Someone may have gotten difficult child's ss #

[KFld]

I got a bill from a collection agency for a past due bill from AT&T. It is in difficult child's name and his ss# for a phone line that was established in a city that he never lived. They said the phone line was only in service for one month from 12/1/06-1/1/07. It is a town my difficult child never lived in, one hour away from us, but it's where he used to buy from when he was using, so I'm wondering if one of the dealers got ahold of his ss #. difficult child has to call and tell them he never lived there so they can send him out a fraud package, but I wonder what else is in his name if somebody got his ss#. Does anyone know who else we should call to see if there are other things open under his name???? :smile:

 

[Suz]

Karen, get a credit report done. You can get free ones online. They will show inquiries. You should probably call the police, too. I'm sure they have a fraud unit and can give you some good advice.

Did wingnut or any of her friends ever consider living at this town? :crazy:

Suz

 

[ScentofCedar]

That's a good question, Suz.

Barbara

 

[KFld]

No, she never lived there, or considered it and this was not too long after the baby was born and she is on methadone so wouldn't have even been going there to buy. I just got off the phone with difficult child and he's wondering if one of "friends" or roommate from where he had the apartment got a hold of it because he was using at the time and going with one roommate to Hartford to buy.

 

[donna723]

If you got a "past due" bill from AT&T, I wonder why you didn't also get all the previous bills they sent out before the "past due" notice?

I would get online immediately and check his credit report with all three credit bureaus. You can do this once a year for free. You may be surprised what you find there. Did your son have phone service in his name somewhere else at the time this service was supposedly hooked up? I ask because I was able to get phone service for my son in the mobile home he was living in without signing anything or paying another deposit ... I arranged it all on the phone! It was a separate number, in a different town, but in my name on their records because I already had phone service with the same company in my name, and I was ultimately responsible for the bills even though they were mailed to my sons address. It was just considered to be a second service in my name.

This same thing happened to my son about two years ago, and it's not as easy to sort out as they claim it is! In his case it was fairly easy to figure out who had been using his SS number ... when you enter my sons' SS number on one of the credit bureaus, HIS FATHERS' name comes up! What a mess! Some info is his, some is his fathers! HIS employer info, his FATHERS' mailing address, some accounts my son had previously, and lots and lots of unpaid doctor and hospital bills that were obviously not his, they were his fathers! The Social Security office said it is NOT a mistake in their system, good ol' dad HAD to have given sons' number instead of his own, and probably just used his first initial instead of first name, since they have the same initials!

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I'd get this settled as soon as you can, and also check those credit reports ASAP because if they did it once, Lord only knows what else they might have done! Good luck!

 

[donna723]

Karen, I just looked at your original post again ... and they said that this phone line was just disconnected on 1-1-07??? That's only a few weeks ago! Hardly even enough time there for a final bill to be mailed out and paid, much less to now be "overdue" long enough to be turned over to a collection agency!

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

 

[Suz]

Good eyes, Donna.....makes me wonder if the bill itself or the collection agency is a scam???

Suz

 

[DammitJanet]

I wondered the same thing as donna and suz. My bill runs a month behind. Even if I disconnected the service they would have hardly had time to send the last bill out for service disconnected on the first of jan. Certainly havent had time to send to collections. Normally it takes at least what...6 months or more of not paying the bill to get it sent to collections? Are you sure its not a bill from LAST year? 05 going into 06? I could believe that was sent into collections right about now. (Believe me, Im the queen of junk going into collections since I have no income...lol)

Either this is a scam or a mistake.

 

[KFld]

I have no idea why it came so soon, but they did give me the number to speak to someone at AT&T and difficult child came over and he called. He said he never lived there or connected a phone anywhere and they are sending him out a fraud package. They probaly sent the bill out as soon as the phone was connected I'm thinking for activation fee charges, but it still would not have been overdue enough to go to collections. We never got the bill because I think it took getting to the collection agency for them to connect his ss# with his previous address here. Not sure why the phone was shut off after one month and sent to collections??

Anyway, we went online and checked his credit. His credit is good and there is nothing else showing up that he doesn't either have himself, as far as a credit card etc, and no balances on anything. We are mailing in a request to put an alert on his credit report which they said will result in him needing to give more information then usual anytime he applies for something, which is fine with him.

What I could not believe is what it took for us to speak to a live person!!! I was getting so aggrivated. It was all automated and you needed to wait for a password to be mailed to you to check online, or request your report mailed to you. Finally I got ahold of a live person and I them how rediculous it was. Your identity could have been stolen and you have to go through all this automated crap and wait to receive something in the mail, in the meantime someone could be purchasing things in your name left and right. I'd love to see an older person, who doesn't own a computer, try and get anywhere with this.

We will wait for the AT&T fraud packet to come so he can fill it out and mail the request for the alert on his credit report asap.

 

[1905]

It's good that they are sending you a fraud packet. Don't chalk it up to a mistake. He is a victim of fraud. This just happened to someone I work with. She got her Kohls bill with things purchased on it from a store in Texas, we live in NJ, she wanted to just call and say they made a mistake. Her husband is a some type of security specialist at his job and he told her no, she was the victim of fraud and I don't remember her exact route of action but it did involve a police report, and it was found to be an inside job. The store treated her like she was a criminal even after the truth was known. I can ask her what her what she did exactly.-Alyssa

 

[KFld]

I signed up online through experian to have access to all 3 credit bureau. The AT&T credit check showed up on one of them as well as the collection agency. I emailed them in regards to the identity theft and I am waiting for them to email me back in regards to putting an alert on his credit bureau reports.
By signing up they will check everyday for any changes and email me an alert if anything is being checked into or has been opened as far as credit cards etc. Basically I will be made aware of any changes daily. Hoperfully this will be the end of it.

 

[witzend]

Isn't that service an extra fee, Karen?

 

[KFld]

Yes. It was actually $35.00, but to me it's worth it to be alerted if someone else is trying to use his identity.

 

[DDD]

Good luck with AT&T. They are at the top of my very short
PITA list. I haven't had to deal with fraud but I did have
a payment check get lost in the mail. For thirty years (YES
30 years) I have never been late with a payment to AT&T. I
received the bill for the next month and noticed a past due
balance showed. I mailed the current balance and added a note that the previous balance was paid x date, check xx, in
the amount of xxx "please contact if you have not received"
etc.

Those bloomin' idiots sent me a letter and said call this number about your past due balance. I called. They told me
"you must pay today to keep your phone in service". HUH??

I won't go on and on and on. It still chaps me off to think
about it. They wanted to draw from my account..not! I had
to next day air UPS payment.

Good luck, Karen. DDD