why would someone use my address for their telephone bill?

[TorchTheWitch]

Recently I've been getting pieces of mail addressed to someone else but with my address. I have no idea who this person is. Most of it seemed to be junk mail stuff but I just got this person's telephone bill that uses my address. I called the phone company yesterday, and they said they'd look into it and call me back, but I haven't heard anything yet. I also called the phone number of the mystery person getting billed for the phone line and left a message that my address was being used on their account and I got the bill delivered to me because of it, but I haven't heard back from this person either.

For what possible reason would someone else suddenly be using my address as their own? I know it isn't someone that used to live here... I've been here something like 7 years and occasionally have gotten mail for the people that used to live here, but this sudden appearance of mail for this new mystery individual is very recent and now with the phone bill is not just junk mail that it doesn't really matter if the right address is used or not. At first I thought maybe the phone company made a mistake and used what turned out to be my address on this person's account, but then why would I be getting other pieces of mail for this person from other companies as well? What's also becoming annoying is that neither the phone company nor whoever this person is seems to care that my address is being used by them.

Could there be some nefarious reason that this person would be using my address? I can't think what that could be though. I don't have a landline, so I don't have an account for one with the phone company, but I do get internet service through the same company.

This is kind of giving me the creeps.

[astral]

1. ty0opo?

cooldnt it be atipographical error? jsut sayin'

[struggle4progress]

2. data entry error? somebody clicked the wrong button when setting up the account?

i get stuff like that, time to time. i just mark through the address, scrawl "ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN" on the envelope, and drop it in the slot at the post office

[musette_sf]

3. Do you live in a "good" public school district?

At my last address, we had people (strangers) knock on the door every so often, asking if they could have some mail sent to our house.

The neighborhood had several of the best schools in the county.

I told 'em to go away.

[TorchTheWitch]

5. yes, a very good public school

I don't think that's it though. So far I've only gotten junk mail for this person and their phone bill. And nobody asked me anything. I would think that this person would want to receive their phone bill somewhere other than at my house. Then again, I called the mystery person and left a message about the problem but haven't heard anything back. That's what makes me think there's some nefarious reason for having my address attached to their phone account, but I don't know what. If they were doing it for the school district wouldn't they have to have all their mail delivered here?

This is so weird.

[musette_sf]

9. They may be calling the phone co

with some line about why they "aren't receiving their phone bills" and then stopping by an office to get a copy of "their" bill.

I think all they want is a utility bill to "prove" they live in your school district.

Heck, this scam goes back to when I was a kid in grammar school in NYC (when dinosaurs roamed) in an area districted for a really good public school.

[krispos42]

4. We've got somebody using our address for tax purposes

My parents have lived here for over 21 years, yet this year all of a sudden we're getting mail from the IRS for a name neither ours, nor anybody that we let live here, nor the previous owners.

I finally mailed the latest one back to the IRS unopened, but with a letter explaining in no uncertain terms we didn't know a damn thing about the person they're looking for.

:shrug:

It might be the same street name in a different town; there are a couple more town in CT that have the same street, and a couple more that have a common variation.



I would call up the phone company that's on the envelope and talk with them. It's possible that this could affect your credit in the future if you're mixed up with this person in somebody's computer someplace.

[TorchTheWitch]

6. that's what's crazy - the phone company doesn't seem to care

I called them about this already and they rather nonchalantly told me they'd look into it and get back to me about it, but I haven't heard anything from them. You'd think they'd want their bill going to the right house! Frankly, I'm getting pissed off that they don't appreciate that it's a problem for me to have one of their customer's using my address without my permission, and they haven't removed my address from this person's account.

[MrsBrady]

7. if the mail is not in your name

write "person unknown" on the front of envelope and either
give the mail back over the counter at your local postoffice or just back in the mailbox with the flag up.

We were getting someone's mail like that, and it stopped after a while of doing this.

[RedCloud]

8. because it's such a hot number?

:blush: