CIFAS, Fraud and credit report

MalMonroe

Hi, 

Sorry, this is long and I hope it's not in the wrong place but if it is, please be kind! (As per the forum policy) thanks.

I have a couple of questions :

Just before the March lockdown, I received a credit card from Vanquis who said that my recent application had been successful and here was my card, PIN to follow. Great, except that I never applied for any such card. So there it was on my credit file, complete with Vanquis' hard search prior to issue.

I phoned and also wrote to Vanquis to ask them to remove the card because I didn't apply for it and I didn't want or need another credit card. When I phoned, the person at Vanquis told me that because of what I told him, the card had been blocked and no-one would be able to use it. But I kept it, just in case it was needed. Obviously, cut in half. It couldn't be removed from my credit until they had finished their investigations. 

It has taken six months to get this removed from my credit report but it's now gone. In the meantime I've had a lot of communication with Vanquis and had to complete many forms because they suspected fraud and I've also had to contact police and action fraud to get incident numbers to submit and to be honest it's been a blinkin' nuisance and a big hassle.

It transpires that someone did apply for this card without my knowledge and apparently I'll never know who, or why. It seems like a daft thing to do because the card and PIN came to me, not to the fraudster, who has been reported to the appropriate authority and whose identity is known to Vanquis. But they are not in a position to give any details to me, which is very frustrating! I don't even know if it's someone I know. They know all about me but I'm not allowed to know about them. 

Now there's a CIFAS marker on my credit report and my score (which I know is meaningless, everyone says so) has plummeted.

Oh yes, sorry, there IS a question, three in fact. 

1. Does anyone know the implications of someone opening this account in my name but never receiving any of the benefits - that is card, or PIN number, etc. In other words, what have they gained? Something I can't think of in my naïveté? 

2. Should a CIFAS marker on my credit report affect it in any way? Or is it just there to let everyone know I'm a victim? (I really don't want to be a victim!)

3. Does anyone know why CIFAS has gone to ground? They say you can apply to them for information about details they hold about you but their phone number disconnects, their website says that they're not accepting any post and their email address has bounced back my enquiry. I know we're still suffering the effects of coronavirus but they seem to have literally left the country.

Many thanks in advance for people's thoughts, I'd just like to know why someone did that, it appears to have been absolutely pointless - except that it caused me a great deal of hassle and I wish I could take them to court for it. But that's not to be. 

onlyfoolsandparking

I too was a victim of fraud (TWICE!) 'identity theft' to be exact and whilst I don't entirely disagree with your feelings of hassle, I didn't really consider it a great deal of hassle, an inconvenience certainly but it's just one of those things that life throws at us and it has to be dealt with which it looks like you have.

In answer to your questions:

1. They (scumbags) have gained nothing but they attempted to gain something, the implications for you is having to use your time dealing with it which of course (like me) you have.

2. CIFAS markers are there to protect you, is it in fact CIFAS protective registration you have? I was given 2 sets of registration by the companies who had the fraud perpetrated against them, they told me it would offer a better level of protection and would last for 2 years (both dropped off few months ago). What they didn't tell me was what 'hassle' it would cause me when dealing with BMW finance and proving who I am. I had a few extra hoops to jump through with ID before I was 'approved' but nothing I couldn't handle. 

3. I have no idea on this one, I never contacted CIFAS about my fraud/s, I just let the retailers do it all and to be fair to them (Next and Amazon) they were pretty good and reassured me 'almost' telling (well hinting) me that it's an everyday occurrence and it gives somebody a job (fraud team) by having to deal with it, lol

Glad you got it all sorted though and like me you were completely blameless with the whole thing, forget about it now.

EDIT: Forgot to mention I don't remember it having a massive impact on my credit score but I take that little notice of the score it may have done and I probably missed it.       

Yahoo_Mail

1.  I'm not sure what you mean by "implications" here. There are no implications for them, but if you meant to ask what they would gain by applying for a card in your name and to your address, they presumably thought they could intercept the card before it got to you.  Obviously, that didn't happen.

2. Your credit file only shows "victim" markers, not perpetrator ones so this is nothing to worry about. It won't affect your fictional score, it may mean companies do further checks if you apply for credit.  A bit of a hassle but as you've already been close to being a victim of ID theft already, definitely worth the possible slight inconvenience this may cause.

3. I have no idea why CIFAS is doing this but there's no need to contact them.  All they'll know is that Vanquis informed them you were a victim of impersonation, which you already know.

MalMonroe

Thank you for your responses, which were very helpful and reassuring. I've actually just received a letter from Vanquis today (dated 15 September - a mere 10 days ago . . . ) advising that they've done their bit and I've done my bit and now they consider the matter closed. 

So hopefully that's the end of it but it seemed to drag on for ever and of course, other life events intervened as well so that was not the only focus of my attention but rather another thing to deal with that I could well have done without. 

Thanks again.