MCO Capital loan

davidbuk

grahamqat wrote: »

I know I'm cynical David, but I just see these agencies as parasites and cant feel the respect for them that you do. I know that's real so I will respect it and not post any more anti-CRA stuff (unless really provoked). However, diversity of opinion is no bad thing, stay on the forum and together we'll help to solve this mystery.

Oh don't get me wrong I don't hold a huge amount of respect for Experian I just think they are doing the job they do to the best of their abilities. In a perfect world we'd go back to the days where you'd go and chat to your Bank Manager and get a mortgage that way but unfortunately we are where we are and we have to live with it.

Thanks for the info on the Experian out of court thing. In their defence (people are going to start thinking I work for them soon :rotfl:) I would say a lot of companies offer free trials and then charge as soon as they can. Motley Fools share tipping service is one that I used that does it. You get a 30 day free trial but have to hand over a card number first. There are plenty of others. If people are not wise to it yet and remember to cancel in time then more fool them I think.

mongyboy56

:think:
I don't want to scare anyone ..... but....

I received a letter from these people to the incorrect address.
The LAST thing I wanted to do was give them any correct information, so I'm not going to call them or send them an e-mail with any of my legitimate details, because they could be collecting all this information.

It's what spammers do - all they want is your contact details/e-mail address.... do do withwhat they do.

grahamqat

Fair Comment - Experian are not involved in this directly - i accept that. I've put some theories about this scam on this thread. Would be interested to know what your thoughts are David. As I said before, inputs from people with differing views are a strength not a weakness on this forum.

davidbuk

grahamqat wrote: »

Fair Comment - Experian are not involved in this directly - i accept that. I've put some theories about this scam on this thread. Would be interested to know what your thoughts are David. As I said before, inputs from people with differing views are a strength not a weakness on this forum.

I did originally think MCO were the victims but the speed with which they agreed to remove my Experian searches (without any questions whatsoever) has led me to think they are the culprits. I think Experian and IJ whilst not particularly companies that people have great fondness for are just pawns in this. How MCO have made much cash out of this I don't know. If seems like a lot of trouble to go to just to get the odd few hundred quid here and there from frightened people who pay up. I did experience some fraud on my current account and my credit card just before the MCO thing came to light and so maybe it's all linked and they are making more money from it then they could just from their fake loans.

One theory that was on here was they have sold on these fake loans to the debt collecting company and have made money that way. That sounds quite feasible as if you've created say 1,000 fake loans with 500 owing on each one and sell them on for say 100 a loan you've got yourself a nice tidy £100,000 to go and hide away with.

But at the end of the day my guess is as good as anybodies I'm just looking forward to it all being over.

grahamqat

Hi mongyboy56 - can you post more details, I dont completely understand what letter you've got etc

grahamqat

Thanks David - go along with that. I think they had plans of ID fraud but were opportunistic with the letters and who knows - may have made money from the letters. Dont forget the £3+£3 SMS charge to get a loan. This could add up. I think the numbers were big. there have been 20000+ views of this thread - many of these will be from affected people. I agree that IJ and Experian are innocent by-standers in this scam, I also think that AF have given superb help and support, and should be encouraged to collect information to help resolve this. Will post any info I find, thanks again for your input.

alan_se

Hi everyone. It’s strangely comforting to see so much comment and activity on this forum. Apologies for the length of this first post but I think my wife and I may be some of the earliest victims of the MCO Capital fraud – in my case even with CIFAS registration and a Notice of Correction already in place on my Experian account (see below).

When we got our first letters (from Gothia Ltd, on behalf of MCO) it was back at the end of July/early August and there was nothing at all on the web - I assumed we were on our own. I’d had my identity cloned in summer 2007 so at least I’ve got some experience of dealing with the ensuing mess, but the threat of debt collection in this instance really put the frighteners on me at the time. I have to say though that none of the various authorities (and I contacted several) were much help in August and no one seemed to have heard anything about MCO Capital.

I seem to have got my situation sorted out (note the lack of confidence) but my wife got another letter last week (threatening action from Intrum Justitia) and so I went back on the web to see if there was any new information – thankfully there was.

The first point I’d like to make is that I already had a valid CIFAS Protective Registration in place, plus a password-protected ‘notice of correction’ on my Experian account, all as a result of my 2007 identity fraud problem. The MCO Capital search by-passed all of this. I’ve challenged both CIFAS and Experian on that point. CIFAS stated that since neither MCO Capital nor Gothia are CIFAS members then the Protective Registration doesn’t apply. Experian told me that anyone credit checking with them can choose to ignore the notice – it seems it’s there simply as a warning to the banks etc, and the legit operations would take notice of it, but it’s up to the organisation doing the search.

If all that is really correct it’s frankly ludicrous. I already had in place the current key anti-identity theft recommendations coming from Action Fraud etc and they didn’t work for me against MCO. I’ve told Action Fraud this and it seemed to be a bit of a surprise to them. I’m not suggesting it’s not all worth doing but someone needs to tighten things up, especially at the credit agencies – personally I don’t think anyone should be able to generate, change or access’ my’ records without my permission anyway, but I also know that’s pie-in-the-sky as things stand.

I’ve now got our CRNs via the Action Fraud website, they’ve called me back and to be fair they now seem to be doing a good job as far as they can. One other point I’d like to make is that back in August I couldn’t get a full CRN for love-nor-money. I’d contacted Action Fraud and the local police but was consistently told that if I personally haven’t lost anything (financially that is) the fraud doesn’t lie with me, therefore a crime hasn’t been committed against me, therefore I can’t report it and get a CRN. (I did manage to get a draft reference number from the local police, probably an incident number).

I think that situation is a result of a law change a few years ago, designed to take the workload off the police and put the responsibility on the banks etc. Unfortunately it means that a lot of real fraud (or at least identity theft) must be going unrecognised, and that situations like the MCO Capital fraud don’t get spotted until the ball is really rolling on it. I’ve suggested to Action Fraud that they should at least have some automated ‘first alert’ system on their website to try and spot early patterns of activity. If they’d been able to take proper notice of the MCO issues coming in to them several weeks ago maybe it wouldn’t have got as big as it has done.

Anyway it’s a relief to me to know we are not on our own. Hopefully some proper authority will learn some lessons from all of this and plug the holes in the system that have allowed it to happen. Maybe.

Oldbloke_2

Hi all,

Said I'd keep an eye on the thread....

Looks to me like MCO have sold the book debt to another unwitting debt agency, MEM. With a healthy trading position, they'd be an ideal target, working capital of over £15M disclosed in their last accounts.....

geomacl

mongyboy56 wrote: »

:think:
I don't want to scare anyone ..... but....

I received a letter from these people to the incorrect address.
The LAST thing I wanted to do was give them any correct information, so I'm not going to call them or send them an e-mail with any of my legitimate details, because they could be collecting all this information.

It's what spammers do - all they want is your contact details/e-mail address.... do do withwhat they do.

You may well be right mongyboy - and if you are, many of us here should expect further letters etc as we've written to MCO at the initial behest of AF!!!:mad:

geomacl

A hearty welcome Alan_se and thank you for sharing your exepriences. It's a big disapointment to learn that Notice's of Correction are "voluntary" for those seeking access to our CRs - I'll be phoning Experian as soon as I waken up and getting some clarification!!!
Also disappointing that CIFAS only works for registered (and presumably legitimate) organisations - and hence offers no protection against this MCO type of fraud :mad:.
Your continued input will be much appreciated.