A debt that isn't mine!

Ascheapaschips

Hi all.

Last week I received a letter from Cabot Financial stating that they had bought an account I allegedly had with J D Williams. In the letter it states that I owe £209.24 and to contact them to arrange payment.

I had no idea what the debt was for and telephoned them straight away. They explained that I had set up an account with J D Williams in October last year though had only just taken over the account so couldn't tell me what had been ordered. They did advise that "I" had been active on the account from October up until this April when I supposedly made a payment of £46.65. However they were unable to tell me how I made the payment e. g. cash, debit card or whatever.

I explained that I had no idea about this account, the money outstanding or making any payments. I am certain that this hasn't been set up by me and that someone has set this up using my details illegally. However this person obviously knows my name, address and even my mobile number as the company confirmed this as a means to contact me. I had phoned them on my land line so they wouldn't have traced the mobile number from my call to them.

I formally disputed the amount as I don't believe it's me that owes this money. They did say it's unusual to be fraudulent as the account was active for so long. It's clearly someone that knows some important information about me but I have no idea who! I'm not sure if it's someone who knows me or if someone has managed to steal some of my details to set this up but the latter would seem strange, given the "small" amounts they have scammed. Surely these people try and get you for as much as they can and quickly.

Regardless, I am really worried that someone is using my details to steal my credit. I'm not sure what I can do next. I've not heard from Cabot since I explained the situation, though they said the disputes team would be in contact, they haven't so far. What can I do to clear my name as I definitely have not ordered anything from J D Williams? Financially I am not well off but secure enough not to need to get anything on credit and I know my wife wouldn't need to either as we fall under the same financial umbrella.

Any help and advice would be gratefully appreciated. Many thanks.

katsu

Contact the police service Action Fraud?

Ascheapaschips

Thanks Katsu. I'm doing that now.

Pixie5740

Get hold of your statutory credit reports from Experian, Equifax and Call Credit to see if there's anything that you don't recognise on them such as this JD Willams debt.

Ascheapaschips

Thanks Pixie5740. If I see anything on these reports then what should I do? @Katsu: I completed an action fraud questionnaire but it states that they will not take any action as I haven't yet lost any money, which is frustrating!

Ascheapaschips

Thank you. Just to let you know that I phoned the fraud team in the end and have been given a crime reference number. They also advised that I should carry out credit searches, which I did and it is now pretty obvious who the culprit is and I will be passing this information onto the fraud team tomorrow.

Thank you very much katsu and Pixie5740.

Pixie5740

I hope you get it sorted out.

xsinaftersinx

JD Williams is a blanket name that covers about 45 different catalogue names such as Simply Be, Jacamo etc. Are you sure you have no catalogues at all?