Debating next steps

[Anonymous]

I am in a pretty interesting situation. Someone very close to me... managed to begin a credit history in my name when I was 17, and slowly, over the course of four years, build up over $75k in credit card debt. I only recently discovered what had happened, when I started getting phone calls from Discover asking me to contact them about a account with them being past due. 

I have over six credit cards that were opened in my name, and up until recently, they were all mostly paid on time, never late. And I wasn't really to the wiser. My biggest problem... is I'm not exactly sure how I wish to proceed forward. As devasted as I am, I am not willing to pursue charges, and really, really do not wish to file a police report. 

I spoke with an attorney at length, who told me I may wish to consider filing for Chapter 7 Bankrucpty. And it's something I have been considering. The only thing is... I'm not completely sure what the ramifications will totally be, in doing so. I've been told the filing will follow me for 10 Years. There's a lot of banks I'll instantly become blacklisted from -- and I probably won't be able to purcahse a car (I don't currently own one, because of the area I live in) or purchase a house for quite some time. I will have garbage credit for quite some time, but, my current score is already ruined and in the 500's from being 90 & 120's days deliquent on the accounts. I also think I'll be blacklisted from ever getting a loan from Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Discover, etc. 

I'm just so confused, and unsure about what to do. I'm not willing to pursue or point the finger at the culprit. I just can't. I just am wondering, if anyone has any advice, or any previous threads they can point to. I think my best course is to file for the bankruptcy, and than attempt to rebuild my credit. Unless... there is a 2nd/3rd option I can pursue. 

[DaveInAZ]

"I'm not willing to pursue or point the finger at the culprit"

Sometimes life tosses some really difficult choices at us. You really need to point a finger at the culprit and file a police report, and dispute all the accounts as fraud and not your responsibility and let the chips fall where they may. This person is certainly no friend, certainly no loving family member, whatever the relationship is this person is evil and cruel. How could any decent person do this to a friend, lover, family member? The answer is no decent person would or even could.

Are you willing to let this person continue to do this to you for the rest of your life???? They have your identity and can and most likely continue to do this to you. So you go through a bankruptcy for their debts they ran up in your name and destroy your reputation and ability to obtain credit for a car, home or even simple credit card for years and years - what's to stop them from doing this to you all over again?

Think it over carefully. You really have only one choice - this person needs to be stopped, and stopped now. They obviously don't care about you, they only care about themselves. File a police report. You don't need to press charges, a local prosecutor and the creditors will.

God bless and good luck.

[Anonymous]

This happens more than your realize. Google “my parent opened up credit cards in my name when I was a child”, or similar wording. Lots of stories.

I understand you do not want to confront them. I would not either. Don’t file for bankruptcy. It’s quicker but unnecessarily damaging for you situation. Fortunately for you there have been a lot progress made by banks to deal with this type of fraud.....but....you are eventually going to have to file a police report. Every bank you approach is going to ask for one. The reason is to prevent people from committing fraud by claiming someone else opened cars in their name, just to get out of paying their debts.

First pull your report annualcredit.com. Then contact each creditor and close the accounts and tell them you did not open the accounts. The contact each CRA and place a fraud alert. Really you only need to contact one because they will send the fraud alert to each CRA but just to be safe call all 3. The whole process is going to take many months, maybe even a year but it’s much much better then filing bankruptcy. Filing BK means you are admitting the debts are yours. No creditor is going to believe you when you say you were the victim of fraud. 

At at some point in this process you are going to need to produce the police report. Now here is where I’m going to say something unpopular. Nothing is going to happen to your relative. The police will take your report, someone WILL contact your relative and most likely they will just deny it. There will be some small follow up and that’s it. The police don’t really have the capacity to investigate this. Yes, you are accusing them of a crime but they are innocent until proven guilty. Accusation is not conviction. Your relative is not going to jail. This (parents opening card in this underage kids name and skipping out on the bills) happens a lot. All over the country.

If the bank had caught the fraud, they would have notified the FBI and they DO have cyber crimes units.

sorry for the long response but I just felt you were not getting the best advice from the attorney. It’s the old “to a hammer everything looks like a nail”.

[Anonymous]

There are two separate issues:

(1)  Identifying all the accounts as fraud -- not opened by you.

(2)  Identifying the person who committed the fraud.

In almost all crimes, it is not the victim's job to figure out who the criminal was (#2).  If you are the victim of assault, theft, arson, etc. you may well have no idea who committed the crime, and you certainly do not have to figure out yourself who the bad guy was before an insurance company (for example) will compensate you.

There are specific steps that victims of CC fraud can take that don't involve the victim taking responsibility for figuring out who the bad guys are.  I suggest you send a PM to forum contributor RobertEG and ask him to join this thread.  He can explain specifically what these steps are -- I've seen him do this before.

Now of course your concern might be that if a police report were filed, then it would be pretty easy for any police officer to whom the case was assigned to catch the culprit, and then your brother or wife or son or whoever might be in trouble with the law.  But you do not yourself have to do the legwork of identifying that person.

[DaveInAZ]

Good points - yeah, it's not the victim's job to figure out who committed the crime against them. In filing a police report all you need to tell them is that someone fraudulently opened these accounts in your name and racked up the debts, all you know for 100% certain is that it wasn't you.

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:

There are two separate issues:

(1)  Identifying all the accounts as fraud -- not opened by you.

(2)  Identifying the person who committed the fraud.

In almost all crimes, it is not the victim's job to figure out who the criminal was (#2).  If you are the victim of assault, theft, arson, etc. you may well have no idea who committed the crime, and you certainly do not have to figure out yourself who the bad guy was before an insurance company (for example) will compensate you.

There are specific steps that victims of CC fraud can take that don't involve the victim taking responsibility for figuring out who the bad guys are.  I suggest you send a PM to forum contributor RobertEG and ask him to join this thread.  He can explain specifically what these steps are -- I've seen him do this before.

Now of course your concern might be that if a police report were filed, then it would be pretty easy for any police officer to whom the case was assigned to catch the culprit, and then your brother or wife or son or whoever might be in trouble with the law.  But you do not yourself have to do the legwork of identifying that person.

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I think this advice to you OP is the best since it’s obvious you dont want to point a finger and we dont know what the culprit’s action may be if directly confronted. 

But do understand that the culprit may also be doing this to someone else in your circle simultaneusly. So by keeping quiet, it is giving him/her carte blanc to continue this fraudulent behavior. People like this don’t stop until they’re caught. Is there anyone in your family circle that you can talk to in confidence? This is a heavy buden to bear alone. 

Also, IMHO, the last thing I would do is file for BK or accept blame for something I did not do. It’s akin to going to prison for a crime you did not commit. Don’t throw away 7-10 years of your credit life away. 

My thoughts are with you and GL no matter what you decide to do. 

[RobertEG]

The FCRA provides a consumer with the option to block any information in their credit report from future inclusion, but the price that must be paid is that the consumer must be willing to make the assertion that they did not authorize the account/transactions into a sworn statement made before a law enforcement agency.  That requirement, set forth in section 605B, is clearly for the purpose of weeding out spurious assertions.  Filing of a sworn statement before a law enforcement agency subjects the party to potential criminal prosecution for any knowingly false statements, and thus is the price selected by congress to obtain block from a consumer's credit report.

Your choice under the terms of the statute.  Either you are willing to make a sworn statement, or you are not.

As for whether or not your statement is securing a police report can simply assert identity theft without providing any information as to the potential thief,  the law enforcement official is almost certain, when filling out a police report, to ask questions as to your knowledge of the asserted use of your name.  They are being asked to conduct an investigation, and that is information that they are likely to ask.

If you are percieved as withholding information, they may decline to complete the report, and if you provide knowingly false information due to omission, that might subject you to prosecution.

I would not assume that upon filing a police report, you can simply omit any disclosure of known facts pertaining to the asserted theft.

Whether or not the police agency will then pursue an investigation is out of the hands of the consumer.

If it is a family member, they may place invesitgation at a very low priority, or not pursue beyond the statement, but that is up to the law enforcement agency.

[Anonymous]

Very helpful, Robert.  Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I would file a police report asap. If you don't do that and instead file bk 1) you mess up your credit for years 2) You reward the person who did it and a few years down the road they WILL do it again. I am asumeing this person is a relative. DW and I were victims of id fraud by a relative before.  I have posted about this. We prosecuted and let the husband and wife each spend 6 months in jail at seperate times so we would not have watch their child. In our case one relative gave the other two all the info. While DW and I were out of the country for 60 or so days they proceded to sell many  properties, refi cash out some and close  bank accounts. We came back to the states with nothing they even sold our business.     Even with police report and court docs it took years to fix everything and we still were out of pocket by over $100K.  The relative who gave the info did not go to jail was NOT prosecuted because the DA would not prosecute 80 year little old ladies.    IF YOU LET THEM OFF NOW THEY WILL DO IT AGAIN.   

[Anonymous]

My biggest concern is the amount of money involved. There are two cards with Citi Alone that total almost $26k.

I just feel like, because it’s not a few hundred dollars or a few thousand bucks, the police will insist or press me on pointing a figure. And even if the police overlook, or I refuse to answer the question — I also wonder to myself, will the banks make me name a culprit or give me trouble? There’s not a lot of information about what happens in these circumstances.

I know I’m in the wrong here for wishing to let a certain person walk away from this. But, at the same time, they were also a very big part of my life. You don’t just turn on certain figures, no matter what the circumstances are.

I’m really thinking about trying the local police department and seeing what they would require for a report. Like I said, if anyone has any first hand experience or information, please let me know.

I really appreciate your response in particular Robert.