Virgin Mobile - Account fraudulently opened in my name

MacMini

Hi All - have reached out here in desperation - hope someone can provide some advice.

I am in the middle of a mortgage application at the moment and have found 4 fraudulent accounts taken out with Virgin Media, under my name, at an address I have never lived at, linked to a bank account I have never held (the bank account info I found out from VM themselves).  These were raised in Dec 2018 and defaulted in April 2019.

This is now blocking my mortgage application and there is a risk that this will cause our move to fall through.  

I have previously raised this directly with Virgin Mobile through their helpdesk in mid-March and was provided a fraud investigation reference number - I have had no response, but understand that the investigation has been closed.  

I have raised a complaint through the VM credit team on April 6 and have received no further detail or contact until today, when they phoned and advised that the fraud team have investigated and concluded that it is not fraud, it was actually me and so the default and debt stands against my name.  I provided additional detail to the complaints person today who have taken that back to see if the case can be re-opened.

I am an existing Virgin Media customer for many, many years and am disgusted at the lack of support I have received from the Virgin processes and the lack of security and fraud checks when opening an account have caused this issue in the first place.

In the event that they respond to me tomorrow advising that they are not reopening the case, is there any advice anyone has on next steps?

Thank you - Mac

HampshireH

Good luck with their complaints team judging by my experience if I didn't know they had a real team I'd think it didn't exist.

MacMini

HampshireH said:

Good luck with their complaints team judging by my experience if I didn't know they had a real team I'd think it didn't exist.

Thanks - utterly useless in every regard.

PixelPound

MacMini said:

HampshireH said:

Good luck with their complaints team judging by my experience if I didn't know they had a real team I'd think it didn't exist.

Thanks - utterly useless in every regard.

You do know you are on a board dealing with Credit File rather than Fraud?

You have raised a complaint, so it is a case of waiting until they come to a conclusion. Though the complaint will probably focus on whether their fraud team did the right checks. If nothing is changed you will need a deadlock letter, if you want to take it further.

These things take time and that is perfectly normal. Unfortunately not what you want to hear in the middle of a mortgage application. What does your mortgage broker say?

MacMini

Hi Nic - understood reference the fact that this is the Credit File board.  The reason for that is that I have not lost any money due to the situation so I have not been defrauded.  It's Virgin Media who have been defrauded because the bank account use to set up the accounts what not mine or linked to me.

I have been speaking to CEDR / CISAS this morning and they said the same reference the deadlock letter.

I've been working with my broker since mid-March when I discovered the issue.  He's working with the underwriter for the AIP, but we'll need the issue resolved fully for the final application.

Thanks for taking the time to reply....

MEM62

MacMini said:

In the event that they respond to me tomorrow advising that they are not reopening the case, is there any advice anyone has on next steps?

Thank you - Mac

Once they refuse to engage further your only option is litigation.  This is expensive and will not be quick.  You may well be placed in a situation where, if you do not wat to loose your house, you will have to clear the debt. 
 

MacMini

Thanks Mem - I was thinking the same thing, albeit, clearing the debt feels like I'm therefore accepting that I was responsible for the default and therefore the Credit File issue would remain?
In terms of litigation - what kind of solicitor would help in this kind of case?

kaMelo

If the account(s) is(are) at an address you've never lived at and linked to a bank account you've never had then I would raise the issue with the CRA rather than Virgin. Is this data on one or all of your files? If so raise it with all of them.

You may have the same names as the account holder but other than that what else makes them think this is your data?
It may just be misallocated data collation rather than fraud..

Thrugelmir

Doesn't sound like fraud. The account details are most likely genuine. The issue is how has the information ended up on your credit file.  Which is unrelated other than possibly you sharing names with somebody else. Dispute the data entries via the CRA(s). 

MacMini

Hi kaMelo - good advice - hadn't thought of that.  It shows as a linked address on two (Experian and Equifax), but the default only shows up on Equifax.  So, I'll raise again with Equifax directly as well as continuing to battle with Virgin...

MacMini

Thrugelmir said:

Doesn't sound like fraud. The account details are most likely genuine. The issue is how has the information ended up on your credit file.  Which is unrelated other than possibly you sharing names with somebody else. Dispute the data entries via the CRA(s). 

Yep - agreed - I'll run reports from them all again today and contact each where the linked address or the default shows up.  Thanks again....