Fake Fedex Account Set Up Using My Personal Info., Now Being Threatened With Debt Collectors

1854_1

Hope this is the right forum for this .

In early January my credit card company contacted me to say my card was being changed before it's due date for security reasons but that no fraud had taken place on my account. Sure enough all is okay with my credit card transactions.

Early February out of the blue I receive a letter through the post referring to my account with Fedex being overdue and requesting payment for a significant sum ( £ 100+ ) within seven days or they may commence immediate legal action ' without further notice '  .  I do not have a Fedex account, have never opened a Fedex account and this was the first I knew about this.

I contacted Fedex the same day by phone and was informed they'd refer it to the relevant department and received confirmation of this via email. I also requested a copy of the associated invoice be emailed to me . Needless to say I've never heard of the sender nor the recipient but the billing address is mine , my name appears on the invoice as do the last 4 digits of my cancelled credit card.

I have placed numerous telephone calls , filled in online forms , and have contacted their legal department ( which is based in the EU ) to get my personal information removed from their systems. Having contacted my card company it turns out they refused an unauthorised transaction on my credit card account from Fedex using my , at that time, cancelled card.

Today I have received a letter saying if Fedex do not receive immediate payment they will pass my details on to their debt collection agency ' which may incur additional costs '.

I am literally banging my head against a brick wall with this company and have spent hours trying to deal with this.

Has anyone experienced similar ?  How did you deal with it ?

Without going in to too much detail I have personal reasons for not wanting debt collectors at the door as I am looking after a vulnerable person . I cannot realistically leave the house for fear that any debt collector may seek to gain entry or coerce this person in to paying for a debt that is not mine and that I had no knowledge of prior to the demand for payment.

Needless to say it's pretty stressful ,  pointers to what I can do would be appreciated , thanks

I did register with Action Fraud but as I'd not suffered a loss it doesn't look like I can report this.

Brie

I'm wondering if a subject access request would help at all so that you can prove it's not yours.  I know there are lots of threatening letters mentioned on the motoring forum re parking offences that need to be fought so possibly this can be dealt with in a similar fashion and an SAR can be part of that.

Basically you want to be able to spot something that shows you never opened the account.  There should be something on "your" file that shows you live in Germany or Finland or wherever and that you ordered and inflatable milk maid from somewhere else.  You should ensure you keep any records of texts/emails from your bank about cancelling the card due to fraud as that will all build a case for you should you need it.

Brie

1854_1 said:

Without going in to too much detail I have personal reasons for not wanting debt collectors at the door as I am looking after a vulnerable person . I cannot realistically leave the house for fear that any debt collector may seek to gain entry or coerce this person in to paying for a debt that is not mine and that I had no knowledge of prior to the demand for payment.

Bailiffs would not be involved in this kind of debt collection - at least not legitimate ones - and I doubt that Fedex will stoop to illegal practices.

tacpot12

I would write to them confirming that you don't regard yourself as owing them any debt, explain briefly why you know that the transaction was fraudulent, and say that if they or their agents contact you about it again you will report them fto the police for harrassment.

In theory, reporting that there is a vulnerable person at home should stop them sending debt collectors, but I would not trust this. I would not share this information with them.

If you have home insurance, check to see if you have legal expenses cover, and if you do, call the Legal Helpline and see if their solicitor will write to FedEx on your behalf. They should be worried if you have access to free legal advice and representation as suing you will certainly cost them quite a bit. 

MalMonroe

Hi,  

Have you asked FedEx to supply you with full proof of the debt they say you owe? I don't mean the invoice they sent but the contract you supposedly agreed to when you opened a FedEx account in the first place. They must have that on file. If they don't, then they really do not have any 'case'. It would be interesting to see what they produce.They cannot take a case to any court in the land without proof that you are one of their bona fide customers.

The Financial Ombudsman now deals with cases like yours, as per the information in the following link -

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/credit-borrowing-money/debt-collecting

You can apply online.

You said "I did register with Action Fraud but as I'd not suffered a loss it doesn't look like I can report this." 

You CAN report this. It's fraud. And that's what Action Fraud is all about, the clue is in the name. Please do report it because this will happen to others and the more reports they receive, the better for us all. And even though you say you have not suffered loss, you are suffering because FedEx have made a mistake and are chasing you for payment of a debt that isn't yours. You are worrying and you are also fearful about the health and safety of someone you live with. You have suffered loss of peace of mind.

Three other things are of concern. And your credit card company has some questions to answer.

1. "In early January my credit card company contacted me to say my card was being changed before its due date for security reasons but that no fraud had taken place on my account. Sure enough all is okay with my credit card transactions."

How strange that you now discover that fraud HAD taken place on your account. I think that is an unusual thing for credit card companies to do and say. Certainly in my experience and I have four credit cards right now.

2. "Having contacted my card company it turns out they refused an unauthorised transaction on my credit card account from Fedex using my , at that time, cancelled card."

So why didn't your card company contact you at that time to alert you to this?? They contacted you to let you know they were changing your card. 

I suspect that they DID change it because they knew of the fraudulent attempt to use your card. 

3. my name appears on the invoice as do the last 4 digits of my cancelled credit card. Why do these digits appear on an invoice? They say you haven't paid. We know you haven't paid but why would they have the last four digits of your cancelled card on the invoice? It's weird.

If I were you, I'd want to know from the credit card company exactly how the fraudster got hold of the cancelled credit card number. And how was that credit card used to defraud FedEx, when it was supposed to be cancelled? If your bank say they refused the unauthorised transaction, then it's not clear why or how FedEx actually went ahead with whatever transaction they say you now owe them for. When the fraudster used the credit card number for a purchase, it should have been declined and that should have been the end of the matter. But the credit card company should have still told you. 

Is it actually FedEx you are dealing with or is it an elaborate scam?

In summary - and I'm sorry this is so long! - I would contact FedEx and ask them to provide you with a copy of the original contract you agreed to when you opened your account with them. Ask them for a scanned copy, they could then email that to you.

Tell them you need it to prepare your court case.

I'd also tell them to stop harassing you by trying to frighten you with tales of debt collectors. If they wanted to hire debt collectors, they would have.

And I'd definitely report this to the Financial Ombudsman, they can help you to get compensation for aggressive harassment and mental anguish, etc. 

I hope some of this helps! I do feel so sorry for you in this awful situation.

Aylesbury_Duck

Are you sure the letter came from FedEx, and not a scammer masquerading as them?  It all sounds genuine, but worth checking, especially if you've only been contacting "FedEx" through numbers or addresses the original letter provided.

1854_1

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Are you sure the letter came from FedEx, and not a scammer masquerading as them?  It all sounds genuine, but worth checking, especially if you've only been contacting "FedEx" through numbers or addresses the original letter provided.

When I received the original letter I thought it was a scam, fortunately I followed it up by using contact details from the Fedex site .

I would urge people not to assume such letters are scams and to follow them up once they've established the correct contact details.

That said even using the correct contact details I'm almost 3 weeks in to this with no end in sight and many many hours invested trying to sort it out.

1854_1

MalMonroe said:

Hi,  

Many thanks for the information and the links.

I actually received an email from my card company and a phone message back in January , the phone message states ' to protect your account we're replacing your'  * card number* '   Don't worry there hasn't been any fraud- it's just a  precaution  '   .  

As regards why didn't they notify me of the unauthorised attempt to use the card , I'd guess that at the time of the unauthorised attempt my card had already been changed .  I did look on the card companies website and did ask about a data breach when I rang them but they don't or won't give that information out . I rarely use my card , and even more rarely do I use my full name in online transactions unless absolutely required  so I can privately hazard a guess as to the likely source of the data breach as the Fedex account uses my full name.

With regards to it being an elaborate scam, Fedex confirm that the bills are genuine, I've used the genuine web site for communication and for obtaining telephone numbers.

Personally I can't figure why Fedex supplied the services when the payment was unauthorised and the card no longer valid .  The shipper is a USA based store ( I looked them up online )  and the recipient is a UK address  and then the billing details are my details which someone has obtained and used , the bill is a significant amount all of which you'd think would arouse some suspicion on the part of Fedex that all was not as it should be

The Action Fraud website I ended up going round in circles as there doesn't seem to be a mechanism for reporting anything unless you've actually lost money, I'll take another look as I registered on the site once the issue arose.

Thanks for the link for the Financial Ombudsman , I didn't consider that as an option and will look in to that also.

m0bov

Have you checked your credit card file online?
Have you logged a fraud report with action fraud?

DE_612183

If the recipient is a UK address that is not yours - surely this is just a case for Police Fraud ?

1854_1

m0bov said:

Have you checked your credit card file online?
Have you logged a fraud report with action fraud?

Credit reference agency file is checked every few days since this happened and nothing new or untoward has appeared there so far, **** law would dictate that as I've mentioned that then something likely will turn up so I'll check again with them again in a few minutes. If you meant my credit card statement nothing has appeared on there out of the ordinary , this charge never appeared on my account statement and I knew nothing about the transaction until I received the payment demand through the post.

As mentioned earlier I did register for Action Fraud when this started but I couldn't see where to complete a report as I'd not actually  suffered any financial loss at the time and ended up going round in circles trying to file a report.