Victim of Fraud and CRA's

Cirrostratus

I have a slight issue, I am a victim of fraud and have been for almost a year, have CIFAS markers in place and have written to all creditors advising them to secure accounts and have changed passphrases and all other security info (all done and dusted in May 2014).

The problem I have now is despite all of that, my details are clearly circulating somewhere, my details are being run through comparison sites constantly, searches appearing left right and centre.

Callcredit, Equifax and Experian are all aware of the situation but it seems like I am stuck, nobody can do anything.

I dispute every single entry which appears, I've lived a fairly clean 'credit' life, I don't use comparison sites, I have all my financial products with one bank, haven't ventured far from the nest in terms of obtaining credit.

I appreciate some searches don't harm the credit report, such as insurance quotations and other soft searches, however it still bothers me that someone is using my details without consent and managing to persistently run searches against me.

Is there anything else I can do or is it purely a waiting game and will have to sit here and do this every month for eternity? Some CRA's aren't playing ball with removing unauthorised soft searches either, they're taking the view that 'well it doesn't harm the report' but that's not the view I take, anything on the report which wasn't carried out by me is unauthorised and should be treated as such.

The circumstances of the data being stolen was a break-in, not exactly within my control.

GingerBob_3

Actually - and the CRAs keep quiet about this - authorisation from you is not required for an organisation to search the information the CRAs have about you (apparently). Essentially it's open house. Once the CRAs have possession of your information it's available to all and sundry. This is one reason, I would suggest, why identity fraud is rampant at the moment - if you're to believe everything you hear.

Tixy

When you say you have CIFAS markers in place - do you mean markers indicating the past fraud against you? or do you mean you have signed up to CIFAS protective registration?

If you haven't looked at protective registration then it may be worth looking in to. If you already have it I am not sure what other steps you can take to stop searches appearing in the first place.

Cirrostratus

I applied to CIFAS for a 'Protective Registration' when I first received a statement through the post saying I had opened an account with someone (when I hadn't), and by that point they had already used the credit facility to order goods to a different address.

As soon as the dispute started with the fraudulent account they also registered a CIFAS entry against me as 'Victim of Fraud' and to be fair to them, it was all swiftly dealt with and the fraudulent account closed, after an investigation by Action Fraud etc...

The entries are due to expire soon, I will no doubt extend the 'Protective Registration' myself, but I suspect the other one will expire and will consequently drop off of my report.

It just sucks that despite doing everything you possibly can to keep risks to a minimum, shredding, careful use of online sites nothing really protects you against someone physically stealing hard copies of your details during a break-in.

Malmo

GingerBob wrote: »

Actually - and the CRAs keep quiet about this - authorisation from you is not required for an organisation to search the information the CRAs have about you (apparently). Essentially it's open house. Once the CRAs have possession of your information it's available to all and sundry.

The data is accessible only by ICO registered members of Experian's CAIS database, Equifax's Insight database and Callcredit's Share database, with the customer's permission, which is often declared when an application for a product or service is made by the customer. Would you please cite sources for the open house policy you refer to?

This is one reason, I would suggest, why identity fraud is rampant at the moment - if you're to believe everything you hear.

Out of interest, would you be able to share and source the extent of ID fraud as a direct outcome of credit reference agencies providing access to all and sundry?

GingerBob_3

Malmo wrote: »

The data is accessible only by ICO registered members of Experian's CAIS database, Equifax's Insight database and Callcredit's Share database, with the customer's permission, which is often declared when an application for a product or service is made by the customer. Would you please cite sources for the open house policy you refer to?



Out of interest, would you be able to share and source the extent of ID fraud as a direct outcome of credit reference agencies providing access to all and sundry?

See this:

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/credit/

Particularly the section titled Do companies need my consent to carry out a credit search?

If an organisation is registered with the CRAs they can provide information about you to the CRAs and carry out searches - without your consent.

On the second point, I have no direct evidence, but it's a hell of a coincidence - and it's common sense really. The more organisations (and their many employees) that have access to data about you, much of which is supplied by the CRAs, the greater the chance of identity fraud.

Cirrostratus

I still don't agree with aspects of the ICO statement, I guess I could contact the comparison sites to see if they can offer any advice or whether they

The DPA doesn’t actually require these companies to have gained your consent before they can carry out a search of your credit file as long as they have a legitimate reason for doing so and you have been told that this search is going to take place. If you have taken out a loan or credit card you will probably find this in the original terms and conditions that you signed.

as long as they have a legitimate reason for doing so

and you have been told that this search is going to take place