Identity theft from...an old landlord?

[Catscankim]

My conundrum of the week...

So I been working on my credit really hard over the past I dunno, year or two. I got my credit raised over 200 pts from 450 to now the 600's. It might not be perfect yet, but it is really getting there and keeps going up. I am really proud of myself and can apply for cards and get approved. I bought a car! I kinda gotta know which things to apply for because my good credit history is only this long however.

I have ATT and Directv for my internet/cable service. In other areas it is called Uverse. My acct is combined and have had this service for a bunch of years, like 6? My hospital has an ATT tower for cell service, so I really have crap when it comes to making calls with my Sprint, now Tmobile. Got sick of it so decided to make the switch to ATT for my cell phone since I already have an ATT acct. YAY lets go shopping for a new iphone lol. So I did and went through the process...as far as getting a transfer pin from tmobile for my new ATT phone. Literally took hours because your old company really doesn't want to give up that pin LOL.

Anyway, get to check-out with my new phone and I get declined. WHY? I have zero balance with ATT for years, I am just adding a service. So I call them...

"I am sorry, but you have an account with a $963.19 balance on it". I am like ok....I am looking at the website on my acct and I have a zero balance. After speaking with the third transfer phone call...I have a separate acct opened Jan 13 2020 that was disconnected on May 30, 2020, IN PHILADELPHIA.

So this third person that I spoke to was super sympathetic and gave me ALL this information about this acct.

The address listed is my last address in Philly before I moved to Florida. I did a lot of research and the last known occupant is my old landlord, who still resides there (it was a duplex apt) according to my lookup, and he is listed as being there on those dates, as well as today. Who else has my personal info than the person that has my original application for the apartment that I moved into and later moved out of in 2005- 2007? Tenant applications include everything...ss#, references, mothers maiden name, past residence etc. Background check....ALL OF IT.

The ATT guy tells me to call their fraud department. Which I will when I can do it during THEIR bankers biz hours. I tried today at 5pm when I got home from work, but they were already closed. Because you know, thieves only work during business hours.

Expletive expletive...it all makes sense.

So I found this guy by internet research starting with looking up the appraisers office (cause I forgot his name at first). And I'm like OMG and I forgot his mom was half owner of the complex. And I found a picture, and I'm like holy **** YES HIM! I was all mad and started typing him an email from the email address that I found online, and holy crappola I still had it and it auto populated in my To: line. I went batsh*t crazy with the email, but didn't send it LOL Cause I figured I should ask a professional first LOL.

Like, I can't get a PHONE!! All that hard work with my credit and I can't get a phone with the friggen company that I already am in good standing with. And I never had a problem getting a phone before, even when my credit was worse, so now that my credit is a bit better, it. hurts even worse. And now its the weekend... a holiday weekend. Fat chance that I can do anything about it until the middle of next week.

I did file a complaint with the FTC. Only to realize that they are not going to investigate, only take the complaint.

 

[BWt]

1. Go to each of the three online credit bureaus and request a free credit report. Then check reports to see what else may be there.
Experian
Equifax
Transunion

When you are logged into each credit bureau request a freeze on your credit. The reports and the freeze are free. The report will show you any and all accounts in your name with your social security number. The freeze will prevent anyone from opening a credit account in your name or increasing an existing account.

While you are in each account logged in find the phone account that someone else opened and report it as fraud to each credit bureau. Go to all three and report to each bureau.

2. Next business day Call the social security office and make a report that you suspect your old landlord is using your social security number. They will be very helpful.

3. I am so sorry this happened to you. Last year someone applied for business loans and business grants in my name with my social security number.

4. Consider filing a police report.

Yes it’s awful and it takes time to fix. Freezing your credit is the first step and can be done online anytime. You will need to create an account with each bureau. DO NOT pay for any of the credit bureau stuff. You can do everything you need to do for free.

Take a deep breath and thank god you found out. It gets easier once you’ve taken the first few steps.

Everyone needs to check their credit reports every year. It’s free. Remember to keep a record of your sign in name and passwords for the credit bureaus

Hope this helps. Sending a big hug.

 

[Catscankim]

Well here is the deal with freezing my credit...I am trying to build credit to eventually purchase a house and I would like to refinance my truck. All my cards thus far are sub-prime, except I finally got approved for a Discover card not too long ago. Every card is 500 or less and I need a prime card or two to build on, not to mention the incredible interest rates on sub prime cards that I plan on filing away in a drawer after I get some better cards.

I check my credit daily with credit karma. I had A LOT of collections that most have dropped off or I disputed. I am down to my last two collections and actually considered paying them off because they are really not that much...in exchange for them dropping the tradeline. I erroneously thought this was my own collection because you know, they get traded and sold to other collection companies frequently. So it has probably been sitting there without me realizing that it wasn't my own.

This acct was opened 13 years after I moved out of that place. It is pretty incredible that he would think of doing so, or maybe he thought it was so long that it wouldn't be caught. And now its been 3 years since there was any activity, so I don't really think immediate action to freeze my credit is all that necessary, especially that now I know who did this...errr SUSPECT, but it is highly likely.

I attempted to file a police report online with Philadelphia, but they don't have online reporting that I could find, but my city does. And according to the FTC I can file with my own local police.

I am going to start with ATT fraud department and see what they say first, which I presume that it is going to be filing a police report.

I am so stinkin mad over this. I asked my daughter yesterday if she remembered his name. Her first reaction was "ew, that creepy guy that kept letting himself into our apartment?" Yeah, him. You could never just mail him a check. Checks were a no. I had to drive half way across Philadelphia to drop off cash to his mother's house...not knock on the door to give it to her, just leave it in her mailbox outside her door. So once a month I had to go to the bank and withdraw $1400. Finally the bank teller asked me if I considered cashiers checks or money orders...no he only wanted the cash.

One Saturday afternoon I went to New York to see a show. My daughter was a teenager and home alone. In the middle of the show she calls me freaking out because he was in the apartment telling her that the rent was past due and he was going to kick her out. I was over an hour away, not to mention having to get my car out of a high-rise elevator type parking garage... So I sent some guys over there to remove him. Which, he left peacefully And I wasn't late. His mother called me and asked to drop it off on Sunday because she wasn't going to be home and didn't want $1400 sitting in her mailbox...

So when I say I suspect it was him that opened this account, I think I have good reason considering the slime ball that he is, and I think this is a battle already won. Which brings me back to whether or not I should send him an email to let him know that I know, or just let the law take care of it.

 

[cmzaha]

I am hoping Alison will see this and give some advice, but I find without actual proof you might have a tough road ahead of you. Stolen identity is tough and my youngest daughter fought a case of this for years when her SS# was stolen and being used. I would certainly file a police report with your local police department to at least have that much on file. I doubt you can do anything with the fraud department without a police report. I don't suppose you have any old receipts from paying your rent and or your old rental agreement to at least prove you lived there. It could possibly help.

 

[AliOop]

Did I hear my name on the intercom?

@bwtapestry gave great advice. My only addition, since you asked: do not contact him in any way. The police may eventually want to do a tape-recorded call where you ask him about it. If you contact him ahead of time, you ruin your chances of getting him to confess on that call.

Also, it could be that their computers were hacked, or their rental paperwork was stolen from their house, etc. If that is the case, anything you say to him could be a basis for a defamation lawsuit. You also have to be super careful about telling someone, "You better do ______ (in this case, pay that stinkin bill), or I will report you to the police." You could be sued civilly or even arrested criminally for extortion, and all the more so if the fraud was committed by someone else who stole your info from him.

If you simply go through the right channels (AT&T fraud dept, police, etc.) it is much harder for you to get sued or end up in criminal hot water.

 

[Catscankim]

I thought about just paying it off and deal with anything else later. I can do that right now financially, but don't want to screw anything up like "well you paid it so it must be yours". But the chances of getting that paid by him is probably next to zero.

Opinions?

 

[Catscankim]

Also, it could be that their computers were hacked, or their rental paperwork was stolen from their house, etc. If that is the case, anything you say to him could be a basis for a defamation lawsuit. You also have to be super careful about telling someone, "You better do ______ (in this case, pay that stinkin bill), or I will report you to the police." You could be sued civilly or even arrested criminally for extortion, and all the more so if the fraud was committed by someone else who stole your info from him.

According to the property appraisers office, he resides there and is also listed as the owner, and that is where the cable was turned on. The funny/not so funny thing is that the property was also sold back and forth between himself and his mother like 5 times over the past few years. Not a real estate guru, so I am not sure what the benefit of doing that is.

I will wait to speak with ATT's fraud department and see if it would benefit me to just pay it off, or maybe they can split payments or something.

And having ATT cell service is not just a convenience, I really need it since the hospital is basically powered by them. I was at my upstairs scanner that needed repair (my phone works fine up there). I put in a service ticket and then sent my engineer a text telling him that we were down and explained the problem. I went downstairs to help with something, and an hour later I start wondering why Mike hasn't called me back about the scanner being down. DUH, as soon as I walked out of the room and headed to the lobby my phone blew up with messages from GE, my engineer, my director... then I missed other messages from the ER charge nurse. It's just a nightmare not having that service at my hospital. And our wifi stinks and goes in and out constantly, so that's not reliable.

Two years ago we had a total 100% system down at the hospital. All computer systems were affected, including the phones. While I had to get a walkie-talkie to communicate with the rest of the hospital, my then supervisor comes down talking on her phone...because she has ATT.

So I might just pay it...I will wait for some opinions on this.

edit: and it would be just my luck that I switch to ATT, and the hospital switches to Tmobile LOL

 

[AliOop]

I thought about just paying it off and deal with anything else later. I can do that right now financially, but don't want to screw anything up like "well you paid it so it must be yours". But the chances of getting that paid by him is probably next to zero.

Opinions?

Yes, ask AT&T whether they will remove the negative remarks on your credit if you pay it off, given that it is disputed. Also see if they will settle for half the total.

If they won't remove the negative remarks, then you can still pay it and leave the note on there that it is disputed due to identity theft.

 

[BWt]

Agree with @AliOop

 

[glendam]

When this happened to a very close family member, because they had identity theft protection insurance, that company was able to handle most of the fraudulent accounts. (Whatever was known at that point, they just had to give them power of attorney for that specific function). They did freeze their credit and it didn’t affect them applying for a mortgage loan later (which was how they found out, because they had a zero score, no credit history, cash payers for everything so they were trying to build it). Freezing their credit only meant whoever wanted to see their credit report had to verify their identity and have their permission. If you don’t have or cannot get identity theft protection, it will involve lots of phone calls. My relative did get a police report, from the local police where they lived, the person who stole their identity (an ex) lived in a different state and I am almost sure the police did nothing; however having that report was key, it was faxed and emailed to the credit collection companies that were harassing them.
I am sorry you are going through this, I wouldn’t pay it because it is probably not the only thing or account they have opened. Besides, old debts can usually be settled for penny on the dollars, if you do decide on paying, get a settlement offer in writing, don’t give access to your bank account, pay with a money order or cashiers check, and send it by certified mail/signature requested.