Identity fraud - account opened in my name

newfoundglory

Today I received a welcome letter from tesco mobile but I'm not a customer. Turns out an account has been opened in my name.

This concerns me as I'm meticulous with burning any personal information etc. i have not lost any identity documents. I am a computer expert and keep myself safe online. Unfortunately it's quite easy to get someone's name and address I guess.

The lady I spoke to was excellent, and I think I have established my bank details and answers to security questions i would use have not been compromised. The card associated with the purchase cannot be mine!

I can't understand how a fraudster has managed to do this - have tesco just been lax and not checked the identity or delivered a handset to someone other then the "account holder"?

gjchester

newfoundglory wrote: »

This concerns me as I'm meticulous with burning any personal information etc. i have not lost any identity documents.
...

I can't understand how a fraudster has managed to do this - have tesco just been lax and not checked the identity or delivered a handset to someone other then the "account holder"?

Given Twitter have just "lost" 250,000 username password combo's it doesn't matter how good you are, it matters how good the people you you've given your data to.

Any shop you've used in the past (on or offline) could have leaked your data and you'd never know about it.

If someone's good enough to steal your data they can easily have given a correct home address but asked for it to have a different delivery address (work, or working away from home)

System

There's no such thing as 'identity fraud'. It was a term invented by Home Office officials to scare us into accepting 'identity cards', and is kept in being by sellers of shredding machines. Your 'identity' changes every moment, as you age and acquire or lose memories. However, most (though alas not all) people know who they are, and what bank accounts they have.
Anyone is entitled to use any name they prefer, except if they are aiming to deceive.
Everybody's (usual) name and address is known to scores of people, and anyone can find any number of names and addresses by looking at the public telephone directory, or the electoral roll, which is available for inspection at any town hall.
In this instance someone has, apparently with intent to deceive Tesco, given a name and address which is not usually his or hers. He or she could easily have backed this up with a forged gas bill. Tesco should, but possibly didn't, also have asked for a passport or driving licence. Apparently it's not difficult to acquire a fake driving licence in any name and photo you want - not that most people can reliably 'identify' anyone from a small, or for that matter a large, photo.
What really matters is that Tesco, correctly, sent a letter to the address they were given, and, for once, Royal Mail correctly delivered it, which has allowed the OP to point out to Tesco that they have been misled.

newfoundglory

Its more serious than I thought. It seems that not only did they do Tesco mobile over (in a Tesco store!), but went into Carphone Warehouse and opened contracts with Orange and O2!

Interestingly, the little details I have: The CPW store where this was done is 40 miles from where I live. They had virtually all my details (including, strangely, one of my bank account numbers!) They cannot possibly have had these details - I don't use that account frequently - and with online servicing I receive no statements for it.

BUT - I have previously been a CPW customer and the details used seem to be exactly what they would have already had on file (same bank account number for a direct debit when I was with carphone!)

Very weird, i'm not happy. Someone has definitely been lax on the security front.

HappyMJ

I'd have a chat with the police. They can request CCTV images of the purchase and possibly find who opened these accounts in your name. All they would have needed is a chip and pin card with your name on it and the billing address to be the same as your address which isn't really that hard to get.

newfoundglory

I called the Police earlier, and they were not that interested.

Helpful, yes, but I was directed to http://www.actionfraud.police.uk to report it.

They didn't seem too concerned as, technically, I haven't lost any money (the mobile phone companies have)

HappyMJ

newfoundglory wrote: »

I called the Police earlier, and they were not that interested.

Helpful, yes, but I was directed to http://www.actionfraud.police.uk to report it.

They didn't seem too concerned as, technically, I haven't lost any money (the mobile phone companies have)

Your credit will be damaged though. Maybe the police aren't too concerned and the mobile providers are willing to write it off as a loss....as long as nothing affects your credit...get your credit reports from Equifax, Experian and Callcredit to ensure nothing has been noted on your credit report.

System

If (as seems probable) crimes have been committed, the victims are the phone companies, not the OP, and the Police will act only if the phone companies alert them. Strangely, the phone companies are wet about alerting the police in these cases.
If (as also seems probable) one or more phone companies have been sloppy about verifying who was opening accounts with them, then the OP can claim damages for the phone companies for losses he has suffered as a result of the phone companies' sloppiness (such as wasted time, and phone calls).
If (as should be unlikely) any of the phone companies inform a credit reference agency that the OP has defaulted, then that is false and defamatory, and the OP can threaten them with a libel action.