Lowell and identity fraud

caseyann

On behalf of a friend of my daughter's I am trying to help her sort out the mess in which she finds herself. Her sister who already had a bad credit history took out a catalogue account with Littlewoods in her name and immediately defaulted on payment.
Most of the correspondence was intercepted but she did write to the company over a year ago to voice her concerns but think she was mainly ignored. It may of course be that any replies were intercepted.
Now Lowells have taken over and have informed her that "as you knew the person who took this account out in your name, this has to be treated as a civil matter and cannot be investigated as fraud".
They are now demanding payment. She is a college student with virtually no income and it appears that the account was opened whilst she was still 17.
Surely, as the sister was at the same address and had already defaulted with the same company this should have shown up on any credit application?

CKhalvashi

She needs a letter stating that your daughters friend will happily cooperate with any police investigation, and it needs to be reported to Action Fraud, with the crime reference number given to Lowells.

You can remind them that the debt is in dispute as it was fraudulent transaction, and they are not to chase this until that dispute is resolved. If what you state is true, they will be forced to write it off. They must also remove the default, and it will need to be reported to the ICO if they don't do this in 28 days.

Also, remind them that the contract would otherwise be unenforceable due to age.

CK

chanz4

The sister needs to report the fraud to the police, only then will they take notice. if not expect a cifas

rizla_king

caseyann wrote: »

Now Lowells have taken over and have informed her that "as you knew the person who took this account out in your name, this has to be treated as a civil matter and cannot be investigated as fraud".

Lowells are talking complete bull **** as usual.

Report to https://www.actionfraud.police.uk. Then give Lowells the crime number with instructions on exactly where they can 'shove' the debt.

ValHaller

chanz4 wrote: »

The sister needs to report the fraud to the police, only then will they take notice. if not expect a cifas

OP's daughter's friend has not been defrauded, it is whoever Lowells bought the debt from.

If the money had been taken from and account belonging to OP's daughter's friend, then the advice to report would be correct. But in this instance the whole matter is private grief between Lowell's and the sister

CKhalvashi

ValHaller wrote: »

OP's daughter's friend has not been defrauded, it is whoever Lowells bought the debt from.

If the money had been taken from and account belonging to OP's daughter's friend, then the advice to report would be correct. But in this instance the whole matter is private grief between Lowell's and the sister

I'm sorry VanHaller, whilst I do usually agree with you, on this occasion I don't.

Obviously, this has got to default stage without being reported, however I am of the opinion that identity theft (which is what this is) would be prosecutable under s2/s11 Fraud Act, and whilst OP's contact is not directly defrauded, this will be a block to other credit, and possibly instigate harassment, in breach of POHA.

The legislation (which can be viewed by clicking here) makes no mention of who needs to report the crime, and whilst it would generally be the victim (finance company), OP's contact is otherwise involved, so IMO this can be reported by her.

CK

rizla_king

Yes, while the company is technically the victim in terms of monetary loss, you can still report to actionfraud yourself to get a crime number.