Paypal debt recovery letter - identity fraud

rolysatch

Hi

I had a letter from a debt recovery company this morning Moorcroft
MDRL chasing a £325.97 debt for Paypal - I'm based in the UK. This is
nothing to do with me and I assumed it was some sort of scam. However
when googling i saw they're a legit debt company. I contacted them and
someone has obtained paypal credit - one of these pay in 3 instalments -
but have used the correct name and address and wrong date of birth. the
phone and email they used are nothing to do with me either.

They told me to contact action fraud and get a crime number - i
tried that, and they don't give them out for that type of crime anymore -
and to speak to paypal, and then report back. After being transferred
to 3 different depts at paypal, they told me that there were no
outstanding debts on my genuine paypal account but won't give me any
details or speak to me about the other account without me providing the
email address and phone number on the account, which obviously i don't
know!

Anyhow, i explained this to the debt company and they have put the
debt on hold for 14 days and are going to try and speak to paypal.

My question is how has someone managed to obtain credit in my name
with only my name and address and a wrong date of birth? (the date of
birth was correct month and year but the wrong day, which i sometimes
give out to unimportant, shady looking businesses if they require DOB to
try and avoid identity fraud lol so it must have come from one of
those)

my other question is, is there anything i should now do to try and
protect myself? I've ordered a statutory credit report from experian
that i believe will show any unknown credit I have, but anything else i
should do?

Thanks in advance

Nasqueron

You can still get a crime reference number - now it's from Report Fraud (new name)

You can report online and make sure it's clear someone is doing financial fraud in your name

rolysatch

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82087508#Comment_82087508

Hi thanks for replying. That's where i went and when i try to submit a report for identity fraud and that someone has obtained credit in my name i get the following response:

You are seeking to report an incident where your identity has been compromised.

Whilst this is not a recordable crime, the information
you provide will be crucial to addressing any subsequent issues that may
arise.

We will therefore take your report as an Information Report.
This means that once you have submitted your report you
will not receive any further communication from us. Please be assured
that you are providing information that can be used to disrupt criminal
activity and raise awareness through campaigns to protect you and
others.

sourcrates

You don`t need to worry about Moorcroft, they are only acting on behalf of PayPal, and so have no enforcement rights on this debt whatsoever, check your credit files, if PayPal are reporting on this account, you need to have that removed.

Official written complaint is the first step, once you receive their final response, you can involve the FOS, and the ICO if you remain unhappy.

rolysatch

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82087610#Comment_82087610

Thanks for the advice that's very helpful!