Getting a fraudulent collection removed?

[unc0mm0n1]

About an hour ago I noticed a fraudulent collection on my credit report. I also noticed a reported address from Feburary that I have never lived at. The first thing I did was check all of my credit reports and I'm going to place fraud alerts on my reports. The charge is from a collection agency called:

DIVERSIFIED CONSULTNTS

P O BOX 551268 JACKSONVILLE, FL 32255 Has anyone had experience with them? The charge is supposedly from DirectTV. I don't have Direct TV nor have I ever had Direct TV. Whoever opened this account clearly did not do it with my address because I have never received a bill. I also don't have a credit inquiry from Direct TV, which based on my quick research they HP your credit report before you get service. Should I contact Direct TV, the collection agency or the credit bureaus to get this removed? I don't have any other negatives on my credit report, hopefully that make a difference when discussing this fraudulent collection.

[pip3man]

wow Diversified Consultants!!!! This the same company that had listed a fraudulent T-mobile collection account on my CR. I disputed the account immediately as not mine and it was deleted. I am yet to file a police report directly with T-mobile tho in order to eliminate the fraudulent charges cos even if the account was removed from my CR the debt is still there. And it's a possibility for the account to be relisted by another CA if the debt is eventually sold. So u wanna make sure the problem is resolved from the root - which in your case would be dealing with DirectTv, that would in turn pull back the account from collections, close it out and reverse all the charges. Good luck!

[unc0mm0n1]

Thanks, so you just disputed with the Credit Bureaus? I can't dispute today because their dispute departments are closed but I will be doing so first thing tomorrow. So far I have placed a fraud alert on my accounts, frozen all of my credit reports and contacted Direct Tv. A friendly CSR told me that they woulld take care of it. We located the account number and I now have that at least. Should I call Diversified consultants directly or let Direct Tv see if they can fix this? Diversified Consultants have terrible reviews and they have been sued over 200 times. I'm just wondering if involving them in this will do more harm than good.  

[RobertEG]

You can file a dispute, but the dispute process usually will not resovle the issue of a fraudulent account.

The debt collector will be required to investigate and respond back to the CRA.  They can verify provided they have some documentation that forms a reasonable basis for concluding you are the responsble party.  They need not prove the accuracy in order to verify. 

You should initiate the identity theft provisions of the FCRA by first filing a police report.  A detailed outline of the idenitity theft process is posted as a sticky in the forum

That gives you immediate blocking of their reporting fron your credit report, and permits you to also send the police report to both the alleged creditor and debt collector to begin contesting the issue on the merits.