Opos emails non existent debt

manamaga2512

Hi all, over the past couple of weeks I've been getting emails and texts from a company called opos, who in turn say they are representing a company called intrum. I've never heard of either of these companies.
They say that it's regarding a debt "in relation to a Halifax credit card".
I've never had a bank account nor a credit card with the Halifax. I've never had any involvement with the Halifax.
I do not have, nor have I ever had, any outstanding "debts" beyond the usual everyday mortgage, car finance, mobile phone etc. My credit reference can confirm this, it's impeccable (and I'm actually quite proud of that).
I have done a little research on opos ltd, with less than favourable results.
I initially thought it was a phishing scam but they have my email address, mobile number and home address. I'm now thinking, has my identity been cloned? (Due to me never having any involvement with Halifax) and it's possible that someone has had a credit card in my name maybe?
Where / to whom can I complain about this company as they seem to be prolific with regards to harassing people and it grinds my gears that they get away with it.

Aylesbury_Duck

Put complaints aside for now.  If you think this outfit has your details, you should crack on and change login details for all of your accounts, and any website that has your payment details sorted.  Enable MFA on all of them as well.

Once that's done, if they're regulate in any way then contact their regulator.

manamaga2512

I'm very tech savvy, got MFA for any accounts that allow it and regularly change passwords etc.
I do recall, must be at least 6 years ago now, I had an account with Nationwide (no longer have for quite some time) and they once put a block on everything as someone had called them, attempting to be me. But the person couldn't answer the security questions.
Like I say, that was at least 6 years ago, and they must have had some basic information about me. Has this come back to haunt me again and someone taken out a credit card in my name maybe?
I've checked they're website and it says they are regulated by the FCA (confirmed on the FAC website). I really don't want to reply to this opos company so I guess the "right" route would be the FCA then yeah?

Aylesbury_Duck

I think so, yes.

fatbelly

It's a mis-trace. We see this all the time on debt-free wannabe.

Send them a prove-it letter. It's in our sticky threads.

HillStreetBlues

fatbelly said:

It's a mis-trace. We see this all the time on debt-free wannabe.

Send them a prove-it letter. It's in our sticky threads.

I can understand postal address but how do they get e-mail & mobile number?

manamaga2512

HillStreetBlues said:

fatbelly said:

It's a mis-trace. We see this all the time on debt-free wannabe.

Send them a prove-it letter. It's in our sticky threads.

I can understand postal address but how do they get e-mail & mobile number?

Good point. It started as a text, which I immediately deleted and blocked. But then email and address?
When I looked into it, this company appears to chase old debts for the most part, but a debt from a bank who I've never had an account with seems weird.

fatbelly

Your details are on a database that they can access, and you share enough features with the debtor to give you a 'score'

It won't be a high score so if you just ask them to prove this debt is yours they won't be able to.

It's what their professional body tells us never happens.

FYI Credit Services Association

manamaga2512

fatbelly said:

Your details are on a database that they can access, and you share enough features with the debtor to give you a 'score'

It won't be a high score so if you just ask them to prove this debt is yours they won't be able to.

It's what their professional body tells us never happens.

FYI Credit Services Association

What do you mean by "you share enough features with the debtor to give you a score"?
Just to clarify, this isn't an old debt of mine that I'm trying to get out of paying. I've never had an account with Halifax.
I get the database thing, it's not difficult to find someone's name, address, and phone numbers etc, companies sell that stuff all the time.

Ergates

manamaga2512 said:

fatbelly said:

Your details are on a database that they can access, and you share enough features with the debtor to give you a 'score'

It won't be a high score so if you just ask them to prove this debt is yours they won't be able to.

It's what their professional body tells us never happens.

FYI Credit Services Association

What do you mean by "you share enough features with the debtor to give you a score"?
Just to clarify, this isn't an old debt of mine that I'm trying to get out of paying. I've never had an account with Halifax.
I get the database thing, it's not difficult to find someone's name, address, and phone numbers etc, companies sell that stuff all the time.

The debtor will be someone with the same (or very similar) name as you, possibly a similar date of birth, and or similar previous addresses.    Identifying people using personal details is very complex and *all* matching processes generate false positives.

This is not your debt - they just have incorrectly matched you to the details they have for the debtor.  As suggested, send them a "proove it" letter and they will most likely realise their mistake and go away.

manamaga2512

Just wanted to give an update on this. So I used the prove it letter from this forum but changed the wording a little to suit my circumstance. I got this reply today, which to be honest, I wouldn't have expected anything less as they clearly have the wrong person.

"Hello,

Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately, due to the age of the account we are unable to provide you with your requested documents, so we have decided to return this account to our client you should not receive any further correspondence in regards to this account.

Kind Regards