MCO Capital loan

GomerPyle

How did fraudsters get victims' names and addresses AND their birth dates ? I would ask the question as to whether or not this information actually came from Experian. There is no evidence to show that it did but the spread of victims' locations appears to point to someone having access to some database or other.

MCO Capital appeared to believe that knowing this information gave them some right to believe they could enforce their faulty demands, a mistaken belief that underlies this whole disaster. Equally if they used the birth date to confirm vicims' identities, then they must have had access to a database against which they could check it, iotherwise it would be foolish to quote it back to victims if they suspected it could be incorrect and harm their claim.

Prudence2_2

davidbuk wrote: »

I think you'd probably be better writing to the FSA rather than the OFT. I would imagine the FSA have the ability to take more immediate action than anyone else.

Good point David, I will do that today. They can't be less helpful than the OFT!

For anyone else who feels like contacting the FSA, the e-mail address is consumer.queries@fsa.gov.uk

grahamqat

GomerPyle wrote: »

How did fraudsters get victims' names and addresses AND their birth dates ? I would ask the question as to whether or not this information actually came from Experian. There is no evidence to show that it did but the spread of victims' locations appears to point to someone having access to some database or other.

MCO Capital appeared to believe that knowing this information gave them some right to believe they could enforce their faulty demands, a mistaken belief that underlies this whole disaster. Equally if they used the birth date to confirm vicims' identities, then they must have had access to a database against which they could check it, iotherwise it would be foolish to quote it back to victims if they suspected it could be incorrect and harm their claim.

Interestingly in some cases (reported by Shropshire Police), the info was enough to frighten some people into repaying the non-existant debt. I have seen estimated figures of 1% for this which would have provided £51K revenue to MCO. There's also no reason to suppose that after you had paid, you didn't get a second letter asking you to pay again.

geomacl

Good question Gomer - we're all still trying to find out the source of this data.
Thanks for the FSA email address - worth a try methinks!!! Email duly sent off this morning

geomacl

grahamqat wrote: »

Interestingly in some cases (reported by Shropshire Police), the info was enough to frighten some people into repaying the non-existant debt. I have seen estimated figures of 1% for this which would have provided £51K revenue to MCO. There's also no reason to suppose that after you had paid, you didn't get a second letter asking you to pay again.

I sincerely hope that they all get their fraudulently obtained money back from MCO!!!!!

Eaglemar

geomacl wrote: »

I sincerely hope that they all get their fraudulently obtained money back from MCO!!!!!

The cynic in me thinks not, if they do it will be through a long protracted process as the authorities dont seem to offer much help. They seem like Doberman dogs that have had their teeth removed!

grahamqat

Hi Geomacl, it would seem that lots of companies maintain DOB databases - One such follows:

http://www.gb.co.uk/gbgroup

Apparently this needs to be done to reduce ID fraud?

Prudence2_2

grahamqat wrote: »

Hi Geomacl, it would seem that lots of companies maintain DOB databases. Apparently this needs to be done to reduce ID fraud?

So a database designed to prevent ID fraud could be used to commit ID fraud.....:rotfl:

geomacl

grahamqat wrote: »

Hi Geomacl, it would seem that lots of companies maintain DOB databases - One such follows:
http://www.gb.co.uk/gbgroup
Apparently this needs to be done to reduce ID fraud?

Thanks grahamqat - this is quite an eye opener - I had a quick look through their testimonials and didn't find MCO . There seems to be so many different businesses built on people's identities - CRAs, the GBs of this world etc. A veritable industry on its own. :eek:
You are so correct Prudence - it works both ways!!
We should all resolve not to tell anyone anything about ourselves!!!! If only that were possible?
Note - forum has had over 1000 hits since yesterday morning - we are being monitored for sure.

LoopyJuice

About the source of the data. Perhaps the "Government loses personal data on 25m UK citizens" reports in 2007 have something to do with this and the massive increase in identity theft since then...just a thought. On how to resolve this it is a double edged sword. I am all for a national identity card scheme that is widely used in day to day business including making credit applications. That way the creditor can be sure it is you that is applying not someone who found/bought your personal data. This is dependent though on somebody holding this data on us all (the Governement?) and making it accessible to legitimate businesses wanting to confirm our identities before trading with us.

The alternative is to accept the fact that ID Theft/Fraud will increase, or go back to the dark ages where everything has to be done face to face and you have to send off a million copied documents, or even have to present the originals so the creditor can validate your identity. Not a place that I think any of us want to be.

Interestingly Finland apparently has one of the best schemes for this (I googled population register centre and it says you get digital certificates and a card reader with your ID card, specifically for online transactions!)

It may be coincidence but MCO are from Finland, so providing they are a legitimate business perhaps that goes some way to explaining why the processes were so lax here. In Finland they can confirm exactly who it is who is applying for the loan through the digital certificates and card reader you get so don't have an ID Fraud problem.