my money before I spend it, so what can I do to ensure that whatever information has been stolen from me that from a financial and personal perspective any impact from this can be mitigated?
• Any general comments on identity theft and how to deal with it.

I do apologise if this is in the wrong forum or indeed this is posted at the wrong site. Point me elsewhere if necessary. Any information, help, or experiences are much appreciated. Many thanks for reading.