Query - Identity Theft

goperryrevs

I have a query on what I should do, and was hoping for some advice.

A year ago I discovered that I had been a victim of identity theft. Someone in a house I had previously rented had (I assume) got hold of a piece of junk mail with my name one, and used it to open a Very account and spent £200. This was back in 2006, but I only found out about it last December, when Bryan Carter Solicitors got in touch with me telling me there was a CCJ against me, and I owed £400 (not sure where the other £200 came from).

I have spent the last year trying to get this CCJ off my record. Once they realised I had been a victim of fraud, Bryan Carter did little else (apart from try to hassle me through another solicitors). Littlewoods told me that, because they had sold the debt on to another company (Phoenix Debt Recoveries), they had no obligation to do anything, though they acknowledged that the account was fraudulent. I contacted the Police, Action Fraud, Equifax and finally the Courts, who told me I could apply to have the CCJ set aside. They told me to fill in a form, a judge would have a look at it, then it would be off my record (but would cost me £80).

I did this, and in short, a month later was dismayed to discover that I had failed in my application. After obtaining legal advice, I found out that this was because I had not attended the court. I'd spoken to 3 different people from the courts, none of whom told me I had to attend. None of the correspondence they sent gave any advice that I should attend. When I spoke to someone else in the courts afterwards their advice (after I told them I'd been a victim of identity theft) was "why don't you just pay the debt off?" :mad:

My lawyer friend helped me fill in a second application (accompanied by another £80 cheque), and the hearing was this week, and was successful. The judge ruled against Phoenix, that they should pay me the cost of the fee, plus my travel for that day (£85 in total! whoop!).

My question is what I do now. I'm still out of pocket for the first £80. Plus the bad credit rating for the last 3 years, actual sleepless nights and stress over it all, letters and phone calls that cost. Littlewoods just say it's not their problem because Phoenix own the debt and took the CCJ out against me in the first place. They've told me I have to deal direct with Phoenix (which, from my experience 6 months ago trying to get them to sort this, and seeing some comments on them and Bryan Carter on this website is a no-go). I'm thinking that I should write a second letter of complaint to Littlewoods. Even if I just get £100 of vouchers of something to acknowledge that they screwed up, I'd feel a bit vindicated. If they'd had decent due diligence in the first place then I'd have never had this headache. When I phoned them up for the first time last June to talk to them about the case, they could tell within a minute that the account was fraudulent by looking at the Electoral Roll. Why couldn't they do that in the first place?

So, do I just accept that I'm financially down, but be happy that at least the CCJ is finally off my record? Or can I get some of the money it's cost me back off someone? Thanks in advance.

timbstoke

Realistically, short of making a lot of noise and hoping they give you something to go away, there's not much you can do. It isn't their fault that you lost the first £80 - court is one of those things where you really need to know the process before you do it. Littlewoods handled it badly, but I don't think they did anything that entitles you to compensation.

unholyangel

You could try a claim under the Data Protection Act. That they have been holding false information which caused you financial loss. You could also try a small claims against the person who did it....although i'm not 100% sure this is feasible in law.

However, its perhaps wise to consider a few things first. One, is there any way they could have legitimately known that the account wasnt genuine? Do you know what their security procedures are for opening a new account? What sort of "proof" do they ask for?

For instance, if they ask for photo ID and the fraudster provided this then the company have done everything reasonable in their power to try and ascertain that the information they hold/have been given is correct. Any complaints to the ICO are unlikely to be upheld and the company have been victims of fraud too.

However if they simply ask for a letter confirming their address, it could be argued that they have not taken reasonable steps to ensure the data they hold/were given is accurate and as such, are in breach of DPA. Where a breach of DPA occurs it is possible to be compensated for financial loss/suffering but usually you would have to proof your loss and ultimately, you would need to seek specialist advice before continuing down this avenue

goperryrevs

Thanks both.

If I was to make a lot of noise, what would be the best route to go down? The fact that they shouldn't have allowed the account to be opened in the first place? Or the fact that they haven't taken responsibility of it since (for example, although they acknowledged that the account was fraudulent in June, they only informed Phoenix of this in November)? They also (for example) told me that departments would be in touch that weren't, and so on.

I know that the date of birth the person supplied when they opened the account was wrong, and they spelt my surname wrong, and got my gender wrong too, so I don't know how they would have even supplied proof of address, let alone ID.

goperryrevs

Oh, and they said in a letter that 'over the past several years we have made a significant investment in our systems', which suggests that at the time of the fraud, the systems weren't up to scratch.

unholyangel

Personally I'd start by asking them what security measures they had in place/took to make sure the account was a genuine one.

Did you ever inform the debt company their information was wrong? What was their reply?

I think perhaps you might be better taking a look at the ICO's website (they even have a section where you can make a complaint for them to investigate). You know all the details/background so it would be more apparent to you if they have in fact breached the DPA or not compared to one of us looking

goperryrevs

In terms of security measures, I signed up for a genuine Very account in September, and there was no ID check, no address check. The only thing was an email verification check. They immediately were trying to get me to spend up to a £300 credit level. Not sure what they did in the background, but they didn't ask me for anything.

Yes, I did inform the debt company their information was wrong. First, through the solicitors in December 2010 when I first found out about the CCJ that was on my file, then directly in June (it took me 6 months to find out about what had happened because the solicitors, my only source of information, were unresponsive. Another solicitors they put on it refused to discuss the case because I 'gave them the wrong date of birth', despite my telling them that I had been a victim of identity theft, so it was unlikely that whoever opened the account had given them the correct date of birth!). The debt collection company did nothing. In the court, they 'complained' that I had not given them a crime reference number. But they never asked for one (they never contacted me, it was always me contacting them), and the police did not give me one anyhow - they just passed me on to Action Fraud.

Thanks for the tip on ICO, I'll have a look.

Very.co.uk_company_representative

Hi Goperryrevs,

We are sorry to hear that this has happened. We treat account security and data protection extremely seriously and would like to look into how this occured in more depth. You can email us at [EMAIL="Network@VeryHQ.co.uk"]Network@VeryHQ.co.uk[/EMAIL] and we will pass this onto our Fraud Investigation team or you can contact them directly on 0800 015 1290. They are available from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and will be able to provide a lot more information about what security measures we have in place.

Many Thanks

Dave
Very Network Team

goperryrevs

Hi Dave,

I have already been in contact with your Fraud investigation team, and Debt Collection team, both by letter and telephone, and have not yet been satisfied with their response. It has essentially been "It's not our problem, because we sold the debt on to Phoenix and they own it now".

Following advice from people on this thread, I have written another letter of complaint, outlining my grievances with Littlewoods/Very/Shop Direct (I didn't previously realise these were all the same company until this matter). If you contact me directly I am very happy to share with you the content of this letter.