Fraud: Victim of Impersonation.

Fromply

Just after midnight on 8th March (i.e. on 9th March - but showing on Credit File as 8th March) fraudsters applied for a credit card from Halifax in my name. I got an email credit alert from Credit Karma showing there had been a hard search in my name. I contacted Halifax that day and they confirmed that an application had been made in my name, for an address in Birmingham that had no relation to me. The fraudsters put my current address, a few hundred miles away as a previous address. It was marked as a fraudulant application and stopped. I was a bit shocked by it, but the system worked pretty well and it was stopped long before the fraudsters had the chance to get their hands on any money.

I've been trying to get access to the statutatory reports from the other credit agencies just to be sure everything was covered, but struggled because I had an old dormant account with them which had to be reactivated. In the end I didn't bother and let it slide. Then I got a letter through from Equifax, confirming that they'd been notified that I'd been a victim of Fraud and urging me to get a copy of my statutory report. This time I jumped through the hoops placed before me (including persuading them that my Driving Licence which is past its expiry date is still valid because it was automatically renewed by DVLA for 11 months because of Covid) and finally got my Statutory Credit Report from them. Was a bit shocked to see that on the same day as my Halifax fraud, a card was also applied for with Capital One. Still nothing showing on my Credit Karma report! I've today reported it to Credit One who found the application in my name and, it would appear, were unaware that it was a fraudulent application.

I don't know how far the fraudsters got, or if they've got any money, but they've had 5 weeks opportunity compared to just a few hours with the Halifax application.

Just some [layman] thoughts:

- When the CIFAS flag was placed on my credit report on 9th March, this should have been flagged with all recent applications, in this case Capital One, for urgent checks!

- Are we really expected to monitor all 3 credit agencies? Hard Searches and account details should be shared across all 3. How can a firm application be made on Capital One, but still nothing showing on Credit Karma 5 weeks later? The Halifax example shows how this can be stopped/blocked when alerts are sent out!

[Deleted User]

Yes, you need to monitor all three CRAs if you want a full view of your accounts. Nothing  will show on your Credit Karma report if TransUnion isn't being reported to.

The victims of the frauds are the banks rather than yourself, so it's up to them to take the appropriate action. You just need to keep an eye on your files. 

Fromply

Thanks. Yes, I'm not too worried about it, as you say, the victims are the banks rather than myself. Though obviously I still prefer to pick up on it and shut the fraudsters down!

As I said, I use Credit Karma (Also signed up to the MSE Credit Club, though didn't get any alerts through from them on this in the way I did from Credit Karma) - are there any other similar, free, services I should use to cover the other CRAs, without just duplicating what I'm already getting?

[Deleted User]

Clearscore will give you Equifax.