topic Re: My identity stolen in General Credit Topics

My identity stolen

mdiaz9 — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 19:10:26 GMT

I'm so livid right now , I received alerts that my credit was ran by multiple car loan lenders from a dealership in NJ. I put a fraud alert in February due to my information being compromised due to t-mobile breach. I called the lender and they said someone tried to purchase a Mercedes Benz under my credit , how does this even happen ? Im pissed off because they never called me even though I put a fraud alert , the car dealership said they would remove the inquiries but I still see them . Transunion sucks and wants me to send a letter to dispute the hard pulls. I froze all my credit files and notified ftc . Anyone have had this happen? I don't know if i should go to the police or not .

Re: My identity stolen

Veronik2019 — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 21:07:49 GMT

@mdiaz9 wrote:
I'm so livid right now , I received alerts that my credit was ran by multiple car loan lenders from a dealership in NJ. I put a fraud alert in February due to my information being compromised due to t-mobile breach. I called the lender and they said someone tried to purchase a Mercedes Benz under my credit , how does this even happen ? Im pissed off because they never called me even though I put a fraud alert , the car dealership said they would remove the inquiries but I still see them . Transunion sucks and wants me to send a letter to dispute the hard pulls. I froze all my credit files and notified ftc . Anyone have had this happen? I don't know if i should go to the police or not .

When you placed the fraud alerts on your reports, did you lock them? Did you add your phone number on the fraud alert? I remember when i placed fraud alerts on my reports, I was on the phone with AMEX adding an AU to my card. I thought it'd be a soft pull, they said i had a fraud alert and needed to call me. So i hung up. They called me and confirmed it was me. I immediately got a inquiry alert from Experian. I asked them why did you pull my credit?! They said when you have a fraud alert they gotta pull it with a hard inquiry. This is the only experience i had with this. I didn't have my reports locked. Since then, i took the fraud alerts off and locked my reports. You can't pre-qualify or get soft pull cli with fraud alerts on your reports.

Re: My identity stolen

TattnallTrio — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 00:57:31 GMT

I would indeed file a police report and also ask the dealer to send you a copy of whatever driver's license they tried using.
I'd indeed make sure your phone number is listed on the fraud alert.
I have had a fraud alert for years and I still pre-qualify (soft pull) for American Express, and Capital One cards.

Re: My identity stolen

GatorGuy — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 03:24:19 GMT

Definitely goto the police and talk to an attorney.

You have certain rights and can be entitled to financial compensation depending on the circumstances.

Re: My identity stolen

Cowboys4Life — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 04:15:05 GMT

@TattnallTrio wrote:
I would indeed file a police report and also ask the dealer to send you a copy of whatever driver's license they tried using.
I'd indeed make sure your phone number is listed on the fraud alert.
I have had a fraud alert for years and I still pre-qualify (soft pull) for American Express, and Capital One cards.

No dealership or business is going to give the consumer a copy of the application or driver's license. They will only cooperate with law enforcement and the courts.

I had my identity stolen back in January thanks to the T-Mobile data breach as well. It started with an attempt to use a cloned Discover card and purchase a $1200 mattress. Thankfully I have a very low charge alert threshold and was notified immediately and called Discover myself and blocked the charge as fraud. I immediately froze all my reports and put fraud alerts on them. As the alerts rolled in to credit attempts I got more and more pissed off all while filing FTC idenity theft complaints and police reports. Ultimately I determined the thief was in Hanover VA and the police there refused to help and told me to call my local precinct on the other side of the country where I live. I called the vendor for the mattress that the first charge was attempted at. They did confirm verbally the address for shipping was in Hanover VA so I knew it was the same person. I asked for the application and they refused stating they only release it to law enforcement or the court. I got 3 phone calls from car dealers in VA stating I needed to unlock my credit reports for them to process the financing application(s). I blew up and told them my identity was stolen, I wasn't unlocking anything, wouldn't pay for any vehicle they released to that scumbag, and I wanted copies of everything for my court case. They refused without a subpoena or a badge.

Sadly, law enforcement couldn't care less about identity theft unless it is a very high dollar amount and they actually get the merchandise. Had I let them buy a car they MIGHT have had an interest in prosecuting the crapbag that did this. Now I get to look over my shoulder for YEARS to come because there is no way to know if there are accounts opened like leases etc. that didn't get reported as active accounts and won't be until they default. UGH

Re: My identity stolen

coldfusion — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 08:43:55 GMT

@mdiaz9 wrote:
I'm so livid right now , I received alerts that my credit was ran by multiple car loan lenders from a dealership in NJ. I put a fraud alert in February due to my information being compromised due to t-mobile breach. I called the lender and they said someone tried to purchase a Mercedes Benz under my credit , how does this even happen ? Im pissed off because they never called me even though I put a fraud alert , the car dealership said they would remove the inquiries but I still see them . Transunion sucks and wants me to send a letter to dispute the hard pulls. I froze all my credit files and notified ftc . Anyone have had this happen? I don't know if i should go to the police or not .

File a report with your local police and get a copy of the report. Submit your dispute to Transunion in writing stating that you are disputing the inquiries on the basis of their being fraudulent, and include the report # and relevant contact info (police dept, cass/report #, name of officer that filled out the report, etc) so they can verify your claim. While the dealership can work to have the inquiries withdrawn on their end it can take a few weeks for them to submit the request correctly and another 30 days for a CRA to process the removal(s). TU can likely act faster to remove the inquiries if you dispute in writing and provide the police info.

CRAs generally don't accept requests from individuals looking to dispute inquiries unless due to alleged fraud. Even then they generally require a police report be filed as a way to help deter bogus attempts at getting valid inquiries removed, as the filing of a false police report is itself a criminal act. This isn't a function of Transunion's competence or lack thereof; it's a function of their needing to CYA because of the ongoing and steady stream of people attempting to game the system.

Re: My identity stolen

ISOgoodTacos — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 21:25:26 GMT

If you haven't skimmed through it, yet, there is a pinned post at the top of this forum on coping with identity theft. It has a fair amount of good advice in it.

I have learned the hard way that hard pulls happen even when extended seven year identity theft alerts are in place. The standard wording seems to include, "Do not extend credit without first contacting me," so if fraudulent applications are denied, no credit is being extended and no need to call. As a fellow victim of identity theft, I understand it stings either way.