I Am A Victim of ID Fraud

[Yavin4]

In 2005, I got a letter from a creditor threatening to sue me for a past due debt. Within 30 days, I disputed the claim and asked for verification. 30 days passed, and nothing happened. I sent a follow up asking for verification or the removal of the debt from my credit report. Nothing happened. Then in Feb. 2006, they started with the harrassing phone calls. I sent a cease and desist letter and again I asked for verification. In April 2006, they sent me a copy of a lawsuit complaint against me. So, I hired an attorney and answered their complaint. Nothing happend. No court date. Nothing. In August 2006, they sent me a form for fraud investigation. I filled out their form and submitted it back to them. Nothing happened.

Then on August 31, 2007, I got their "validation" of the debt. What I got was three credit card statements with my name on them, but not my address. The address is in L.A., and I live in NYC. I have old copies of my tax forms and my driver's license showing my address for this time period. I did live in L.A., but five years before the date of these statements and again, not at that address. The statements were from January, February, and March 2002.

I'm giving my lawyer copies of my tax forms from this period, and he's going to file an affidavit of forgery. Is there anything else that I should do or be aware of?

[billyskank]

1. Ask your lawyer, not us.

[Yavin4]

2. Gee Thanks for the Support

You're so kind.

[billyskank]

4. It's the best advice, don't get huffy

Your lawyer knows what you should do. It's their job. We're a bunch of random people on the internet. Asking us is dumb.

[Yavin4]

6. Actually, There Are A Lot of Lawyers Here

Hey, it's just advice. I can either take it or leave it.

[billyskank]

8. Yes but none of them are YOUR lawyer.

It matters. You have a lawyer - use them. It's what they're for. I'm not being an ass, I'm trying to give you the best advice.

[China_cat]

5. It sounded harsh

but billyskank is right. Your lawyer is the only one who can answer that for you. Anything you would get here would just be opinion and could be so wrong as to screw up your whole case.

[Dr. Strange]

3. I'm not a lawyer...

but I would look here: idtheftcenter.

[NewJeffCT]

7. Contact one of the major credit bureaus

and have them put a fraud alert on your name - one agency will then contact the other two out of courtesy.

[NewJeffCT]

9. Also, file a report with both the local police & the FBI

FBI because it does involve multiple states. They probably won't look at it unless it's a big dollar amount (I asked about this a while back, and they said the FBI won't do much work if it's less than $250,000 and won't get serious about ID theft loss until it hits $500,000...)

Local police might be able to at least make a few calls for you.

And, you'll also have both the FBI and the police report on file somewhere.