Mobile phone providers not carrying out proper id checks creating fraud and identity theft

Sandra.Deighton

I am trying to highlight what has happened to my famly namely my younger son.  We started getting letters to our home address in March 2022 in our correct address but first name same as my third son but surname started with a different letter.  This letter was from Vodafone and someone unknown had taken out a phone contract in this fraudulent name and our address.  Other mobile phone providers followed, Tesco Mobile, Three and ID Mobile.  We began trying to contact the providers but they did not listen.  We did not have the phone numbers of these contracts, and were not the person named in tthe letter.  Letters kept coming.  Then debt collectors started writing to us.  Eventually £6000 of bad debt was put against my son's name (noting that the surnames were different) but attributed it to him anyway.  He has struggled to deal with all of it very stressful so I took over.  Contact providers, in writing to complain, to Experian, to Ofcom.  Vodafone then cut off my sons proper mobile phone for a week whilst investigating him for fraud!  He has a Voxi account.  Vodafone have recently upheld our complaint, I asked for compensation as we have been working for months trying to sort all of this out and none of its our fault.  They offered us £50!!! Same day another debt collection letter came to the fraudster at our address saying we owed £650 to Vodafone.  These companies dont seem to care as long as someone is in the firing line.  Rreported fraud to Police and Action Fraud but they are not allowed to investigate but have noted the facts an we have 3 reference numbers.  This could in future come back and haunt my son regarding the credit check illegal actions so we are worried about whats going to happen and feel that we deserve financial recompense as we have had to clear up all of this mess.  Apparently EE never have fraud committed on their accounts.

sourcrates

Quite a common fraud, and one that the networks don`t seem to care much about, your right.

Young people tend to live their life on social media these days and give away all kinds of personal information without understanding or even knowing the consequences, this is a fraudsters paradise, and is most likely where they have pieced together some details for him.

The debt collectors you can really ignore, they are just acting for their clients, the phone networks, so can`t do anything except write letters and phone you, you have done all the right things, as long as you have crime numbers for everything, if a DCA writes again, just respond with the crime number, if any of these progress to court action, defend the claim on the same basis.

That`s about all you can do, it`s rather a grey area with no one mechanism available to help you sort these things out, the good news is that once you have told them about the fraud, they tend to put such accounts on the back burner.

Assuming these debts have all defaulted, all trace will vanish from his credit file after 6 years, not ideal granted, but it`s just one of those unfortunate things.

It`s doubtful the compensation amount will rise much, but the more fuss you make, the better in these cases.

martinbainbridge1975

I would add at least 1 zero on to the end of their offer, you want £500 minimum.  If a regulator gets involved the businesses are charged for this happening as they have not adequately resolved the issues.

Earlier this year I had a late payment marker put against me in error, they offered me 100, when I said I want £500 as you'll get a regulator bill they rolled over.

If need be look at your home insurance if you have legal cover use it as they cover consumer disputes 

Flat_Earther

Sandra.Deighton said:

I am trying to highlight what has happened to my famly namely my younger son.  We started getting letters to our home address in March 2022 in our correct address but first name same as my third son but surname started with a different letter.  This letter was from Vodafone and someone unknown had taken out a phone contract in this fraudulent name and our address.  Other mobile phone providers followed, Tesco Mobile, Three and ID Mobile.  We began trying to contact the providers but they did not listen.  We did not have the phone numbers of these contracts, and were not the person named in tthe letter.  Letters kept coming.  Then debt collectors started writing to us.  Eventually £6000 of bad debt was put against my son's name (noting that the surnames were different) but attributed it to him anyway.  He has struggled to deal with all of it very stressful so I took over.  Contact providers, in writing to complain, to Experian, to Ofcom.  Vodafone then cut off my sons proper mobile phone for a week whilst investigating him for fraud!  He has a Voxi account.  Vodafone have recently upheld our complaint, I asked for compensation as we have been working for months trying to sort all of this out and none of its our fault.  They offered us £50!!! Same day another debt collection letter came to the fraudster at our address saying we owed £650 to Vodafone.  These companies dont seem to care as long as someone is in the firing line.  Rreported fraud to Police and Action Fraud but they are not allowed to investigate but have noted the facts an we have 3 reference numbers.  This could in future come back and haunt my son regarding the credit check illegal actions so we are worried about whats going to happen and feel that we deserve financial recompense as we have had to clear up all of this mess.  Apparently EE never have fraud committed on their accounts.

So who is in the "firing line" here?

They're not chasing your son for £1000's of debt so they're taking it on the chin.  Do you really think they want to absorb £1000's of pounds of debt per "victim"?  I suspect not, as it isn't a particularly good business model.

Fraudsters figure out weaknesses in systems, companies can only react to that.

Sorry your son was a victim but blaming Vodafone is a complete waste of time.

General_Grant

Sandra.Deighton said:

I am trying to highlight what has happened to my famly namely my younger son.  We started getting letters to our home address in March 2022 in our correct address but first name same as my third son but surname started with a different letter.  This letter was from Vodafone and someone unknown had taken out a phone contract in this fraudulent name and our address.  Other mobile phone providers followed, Tesco Mobile, Three and ID Mobile.  We began trying to contact the providers but they did not listen.  We did not have the phone numbers of these contracts, and were not the person named in tthe letter.  Letters kept coming.  Then debt collectors started writing to us.  Eventually £6000 of bad debt was put against my son's name (noting that the surnames were different) but attributed it to him anyway.  He has struggled to deal with all of it very stressful so I took over.  Contact providers, in writing to complain, to Experian, to Ofcom.  Vodafone then cut off my sons proper mobile phone for a week whilst investigating him for fraud!  He has a Voxi account.  Vodafone have recently upheld our complaint, I asked for compensation as we have been working for months trying to sort all of this out and none of its our fault.  They offered us £50!!! Same day another debt collection letter came to the fraudster at our address saying we owed £650 to Vodafone.  These companies dont seem to care as long as someone is in the firing line.  Rreported fraud to Police and Action Fraud but they are not allowed to investigate but have noted the facts an we have 3 reference numbers.  This could in future come back and haunt my son regarding the credit check illegal actions so we are worried about whats going to happen and feel that we deserve financial recompense as we have had to clear up all of this mess.  Apparently EE never have fraud committed on their accounts.

So  the name was close enough to your son's name that you opened the letters?
Was it just that the first letter of the surname was different and could have been attributed to being a miss-hearing or miss-typing?