Debt Collectors Chasing Fake Name

cureforanitch on 12/05/2014 - 22:15

An elderly friend has been receiving a barrage of letters and calls from Telstra, and now a debt collection agency regarding a $2k unpaid bill. The name on the account is someone who has lived at the address, however the concern I have is that the surname, first initial and obviously the address are the same as my friend. Is there the potential for identity theft taken place here? One would have thought the ID requirements at Telstra would be quite stringent?

The other concern is the potential impact on credit ratings as I seem to remember reading a credit score can be negatively impacted by other people at the same address?

Any advice or experience would be appreciated.

Thanks

Financial

Comments

  • altomic on 13/05/2014 - 08:25

    my understanding is that Telstra require some sort of ID to establish an account. The best bet is to call telstra and find out more information about the account other than initial, surname and address - e.g. birthdate, drivers license number, or other. that way it can be established that the person with the same initial, surname and address is not your elderly friend and not his/her problem.

    If somehow ID theft has occured and your elderly friend is the person Telstra is chasing then call Legal Aid NSW for advice. 9219 5000.

    credit rating - does your elderly friend care if they have a good or bad credit rating?

  • [Deactivated] on 13/05/2014 - 08:59

    Call both the debt collection agency and the Telstra and telling them it is not you. Provide relevant identification (ie passport, drivers license) and they should leave you alone.

  • RockyRaccoon on 13/05/2014 - 09:02

    When calling Telstra you have a couple of options.

    Firstly when the automated voice comes on, just say "complaints" then you will get thru to a human with a better level of support.

    Explain the issue and see what they can do.

    Second if they cant resolve the issue, then you have another route.

    Send an email to David Thodey. (CEO) You can find this address on their website. Can't recall exactly where but I have used this approach and while I doubt if you get a reply directly from David, his office has a team of specialists who seem to have greater authority to resolve issues, than the average CSR or their supervisors.

    In my complaint they spent a few weeks looking into the issue and resolved it after a number of discussions over the phone.

  • ilostnemo on 13/05/2014 - 12:55
    +1

    The name on the account is someone who has lived at the address, however the concern I have is that the surname, first initial and obviously the address are the same as my friend

    Is is the exact name, ie if he is Peter and the account is written to Paul, then why are you bothering?

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