collection that is not mine - what to do?

[Anonymous]

I have a collection of about 500$ on my credit report that is not mine. Someone opened a cell phone  (Sprint) in my name, and I did not know this until I recently pulled my report in preparation of refinancing my house. Never got a bill from this collection agency/phone co for charges.

Ofcourse I paid the $$, but how can I go about fighting to have this taken off my credit report? Anyone ran into this before?

Collection agency I C System

Original balance $540

Current balance $0

Original lender 05 Sprint Pcs

[Anonymous]

dan, not to sound like an alarmist, but sounds like identity theft to me.

Call the CRA's immediately, ask for the Fraud Department, and see what they recommend.

If you can, put in a dispute on your CR.

I'm sure others here will offer advice.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but what can I do legally?  I filed an identity theft protection I think its called, with all the 3 bureaus, but where do I go from here?

[Anonymous]

Hi, I realize it has been about a month since the last posting on this threat, but about two weeks ago I found a collection that is not mine, due to a Sprint PCS cell phone. I pulled my free credit report (annualcreditreport.com) and fortunately the collection items seem to be only on Experian. I disputed both collections online (they are actually the same account reported twice), and they (experian) deleted them from my report within 3 days. I did read somewhere that disputing these issues online makes for faster responses but I never thought I would be within a few days. It also could have been because my case was so evidently a case of ID theft, all I know is it took a few days. Before I got the response from the dispute, I had already reported the incident to the police and created the 90-day credit alarm for all three credit agencies. I am planning on getting some sort of letter from Sprint PCS itself, confirming that the issue has been resolved. Have you done anything on this respect? Thanks,