ID Theft - A Victim :(

RRRRodgA

Ok not sure if the correct part of the forums for this but sadly I have become a victim of Identity Theft

I'll explain what's happened so far.

Today I recieved a statement from Very.co.uk for a credit account with them, of course they were phoned immediately and I was passed to their fraud team who have blocked the account(will conduct investigation), advised to refuse to accept delivery of item(s), took my details to pass to Cifas and also explained they will make amendments to credit file and send confirmation in writing etc. Was applied for on the 05/06/2012 which is obviously fairly recent.

Contacted the Police which was my next port of call, no crime ref no. as they will be visiting me tomorrow @ 10am (didn't realise this was standard practice but oh well) to take some details from me and also to see the statement etc that I've received.

I have immediately signed up for Equifax in which in which to check my credit report as the next step however I will need to wait for a call back from them within 24-48 hours to obtain confirmation and access to this. At which point I can see what has been applied for etc.

Bank with both Halifax and RBS however having checked both accounts there is nothing there that I can see plus their fraud depts only concern themselves with actually account fraud which there is none of.

In terms of how this happened, it's a mystery to me as I am always very careful with important documents etc and always shred information before binning it also. What I do know is that recently I have applied for both my new Driving License and Passport, both have came through fine.

Also I had to fax information to my employers Group Ops for ID and AV so that was DL and CC statement (sent approx 22/05/2012) confirmation of receipt received, I am concerned the information may have leaked from there so will need to contact HR within the company for some further advice.

I guess I'm really wondering what else I can do in this situation? I take it the steps so far I have followed is pretty much the standard way to go about this or is there anything obvious missing?

Also from experience is Cifas an effective way of dealing with this stuff? As I don't have much information on it.

I'm just worried about anything as I've had a perfect credit scoring record and really hope this won't effect me going forward when applying for any new credit, someone put my mind at ease please

penny_pincha

Can't offer any real help, but my sympathies are with you.

Jinx

Sounds like you are doing all the right things. I am very surprised the Police are visiting you as they were completely uninterested when this happened to me and I didnt get a reference number at all either (they may have told you, you have suffered no loss, the company has - it does NOT seem like this I know).

The fraud departments are great, be guided by them. Keep a very close eye on your experian/equifax account.

It wont have any effect on you, but it can take some time to get sorted out.

RRRRodgA

Jinx wrote: »

Sounds like you are doing all the right things. I am very surprised the Police are visiting you as they were completely uninterested when this happened to me and I didnt get a reference number at all either (they may have told you, you have suffered no loss, the company has - it does NOT seem like this I know).

The fraud departments are great, be guided by them. Keep a very close eye on your experian/equifax account.

It wont have any effect on you, but it can take some time to get sorted out.

Thanks Jinx, I'm glad it seems I've covered all bases.

I was surprised as well that they would visit also, I'll update here and let you guys know how it goes. I'm sure It'll be the usual, take some details etc and give me a bit of advice. I suspect it's possibly because I've recieved an actual statement that it's being taken as it is but hey ho, happy to at least have them pop round.

Just really awaiting Equifax getting back to me now, a bit frustrating I can't check it right now but that's the way it is.

Just with waiting to move to my new role within my work (delayed start by 2 1/2 months already) and the disclosure forms yet to come back it's the last thing I needed to deal with right now. :mad:

Jinx

If Disclosure is holding you up, call them up and read them the riot act... I have dealt with them a lot over the last 2 years and what our company found was those that called up (the new employee) and basically complained got pushed to the top... Their service level is meant to be 11 days, yeah right - if you go to their home page it will tell you what the current turnaround time is. Good Luck

ETA get your reference number (its about 20 digits long!) from them to quote and start calling daily.

RRRRodgA

Well in the meantime I signed up for Noddle...yup not the best but good for just having a quick search just now. I can see that there is confirmation there of the Cifas logged by Littlewoods Retail Limited (i.e Very) of course there are no details of said account on here and no recent searches either so I'll have a look on my Equifax one when I get the access and take it from there.

sanjaymaj

Same thing has happened to me today, received a bill from very for 800 pounds for some goods that I apparently had delivered in April!! My name, my dob, address. They told me I ordered 2 pairs of Nike trainers and a mobile phone. Fraud dept open at 8am, see what they have to say! Feels like someone has someone has waited for the goods to be arrive then they've taken delivery! Bit worried.

RRRRodgA

sanjaymaj wrote: »

Same thing has happened to me today, received a bill from very for 800 pounds for some goods that I apparently had delivered in April!! My name, my dob, address. They told me I ordered 2 pairs of Nike trainers and a mobile phone. Fraud dept open at 8am, see what they have to say! Feels like someone has someone has waited for the goods to be arrive then they've taken delivery! Bit worried.

Ah that seriously sucks, sorry to hear that!

The fraud department with Very seemed to be on the ball when I called them with swift actions and as I mentioned the Cifas they put through showed immediately on my credit file. I would suggest certainly following some of the steps I've followed above as Jinx seems to suggest I'm on track.

I'll let ya know how I get on tomorrow, the Police visiting at 10am and I'll be patiently awaiting a call from Equifax so I can get my Credit Report with them up and running and getting a thorough grasp on the situation.

Again really sorry to hear you're going through the same things but we'll both come out the other end!

RRRRodgA

So the Police just visited and usual questions about it, how it could have been compromised etc but everything seemed rather safe from what I've done.

Took the statement (original) and I kept the copy I made while they were in, also they contacted Very and obtained the information they used, sadly apart from DOB and Address etc there isn't really much information needed by Very.

They did disclose to the Police however both a Home Contact, Mobile Contact and Email address for the application, all obviously false. No debit card, bank details etc required at all either to complete the application. It was a local number so hopefully they've been stupid enough to use a registered one.

Basically got my crime ref, they are going to investigate it and run it through their database and hopefully something will show up, if not a further search which can take a week or so from there for a further search. They'll be in touch however as I have also to do when I get my Equifax access and see what else if anything is showing on a credit search.

So definitely a worthwhile exercise and glad they came down now.

James

Steps I would have taken and you still can.

I suggest that the best way of protecting yourself in is to have a look a Free ID Protection.

There's a page on the site giving you the Pros and Cons of this system.

You can also get more information on ID theft etc on the Action Fraud website.

Consider the pros and cons of Free ID protection, CIFAS Protective Registration or the advice on the Action Fraud website.

I'd also get a copy of your £2 Credit Files from ALL 3 Credit Reference Agencies:
Equifax
Experian
CallCredit.

Decide which is best for you and good luck.

pimento

Run their email address through Facebook. You never know, they might not be as clever as they think.