Fraud

fluff46jackson

Please can I ask for some advice - my sons ex partner committed fraud by taking out a contract in his name for a wifi dongle - he wasn't fully aware of what had gone on until he received a debt collection letter as she hadn't paid the bill. When he emailed her asking her about it, she admitted the fraud and said 'so what![ since then she had been paying the debt, and as they have a child together my son had not wanted to involve the police. Since then she has stopped paying the contract and the debt collection agency are expecting him to pay the debt, saying that he had acknowledged that he owed the money - we have sent them a Data Subject Access Request and they have now responded with some information, but are still saying that he owes the money. To complicate matters, the contract was originally taken out via The Link in 2009, so we think it was done online - we haven't been able to establish the exact details though, and seem to be getting nowhere. My son has reported the fraud to the police but it appears that they are unwilling to devote much time to it as the debt is between £200-£300. Please help

Quentin

He either pays up or waits till he gets his day in court to prove he never acknowledged anything.

(Police won't intervene over the debt collectors contacting him unless they do something criminally illegal)

macman

Sinc he didn't report it until the payments stopped, he's not exactly helped his own position in disowning the debt.

fluff46jackson

Thanks for your responses - he did in fact report the fraud to both of the parties involved, 3Mobile and the debt collectors as soon as he became aware of it, it was the Police he did not involve until after she stopped paying. Both of those companies have supplied details of the conversations that he had with them on more than one occasion which record the fact that they were both made aware of the situation as soon as he was able to. The debt collection company suggested that the ex should be added to the account as an authorised person so that they could speak to her about payments, which they then did and she began making payments weekly for about 6 months. At one point the ex even had DD for the payments to coming out of an account in her sole name but under the Data Protection Act, they have been able to refuse to give details of the conversations they have had with the ex. This is all very frustrating - my son is guilty of being naive and trusting of the person he was supposed to be able to trust and is now paying the price.

bris

By allowing the payments to happen he aknowledged the dept. He should have stuck to his guns at the start and denied the debt but it's to late now.

He even authorised the person to discuss the debt, this is no longer fraud.

Oli.s

If it was taken out in 2009 so out of min term, why didn't your son terminate the contract as soon as he found out?

Buzby

Knowing of the debt, and as acknowledging are different issues. The police won't care as the value is minimal, and to all intents and purposes it looks like a family dispute.

Were they married? If not, there must have been misrepresentation and to this end he needs to repudiate the agreement and ask what (if any) proof exists of his agreement to the contract. Is there a signature, and does it match.

Knowing a DoB and mothers maiden name is easy peasy for a partner to know, but it still does not make him liable.

You can tell DCA's that it was not his contract and to push off - of greater concern is that the damage to a credit file may already have been done, and it is to this you should be directing all your efforts.

Scrootum

She is the mother of his child. Just pay it off.

hollydays

Call for judge Judy .
He has to weigh up if this is worth the time and effort. Are they still on any speaking terms , presumably not. Ideally they would talk it out together.
You say they have a child together so he didn't want to involve the police, then you say the police now aren't interested.
Why can she not pay this, you can't get blood out of a stone , and bringing up a child alone no doubt is very difficult.

ThumbRemote

There's an email in which she admits fraud. Just forward it to the company as proof of whose debt it is, with the ex's contact details.

unholyangel

ThumbRemote wrote: »

There's an email in which she admits fraud. Just forward it to the company as proof of whose debt it is, with the ex's contact details.

Personally, I'd advise to get legal counsel before doing the above - given (as I read the OP anyway) the son knew fraud had been committed and failed to report or alert anyone.

Not saying they would want to prosecute, I have no idea whether they would or not but with things like this, I tend to err on the side of caution.