Wonga fraud

moongarden

Not sure what to do with this one. I've had a letter (in my maiden name - been married nearly 3 years) waiting for me on the doormat when I got home, a "notice of assignment of outstanding debt" saying that I owe Wonga £614.24!

I have never had any payday loans ever so I have called them on the number on the letter and asked them what I should do - whether I should report it to the police etc.

They asked me for my details over the phone, married name, address, date of birth, last 4 numbers of bank account which they confirmed did not match the details on their records.

I again asked the call centre agent whether I should inform the police and they said there was no need and they would deal with it. I asked whether I could have something in writing to say they understood that this debt was not entered into by me and she said they are paperless (somewhat amusing as I was holding two pieces of paper from them in my hand :rotfl: )

My next action will be to check my credit file with both experian and equifax tonight but is there anything else I should do?

spacey2012

First point:
Wonga are the victim not you.
You must get this firmly in to your head and not let go of it.

matttye

spacey2012 wrote: »

First point:
Wonga are the victim not you.
You must get this firmly in to your head and not let go of it.

On what basis is the OP not a victim? She is being chased for a debt she doesn't owe and her identity has been stolen.

It will be worse if there is negative info on her credit report that doesn't actually belong to her.

moongarden

To be honest I'm quite calm about it - they can't chase me for it as I didn't apply for it or receive it.

My concern is more that someone managed to apply in my name (albeit with the wrong DoB etc) and how do I protect against someone else trying it?

spacey2012

The victim is the person or organisation that has suffered the loss.
Wonga are duty bound to ensure the person is who they say they are and if they have allowed someone to defraud them then that is their problem.
They will however gladly let you make it yours.

matttye

spacey2012 wrote: »

The victim is the person or organisation that has suffered the loss.
Wonga are duty bound to ensure the person is who they say they are and if they have allowed someone to defraud them then that is their problem.
They will however gladly let you make it yours.

There can be more than one victim and there doesn't have to be a financial loss for someone to be a victim. How can someone who has suffered ID theft NOT be a victim?

That said, there could be indirect financial loss caused by, for example, sub-prime deals being offered to the OP because of information that should not be on their credit report.

moongarden

Just checked my credit reports and this doesn't show as an account on either of them. Are Wonga just trying it on?

[Deleted User]

moongarden wrote: »

Just checked my credit reports and this doesn't show as an account on either of them. Are Wonga just trying it on?

No. It won't appear on your credit report as the details (eg DOB) the person has used don't match up with yours.

debtcutter

spacey2012 wrote: »

First point:
Wonga are the victim not you.
You must get this firmly in to your head and not let go of it.

It depends. If this loan does appear on her credit file, she is also a victim.

If a single payment has come out of her bank account, she is a victim (although it doesn't sound like that bit has happened).

Having said that, I doubt the police would investigate if the OP hasn't lost out financially.

debtcutter

Sorry, just read on and saw that it doesn't appear on your credit file, so it sounds like you aren't really a victim, it just appears to be incompetence on Wonga's part, either trying to trace someone who's in arrears and writing to the wrong person, or just not checking this application before it was paid out, i guess

moongarden

its so far cost me the price of a credit report, a 20 minute call to an 0845 number before 6 pm and around an hour of my time, so not really major costs more just hassle really.

it seems that wonga lent someone money against my old name at my current house without bothering to check whether anyone of that name lived here - they obviously didnt check the electoral roll.

i've no idea what they do check with their customers - whoever did this gave really sketchy information an old name and a DOB which didn't match the name.