Debt collection letter regarding a BNPL plan taken out by someone else

kjam5469

Hello, we recently received a letter from debt collectors Ophelos regarding a bnpl (buy now pay later) plan from Philips taken out in my mothers name. My mother has never sent money to Philips and we cannot find any transactions related to them.

A prove it letter was sent and we were told to take it with up Action Fraud and to send the reference number so that the debt could be put on hold.

However, from reading other posts on here it seems that Action Fraud isn't very helpful, what happens if their investigation is inconclusive? Isn't it up to Philips to provide proof themselves? 

Thank you.

sourcrates

Identity theft is rife these days, Action Fraud won`t investigate anything.

Your simply going to them to report the fraudulent account, and to obtain a crime reference number to quote to the next DCA that comes looking for money, you tell them its fraud, give them the number, then its up to them to write the debt off or return it to their client.

They are only a reporting agency for cyber crime, they don`t investigate as such.

PixelPound

DCA will usually ask if the fraud has been reported and for the crime reference number. As you may appreciate some people will say a debt isn't theirs and must be fraud to get out of paying. 

As yours is actually fraud, then contacting Action Fraud gets you the CRN to give the debt collectors to go back to the original creditors to do any investigation. It is not on you to prove anything, you just tell them it's fraud and has been reported to the police and give the CRN provided by Action Fraud. Keep note of the number in case any future debt collectors contact you or your mum.