Identity Stolen: Day 4
All the excitement has died down, there does not appear much I can do else. I phoned police to update details and to tell them I knew who had actually done this. After a pleasant and fairly detailed conversation, it is very obvious that it will requires the banks or finance companies to ask the police to get involved if it is to go any further. This is because in most cases, they are regarded as the victim of the crime not you who has had your identity stolen. The policeman did also mention that because the sum of money was not really a lot (to a bank), chances where the matter would not be taken on, I have a feeling that my id thief knew this too. I suppose the banks’ lawyers don’t get out of bed for less that £5K! Impersonating a police office is a crime, impersonating another citizen does not appear to be so.
Not really happy with the advise but nothing was told was untrue. The same information is provided at https://www.identitytheft.org.uk/Reporting-the-problem.asp.
Later on Everyday Loans call me and confirm some of the details on the loan application that confirm who the cuplprit is. They also are going to do a CIFAS registration, not sure I need two but I will play it safe.
Had to smile at lunchtime when I read the story ‘Banks identified over complaints’ (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8254395.stm) on the BBC News site. All my recent favourite organisations appear – Alliance & Leicester, Abbey National and Santander all feature in the list – but to be fair so do many others. I wonder that if I complained about the lack of action in my case, could the ombudsman force one of them to take action. I have my doubts. But I could complain about the lack of feedback and courtesy considering I was saving them, in most cases, of being victims of a fraud. Santander stood to lose £6K!
Another company, Zopa (http://uk.zopa.com) confirm an application had been made but no loan issued, but were very cagey and not very forthcoming. Zopa though is a fantastic idea, you can join either as a lender (current returns in the region of 8%) or as a borrower. Zopa acts as the broker checking details etc just like a bank. Like it and so reminds me of Kiva (http://www.kiva.org/) which I have mentioned before as being weak in that it relies too much on the goodness of the lenders. When I get time, I will look harder at Zopa, the rate is better than what the banks are offering.
In the evening, I found the CIFAS registration forms amongst my post.
Quick update since I am writing this today – day 5. Abbey National fraud department have been in touch, even though the card was indeed issued via Alliance & Leicester and confirmed a few more details, including an email address and what is obviously a false telephone number. They also intend to register the matter with the CIFAS database so I am up to three now. I also received confirmation from Call Credit that they have added my notice on my record with them.
The estimate for the cost of identity fraud to the UK Economy is about £1.2 billion per annum or around £25 for every adult in Britain. That is a lot of money that the rest of us have to pay for in charges and fees and it is really disheartening to find that prosecutions do not happen as frequently as we believe. I can understand, from a commercial point, why this is the case but should identity fraudsters be treated like common thieves and be chased by the police without the need for the banks making commercial decisions. After all, this is a dangerous precedent which allows petty criminals to carry on regardless. It feels so wrong.
Worse in my case, I know who did this to me and there is nothing I can do about it. I am now inconvenienced if I ever need to obtain credit and I have to close my house up like a prison to ensure he never gets another chance. Feels so unjust.
I suspect this will be the last posting about this matter in any great detail, I will check in a day or so with the other credit agencies to confirm that the notifications have been placed on my records. Apart from that, I think it is over.
Comments