I think I have become a victim of ID Theft

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Justified

Refugee
Joined
Jan 10, 2003
Messages
1,629
Location
living with MVD
I received a collection notice from a company in Brea CA this afternoon telling me that I owe a hospital in Long Beach several thousands of dollars. I have never been to Long Beach.

I called the Collection agency and they said they had the wrong address assigned to my name and that there is a teenager with my name in CA however they billed me instead of this kid.

:huh: :confused:

So I have called the hospital to get clarification, the collection agency said they removed my name and address from this account however they cannot send me out a written letter informing me that I have been removed and this was billed to me by mistake:down:

I just got off the phone with the LA DA and they told me to contact the Brea CA PD.

BAW's I need your help. Please e-mail me ASAP.
 
That's terrible, I hope you get it straightend out. :(

But it might not be intentional theft, sometimes it's just a screw up on someone's part. For example, I got a bill for $13,000 from a hospital claiming my husband had been there on a certain day but I knew he was working out of town with his job that whole month and there was no way it could be him. I called them up and they insisted it was him. I called our health insurance company, and they looked into it and told me there was a guy with my husband's first, middle and last name, who was born on the same day, month, and year, who worked at the same plant and had the same insurance company. The only thing that saved us was the socials did not match up. Even so, it took me a couple weeks to get it off our records and stop the bills.

Once before, was also billed for the hospital charges of some old lady in another city that turned out to be a mistake too. So call them up and make them dig into it, it might just be a lame mistake.
 
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Don't panic Iris, it was probably a screw up by the collection agency. The info they use to track people down is so screwed up...if this person really is a teenager, the bill shouldn't even be in her name, it should be billed to a parent or guardian. They can't collect a debt from a minor.

My guess is they ran the persons name and yours came up because you are an adult with a credit history...the address info they use for skip tracing is taken directly from credit reports. This teenager obviously wouldn't have one so they got you instead.

Now, its a whole other story if they have your Social Security Number...that's what you need to check on.

I can't find your business card with your email addy so you can email me at u2charlene@sbcglobal.net
 
thanks Char. I will e-mail you. I just need some guidance and crap like that. I really hope it is just an error on the collection agencies part but these days you can never tell.
 
U2Kitten said:
That's terrible, I hope you get it straightend out. :(

But it might not be intentional theft, sometimes it's just a screw up on someone's part. For example, I got a bill for $13,000 from a hospital claiming my husband had been there on a certain day but I knew he was working out of town with his job that whole month and there was no way it could be him. I called them up and they insisted it was him. I called our health insurance company, and they looked into it and told me there was a guy with my husband's first, middle and last name, who was born on the same day, month, and year, who worked at the same plant and had the same insurance company. The only thing that saved us was the socials did not match up. Even so, it took me a couple weeks to get it off our records and stop the bills.

Once before, was also billed for the hospital charges of some old lady in another city that turned out to be a mistake too. So call them up and make them dig into it, it might just be a lame mistake.

:down: damn. I really hope I don't have to deal with any problems like that.
 
U2Kitten said:
there was a guy with my husband's first, middle and last name, who was born on the same day, month, and year, who worked at the same plant and had the same insurance company.

What are the chances?? :ohmy:
 
:yikes: I tell ya! Why do we get this weird bad luck?

He also had one other incident like that a few years ago, someone ran over a guy hit and run in another state, and we got a summons and legal papers. It might have been the same guy from the hospital bill, I don't know. They traced him through his connection to his job and got the right name but wrong guy again. My husband had never been there in his life. It was trouble to get out of this one too, nobody wants to believe you, oh yeah sure, lie out of it.

Why can't we ever get any mistaken identity things in a good way? :scream:
 
Believe it or not but there is another fah out there. I know this because we used to bank at the same bank. We have the same first and last name. Our middle names are different but start with the same initial. Whenever I was dealing with the bank I always had to make sure they knew which 'fah' they were dealing with.

I did meet her and she was really nice - must be the name. :D
 
That sucks :(

A girl that went to the same university as me had the same exact name...like first, middle and last...and she's getting married a week from me :ohmy: LOL I found out cos she's registered at the same place as me and I was like...uhhhhhhhhh wait they got the groom's name wrong! and the date! Then I was like oh shite must be her.
 
I hope you get everything worked out, Justified. That sucks.

Not really an identity theft, but when I was working at my last job, my boss and I started at the same time, so we signed up for direct deposit at the same time. Some how, my voided check with my account numer etc, got put on to his form, and I got his. When we got paid the first time, his amount was deposited in my account and he, of course, got mine. Human error, sometimes it seems these things could be prevented if people were paying more attention to their jobs.
 
Before BAW and I started our own business, I was denied a promising position as a Senior Fraud investigator with a very prominent Insurance carrier; they ran my background and found someone else's Social Security number on my credit report...I knew who it belonged to....

In the years prior, when I was a cop, several of us retired within a couple months of each other; with no connection to the city, we all distanced ourselves from the credit union...the credit union purged everyone's closed files and somehow, someway, this other fellow's SSN wound up on my TRW...I got the Credit Union to confirm this but.....

Did I get the job....no, it cost me...I guess the personnel manager didn't appreciate the way I blew up at her as it was apparent that she didn't believe me, and after she said that she wouldn't accept the credit unions account because "TRW (Experian) rarely makes a mistake!"

Oh, well....things are fine now!!! and I'm making 3 times what I would have made $$$$ with Fireman's Fund...ooppps, I said the name of those idiots!
 
Vampira said:
YLIMEU- your boss's check had to be bigger why did you switch back?? :ohmy:
Cause he was an a**hole and even went so far as to say it was my fault! We did not get off on the right foot with each other. And needless to say, he was the reason I quit.
 
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