You hear about it but you tend to think it won't happen. I know this isn't full blown identity theft but this is what happened to my son.

We live at 21 Aspen Road (not my real address but it will do to explain).

The Council, in it's infinite wisdom, knocked down 3 of the big houses along the road from us and built a block of flats. Of all the stupid things they named it Aspen Court.

In Aspen Court is a Flat 21. The tenants of this flat (of which there seems to have been hundreds by all the different names we've seen on mail over the years) can't get it into their heads that they don't live at Flat 21 Aspen Road :( Their address is 33-37 Aspen Road. The flat number is hardly relevant because the postman just puts all the mail in the main entrance anyway. They must fill in every form from DVLA to hospital records with 21 Aspen Road (and even when they put Aspen Court the postman still puts it in our door :( ).

This morning my son got a letter addressed to him by name. He opened it and found a demand for £365 outstanding from a Littlewoods catalogue for stuff he'd never had. It was for mostly household stuff, sheets, vacuum cleaner, saucepan set, etc. Then he noticed the address was 21 Aspen Court!!! :evilmad:

This obviously means that some of our mail must have gone to their address for them to know the name and that someone there has given his name to get all this stuff.

He phoned the Catalogue company and they were very helpful and confirmed that the birth date entered on the form wasn't the same as his and said they would block it and investigate further.

He has also contacted the police and the Post Office. The Police will be investigating and the Post Office have put a priority check on our mail.

The annoying thing is that we share the same post code too. He asked if theirs could be changed but was told that as they were in the middle of the block it couldn't be done but that they could change ours because we were the end house with that code. The trouble is, when you think of the amount of people we would have to inform of a change of post code (all accounts on the internet too) it would be very tricky and if we accidentally forgot anyone our mail would definitely go to the wrong address :(

I'm so angry about this. It seems like these companies will give credit to anyone without checking their details properly. As my son said, if he'd applied for all that credit they probably wouldn't have let him have it anyway because he has a bad credit record, yet someone using a false name gets it.

My son wanted to go and confront them but I told him to leave it to the Police because if he lets them know that they're under investigation it will give them a chance to get rid of all the evidence, paperwork etc.

It's all very worrying isn't it :unsure:

Ooh Crit, your son has every right to be angry.

It's amazing how often the post can get it wrong.
We are always getting mail for a guy who lives in the next village but on the same named road as us, and thats with different postcodes on the letters:blink: Luckily it's only gardening brochures and such.

Hope it gets looked into properly for you.

I would of been angry too Crit.

Luckily this sort of thing hasnt happened to me before, but i really dont think the postmen / women check the addresses properly before posting them through the letter boxes.

Im always getting stuff for my next door neighbour - even though his address is clearly and properly marked.

I know its a defferent subject (but you kinda brushed on it in your post), but i get narked with the fact that a lot of credit ratings are based on your address, and not your name etc ..

Our last two houses were bought off people with bad credit. The first lady sold us her house dead cheap as she was desperate. We had so many threatening letters come to our house as she didnt inform any of the lenders that she was moving. The same happened in our new house.

I tried to take a loan out recently for £2k, and they almost turned me down. I have an impecable record. I have never missed a payment on anything, and i havent even seen a red bill as i have always paid bills way before they are due - but due to the address, they turned me down.

I know its a defferent subject (but you kinda brushed on it in your post), but i get narked with the fact that a lot of credit ratings are based on your address, and not your name etc ..


I know what you mean here Bonnie. When my kids were younger they ran up no end of debts, sending for those records where you get them on approval and then have to pay, and never paying, stuff like that.

I, on the other hand, hate debt and always paid my credit card on time and had never had any County Court Judgments or anything (I wouldn't be able to sleep).

I sent off for a nice outfit which Mr C said he would buy me for my birthday. I waited and waited and my birthday came and went so I got onto the company and they said they would only send it if I sent the money first :cry:

I was upset and livid. As you say, the address was blacklisted not the offenders.

I don't believe it!! The Police have contacted my son as they said they would and have basically told him that no crime has been committed. Anyone can open an account in any name :mad2: They seemed to be insinuating that my son was up to no good!! What would be the point of him ordering stuff and having it sent to an address up the road? I know he's no angel but I would certainly know if a lot of parcels had arrived at this address as he's not here much and I take all the parcels in.

Would he have gone straight to the police if he was up to no good? I don't think so.

So provided this person pays the bill he's not committed any crime.

:shocking: That's absolute madness:shocking:
Maybe the police are too busy stood around the country with their speed cameras:wacko:

Lets hope the catalogue give you a better response.

We had the same sort of thing happen to use. We live in a road and just off our road they decided to build a close with the same name. We had trouble with the electric as we were getting their bills and it didn`t matter how many times we sent the post back saying not here or telling the postman it was for the close the electric company threatened to cut us off. After many phone calls and e-mails it was all sorted but it took over 2 years. The close is not yet in the local A-Z so we get all sorts of people knocking at the door eg, taxis, pizza delivery, parcels etc etc. and after 5 years of this I even got a midwife round the other day !!! They have now decided that just down the way they are now building a another pile of houses and calling that the square with the same road name as ours. It`s just all going to start again....:ranting:

OMG SB - who are the brainless ninnies who don't think about this kind of havoc when they decide on the names? :(

OMG SB - who are the brainless ninnies who don't think about this kind of havoc when they decide on the names? :(
Probably the local council who don`t have a brain cell between them to come up with new names.:angry:

Thats awful Crit not to get any backing from the police would have still thought it was fraudulent using someone elses name. They must have been up to no good for not ordering in their own name.

Ooo I had a similar event a month after moving into my house...

I received a letter in my brothers partner name and they had already told me that, since they hadn't lived at the address for a year, I was free to open any mail for them and bin it accordingly or forward it to them during my next visit as it was unlikely to be anything important...anyway I opened this one letter and it was threatening my brothers partner with court action if she didn't pay for three pairs of tights that had been bought in her name etc...anyway...as it happened I had come across these tights, still in the packaging, during my clearing out of that which was not mine and left by my brothers former GF. Oddly it had my brothers partners name on it but a different address to mine...one in a dodgey part of town up the road and round the corner...the name of the street was completely different...I immediately called my brother and spoke to his partner and she declared that she knew nothing and immediately got onto the company that was threatening her with court action. Thnakfully they were very understanding and said that they would chase up the matter with the occupants of the address on the delivery packaging.

I haven't heard anything since so am guessing all is well but can't figure out how a package in my brothers partners name got delivered to a completely different address and still ended up at mine? I can only think it was one of the dodgey people my brothers ex once knew or her lodger that was present during the year of her occupancy as a tennant in my brothers house.:mad2:

scary isnt it?? and theres not much you can do about it is there? its not like you'll know when someone has done something in your name until a big red bill comes!! there should be something to stop this, some sort of system!! its shocking how we dont yet its so easy for the criminals to do! there should be one big government owned database - not one used by the dvla, but their own one where they look after and its strictly confidential and it should track any funny goings on. but that will never happen, tony blair actually do something?? id be better off migrating to australia!

Listen to this for being handed identity theft on a plate..

My sis has recently remortgated with a well known building society. She did the application over the phone and was told that all the paperwork would be sent on for signing in due course.

10 days later the paperwork turns up. She reads through it and realises that the terms of the mortgage were not what she discussed on the phone and on further investigation realises that she has been sent someone else mortgage offer, compplete with their names, address, date of birth, occupation and location of employment, mortgage account number.

She telephoned the building society and was told, it was human error and would she mind awfully popping them back in the post!

Listen to this for being handed identity theft on a plate..

My sis has recently remortgated with a well known building society. She did the application over the phone and was told that all the paperwork would be sent on for signing in due course.

10 days later the paperwork turns up. She reads through it and realises that the terms of the mortgage were not what she discussed on the phone and on further investigation realises that she has been sent someone else mortgage offer, compplete with their names, address, date of birth, occupation and location of employment, mortgage account number.

She telephoned the building society and was told, it was human error and would she mind awfully popping them back in the post!

Frightening isn't it. :wacko:

Crit I hope y'all get this straightened out and soon. Unfortunately you may have to hire a lawyer/barrister whatever you call them, to help. We know of several people here that have had that happen and it's been a living HELL. It's a very profitable and prevalent scheme here in the States. Luckily we have four mail boxes on the posts on our side of the road (that's the side the mailperson will only put the mail in) and they are all close family (us, fil, hubby's aunt) but we also have the renters, who live on the back corner of our property and the ones renting now have been very decent, with the exception of their blasted 4 wheeler tearing up my yard and I fixed that tout suite and their toddler running down the driveway (about a 1/4 mile) in his diaper and nothing else last summer while I was packing for my summer trip with my best mate. He almost made it to the road b/4 I got him! We had a couple and their daughter out there that were really shady. They left and took some furniture and the woman stole some of hubby's Aunt's painkillers(she had just broken her arm and it was in a cast and the renter asked to borrow the phone, but instead asked to go to the loo and took the pills. I'm very paranoid about my checks, debit/credit cards, cash, etc. And I SHRED everything!! If I get an application for a credit card or even to just get something and try it and be billed later, it gets shredded.:excl:

My mate has just been refused a new mobile phone after she had her passport and credit cards stolen a while ago and someone started up several new mobile accounts in her name...she only discovered this when the bills started to arrive and had to inform the companies what had happened...now her credit rating with them has been effected! :mad2: Needless to say she is plenty peed off!

I am so shocked by the police response.......it may not be identity theft in the fullest sense but isn't it attempting to obtain goods by deception? I thought that was a crime? Maybe it's as has been said, the police are too busy with their speed cameras or popping OAP's into prison for not paying their council tax.

Iaddress, and not your name etc ...

Shouldnt this be checked by your solicitor when you buy a house? I am sure my solicitor checked on my address.

I have on more than one occasion been offered store cards in shops (I only take them to get the 10% or 15% off and then cut them up). I have on both occcasions given a false date of birth just to see what happens but lo and behold I have been granted a card, and able to take the goods away that instant on credit!