Victim of fraud by my own cousin!?

Question

I was trying to do a re-fi on my condo and was turned down. To make a long long story short-basically I found out that my cousin had gotten a hold of all of my information and opened up a po box in her name to have all the credit card statments sent there, took out many cash advances on credit cards, etc- overall debt she put me in is $84,000. This has been going on for two years-i have talked to banks, experian, etc to see what I can do and all they keep saying is that I will have to pay it back since it has been so long and is not recent- I turn her in to the police and she will go to jail but what good will that do if I have to pay anyways?? Does anyone know what the proper procedures are to this problem> or am I screwed and have to pay all of that back? Please only real advice..

Answer 1

I would go to the police and ask them what can be done. I don't see how they can expect you to pay for all of this, if you just now found out about it. Don't believe what the banks tell you- they probably just want their money back. See what the police tell you. I would believe them over a bank. Also, you can go to a lawyer and have them tell you what can be done about this situation. You shouldn't be expected to pay for someone else's mess. Good luck!

Answer 2

Okay, my cousin watched my kids for about two weeks out of a 10 week boot camp training session. My dad had them the remainder of the time, including the 7 months afterward that I went to training school and was stationed at my first duty station. She got a hold to my kids social security cards and tried to claim them this past year. Unfortunately for her, as well as your cousin, a paper trail was left. In my case, I had to send proof that it was myself and my dad who took care of my kids, by providing school documents, medical documents, and other military documents, acknowledging that I had custody of my kids and that they were living with me to the IRS. It took a while (about 6-8 months), because they had to give me and her time to submit proof that we had the kids; she of course had none. Recently, I was sent a letter from the IRS, stating that they had received all the proper information, and they would begin the process of going after her. So basically, what I'm saying is that as long as there's a paper trail, I think she can get caught. Next time you call up the bank, ask to speak to a credit card fraud investigator to see what can be done. Or you can call a lawyer, and state your case during a free initial consultation. Just make sure that you make copies of all your documents, including when she opened up the p.o. box in her name at your place. If you're not sure where to start, then call the post office and explain to them that you've been a victim of mail fraud (I've been a victim of that too!). They will put you through to a fraud investigator, and you can tell them what happened. Maybe they can give you the paperwork you need to nail your cousin. Good luck!

Answer 3

a police report sent 2 all the bill collectors and 2 the banks, is a start.. it will take a very long time 2 clean up after your cousin.. go down and ask the social security office if you can get a new social security number.. have police report with you.. maybe that will take the block off your name when trying 2 buy even a piece of bubble gum with a credit card.. bummer eh

Answer 4

Experian and all are lying. They don't care, they have practices that encourage ID fraud.

Send affidavits (notarized) to ALL of these places, stating you did NOT incur these charges. Demand that they be removed (they are supposed to under the Fair Credit Act, but they don't always bother)

Find an attorney (this will be hard).

Sorry to say, you need to prosecute your cousin. Get rid of her access to your ID information.

NEVER give the slightest hint that you are responsible for these debts. They will try to trick you on the phone to get you to take responsibility, and they they will put this BACK on your credit report as an active debt.

Answer 5

sorry to hear that, family will screw you over quicker than ppl you dont know! My aunt wrote me a check i cashed it well she stopped payment on it and screwed me out of a lot of money and now im stuck with no way of buying my kids winter clothes posted a question on here about getting help and ppl on here can be just as cruel so ppl in general have no sympathy, well hope you can get yours fixed i couldnt judge said it was MY fault for cashing the check

Answer 6

My daughter-in-law did the same to me...it's terrible!! However, the five accts. she opened and charged on are "okay" - I sent them copies of the police report. Still, my credit score is horrible because of this mess. I know what you're going through.

Answer 7

For starters, what does the timeframe have to do with your debt? "...is not recent"???

It's NOT your responsibility to prove you DON'T owe this debt! It's THEIR responsibility to prove you DO. So pound that into your head, and lets discuss what you need to do.

Obviously you will need to turn in a police report, and your cuz is in trouble. And for $84k, I'm guessing a whole lot of trouble. But you need to do this step first, and NOW! You will need a copy of your police report before you can begin fighting these charges.

Contact one of the credit reporting agencies. For fun, you can start with Experian. You claim you already contacted them, but did they file an identity theft complaint for you? If not, why not? Ask them for a reason, and get it in writing. Their negligence is effecting your ability to get a loan, and they can be held liable for damages from their false reporting, or lack of action. By law, they will contact the other credit reporting agencies, and inform them of the identity theft.

Once notified, they will place a temporary "identity theft flag" on your account, so that if any attempt is made to get credit in your name you will be notified immediately. This will be made permenant once you send them proper forms and copies of the police report.

All three will be sending you a free copy of your credit report. By law they must send you a free copy after you have reported an identity theft. If you haven't received them yet, go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com for free.

Examine these reports carefully for errors (even if they are your debts...wrong balances or reporting dates, anything that looks funny).

Send a dispute letter to the credit bureau and dispute every item you find wrong.

You now must contact each of the creditors for accounts that are not yours. You can call them to get the ball rolling, but you are advised to follow it up with a written letter disputing the accounts. Send these letters by certified mail, but you don't need a return receipt at this point. Just keep the green slip the post office gives you to show it was mailed (will save you some money doing it this way).

The creditors will request a signed affidavit from you, along with copies of your drivers license (to prove who you are) and copies of the police report.

Now normally at this point your problem should be fixed. But you will occasionally get the jerky creditors who won't believe you and want to fight you for the charges. No problem. Just read the first two paragraphs of this letter! Inform them that they are posting incorrect information to your credit history in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and can be sued in court for $1000 plus any damages they are doing to your credit. You have already been denied credit because of these problems, and you can recover this if they don't cooperate.

Read the link below for more information. Contact me if you have problems.

Folks, there were laws passed in the past couple of years that protect your rights from Identity Theft, and spell out exactly what you have to do to fight it. Just follow the procedure and you will get through this. Document all phone calls, keep all letters and communications. Sometimes it will take several months but you will get your credit cleaned up.

I've had my ID stolen, and I've fixed it myself. I had one creditor who wanted to be a jerk about it, and wouldn't clean the debt from my credit report. I sued him in small claims court and won $1200 for my troubles.

The only reason they get away with it is because you don't know the laws! So read the file below and start fighting them.

Answer 8

Let her go to jail and get a good lawyer..If your a victim of theft you should not be responsible to pay back that money..It should be dropped..Get a good lawyer..

Answer 9

Go to the police. Also, don't invite your cousin to Thanksgiving Dinner this year.

Answer 10

Wow, that's awful...my best advice would be to get a lawyer and let them straighten everything out with your creditors. Good Luck.