Credit card address fraud?
Anonymous1001
Posts: 1 Newbie
in Credit cards
Can anyone apply for a credit card using an address (and possibly name) that is not theirs without having to prove to the bank that they live at that address? Is it some kind of fraud?
I'm asking because we have received bills for a Platinum Visa Barclaycard in someone else's name (Mr P M Roe), registered to our address. We got the first bill in July 2016, and I contacted Barclaycard because I was worried that we were suddenly receiving a bill for someone we did not know, and it seemed highly dodgy to us. Barclaycard were utterly useless and just said that we weren't their customer and they would stop sending us marketing materials (showing that they hadn't even bothered to read my actual complaint). Now after more than a year we have suddenly received another bill - same name, same credit card number.
We have been at that address for over 10 years now, and the previous owners (2 sisters) had different names, and they inherited the house from their mother who also had a different name. So it seems highly unlikely that Mr P M Roe ever lived at our address - and even if he had, why had we not got bills for him before 2016, and why hadn't we got new cards issued to our address in all the years we have been there? It seems to me that Mr Roe (if that is his real name) is doing something dodgy, and is intercepting bills/new cards somehow.
This leaves us feeling very uncomfortable and feeling powerless to do anything about it, as neither Barclaycard or the Financial Ombudsman will take any action. Any suggestions? I thought about publishing Mr Roes credit card number but I'm sure that's against MSE rules!!
I'm asking because we have received bills for a Platinum Visa Barclaycard in someone else's name (Mr P M Roe), registered to our address. We got the first bill in July 2016, and I contacted Barclaycard because I was worried that we were suddenly receiving a bill for someone we did not know, and it seemed highly dodgy to us. Barclaycard were utterly useless and just said that we weren't their customer and they would stop sending us marketing materials (showing that they hadn't even bothered to read my actual complaint). Now after more than a year we have suddenly received another bill - same name, same credit card number.
We have been at that address for over 10 years now, and the previous owners (2 sisters) had different names, and they inherited the house from their mother who also had a different name. So it seems highly unlikely that Mr P M Roe ever lived at our address - and even if he had, why had we not got bills for him before 2016, and why hadn't we got new cards issued to our address in all the years we have been there? It seems to me that Mr Roe (if that is his real name) is doing something dodgy, and is intercepting bills/new cards somehow.
This leaves us feeling very uncomfortable and feeling powerless to do anything about it, as neither Barclaycard or the Financial Ombudsman will take any action. Any suggestions? I thought about publishing Mr Roes credit card number but I'm sure that's against MSE rules!!
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Comments
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Yes they can. It won't affect your credit rating. Just return the letters to sender unopened.0
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You should either...
- phone barclaycard to tell them that there is no Mr P M Roe at your address (which it sounds like you have)
- mark the envelope 'not known at this address' and re-post it.
It's then up to barclaycard to decide what they want to do.
They won't discuss their plans with you for a few reasons, including...- You might be really be Mr P M Roe, and you're concocting a story to avoid paying the bill
- You might have applied for the card using the fake name Mr P M Roe - and now you are trying to cover your tracks.
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Unless you have a financial link to Mr Roe, then you have no worry. That you are only getting statements, probably means it could have been a typo entering the original data, just return the letters.
Lets say the worst case scenario - Mr Roe runs up a big debt, defaults, gets a CCJ, and enforcement action is taken. At each of these stages there is no effect on you - even if a bailiff turned up, you would show them ID and say no one of that name lives there and they would go away.0 -
You could check with directory enquiries for a Mr PM Roe living in your area and give him a call. Probably not much use given how many are now ex-directory.
You could check the register of electors at your library, for Mr Roe living nearby. Possibly he lives on your street, but at a different number. I used to get mail from HMRC for a neighbour. HMRC had omitted one digit from his house number so 123 became 23.
Have Barclaycard somehow got the thoroughfare type wrong; so instead of 6 Acacia Ave they used your address at 6 Acacia Grove. Sometimes the regular postie will recognise the name and deliver to Mr Roe, other times it will be delivered as addressed.
You can open mail delivered to your address and write a letter of complaint to Barclaycard. Don't waste your time asking how this could happen or where Mr Roe lives; they won't tell you. Just tell them to stop sending his statements to your address.
Another forum member claimed to have successfully requested payment from a CC company for each letter returned to them.0
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