Identity Theft - Barclays a/c opened, phones and other items purchased on credit

dollywops

Someone opened a Barclays account using my son's details. He discovered this in January when he received a letter addressed to him, giving him the details of his new account. Before he had had time to contact Barclays, he received communication from 2 phone companies with details of 'his' new accounts and direct debit confirmation.

CPW delivered a phone, not a particularly good one, which he is still 'holding to ransom' - ie confirm in writing that this is nothing to do with me and you have deleted any credit search and you can have the phone back.

Barclays CS, needless to say, weren't particularly helpful. However, an email to the Chairman's office and board members, generated a speedy response. After a few conversations, my son was assured the account had been closed and Barclays would sort out the whole thing with Experian. My son was advised it would take a month.

Fast forward the weekend, over 2 months since the Barclays account was opened. I told my son about the good sim-only deal I had just got on O2, 2mb data, unlimited texts and calls for £11. He phoned O2 and it was fine for his phone, but he failed a credit check when doing it for his wife's phone, obviously with her permission. Now, this is nothing to do with 2 credit checks on the same household within a few minutes.

My son is fairly angry. As a result of Barclays negligence, he has now failed a credit check. Obviously, the details of all the credit applications are still showing. A call to the Barclays representative yesterday prompted no response.

My question is, what to do now? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Deleted User]

What exactly is on his credit files (all three)?

Was the second credit search done on his wife or on him?

p00hsticks

dollywops wrote: »

CPW delivered a phone, not a particularly good one, which he is still 'holding to ransom' - ie confirm in writing that this is nothing to do with me and you have deleted any credit search and you can have the phone back.

Not sure that this is a good idea - my choice would have been to return it straight away saying that it is nothing to do with him. Keeping it just prolongs the association.

dollywops

I believe it is applications from either 2 or 3 phone companies, Argos and possibly something else. These were done in January, once the fraudulent Barclays account had been opened. Apparently, once the account was opened, the fraudster was given/obtained the sort code and account number needed to set up the dd's when applying for the phone contracts.

Had this all been expunged from his files, then he would not have had the problems with O2 at the weekend.

dollywops

p00hsticks wrote: »

Not sure that this is a good idea - my choice would have been to return it straight away saying that it is nothing to do with him. Keeping it just prolongs the association.

Not at all. If CPW have the phone, then why would they bother to do anything. He never said he wouldn't return the phone, he just told them he wanted written confirmation from them, that this was nothing to do with him or his wife. I believe they have now written. He has told them to come and collect the phone.

Candyapple

dollywops wrote: »

Someone opened a Barclays account using my son's details. He discovered this in January when he received a letter addressed to him, giving him the details of his new account. Before he had had time to contact Barclays, he received communication from 2 phone companies with details of 'his' new accounts and direct debit confirmation.

CPW delivered a phone, not a particularly good one, which he is still 'holding to ransom' - ie confirm in writing that this is nothing to do with me and you have deleted any credit search and you can have the phone back.

Barclays CS, needless to say, weren't particularly helpful. However, an email to the Chairman's office and board members, generated a speedy response. After a few conversations, my son was assured the account had been closed and Barclays would sort out the whole thing with Experian. My son was advised it would take a month.

Fast forward the weekend, over 2 months since the Barclays account was opened. I told my son about the good sim-only deal I had just got on O2, 2mb data, unlimited texts and calls for £11. He phoned O2 and it was fine for his phone, but he failed a credit check when doing it for his wife's phone, obviously with her permission. Now, this is nothing to do with 2 credit checks on the same household within a few minutes.

My son is fairly angry. As a result of Barclays negligence, he has now failed a credit check. Obviously, the details of all the credit applications are still showing. A call to the Barclays representative yesterday prompted no response.

My question is, what to do now? Any advice would be appreciated.

Does your son live with anyone else? Why would a fraudster open a bank account at his address and also have a phone sent there if they had no access to it? They would also have needed to know his name/DOB/address etc.

What your son should have done first is contacted Action Fraud to report the ID theft: http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraud_protection/identity_fraud

Then the bank with the crime reference number asking them to remove the data from all 3 credit reference agencies. This should have been done in writing.

Obtained copies of all 3 of his credit reports from Call Credit (https://www.noddle.co.uk) Equifax (https://www.clearscore.com) and Experian (https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub)

Register for the protective registration with CIFAS for the ID theft:
https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr_for_individuals

A better SIM deal would have been with '3' who for £9 per month offer 4GB data, unlimited texts and unlimited calls.
http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Plans_for_phones

dollywops

Candyapple wrote: »

Does your son live with anyone else? Why would a fraudster open a bank account at his address and also have a phone sent there if they had no access to it? They would also have needed to know his name/DOB/address etc.

What your son should have done first is contacted Action Fraud to report the ID theft: http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraud_protection/identity_fraud

Then the bank with the crime reference number asking them to remove the data from all 3 credit reference agencies. This should have been done in writing.

Obtained copies of all 3 of his credit reports from Call Credit (www.noddle.co.uk) Equifax (www.clearscore.com) and Experian (www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub)

Register for the protective registration with CIFAS for the ID theft:
https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr_for_individuals

A better SIM deal would have been with '3' who for £9 per month offer 4GB data, unlimited texts and unlimited calls.
http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Plans_for_phones

Thank you for this information. I don't know which of the above he did, but I will pass this information to him.


He lives in his own home with his wife. None of us could work out what the scam was or how it was beneficial. The fraudster opened the account with whatever information Barclays asked for.