what do i do if my sister uses my identity to get a cell phone?

Question

i just recently found out my seventeen year old sister used my identity to obtain a cell phone and now the bill is outrageous. i want to know if i will be liable for this bill and if it the company's fault for not doing a better credit check or obtaining more information about myself and since the contract has a forged signature is the contract null and void

Answer 1

Your sister is guilty of fraud and theft of services.

The company will try to make YOU pay, since it is your name that the phone is in. If you refuse, and can prove that you weren't the signatory, AND that you had no knowledge of what your sister was doing when she forged your signature, then they will take her and/or you to court to retrieve their money.

Your only legal recourse is to co-operate with the phone company, and get your sister arrested for the crimes.

Answer 2

The safest thing for you to do to protect your own credit is this process. First, shut down the account immediately. Second, file a police report on the issue, you do not need to press charges just file a report. Finally, refuse to pay any of the bill.

You should not be liable if you take immediate steps to fix the problem. A forged signature would make a contract void, especially since your sister is 17 and does not have legal contractual capacity.

Answer 3

That is a form of 'Identity Theft' and it is a Indictable offence! However it is highly unlikely that you'll want to charge your Sister???!!! I would however,push to get the service removed and...Rap the Knuckle's of the service provider-for making it so easy for your sister to steal your 'Identity' and use it illegally to purchase their services! They may end up dismissing most or maybe all of the bill,in order to avoid controversy! If they don't entirely remove the charges altogether...I would hold your sister 'financially responsible' for the remaining charges-and maybe file complaint with the Better Business Bureau! Business's of this nature are generally required to properly identify the person(s) who are using their services-especially if a credit card is used to acquire their services! Alot don't though...because generally they don't tend to think that a cardholder would be brazen enough to use a card that does not belong to them. However they should be properly asking for a Drivers License or other compareable I.D.-before they even consider carrying out a Credit Card transaction! Don't know how this applies in Texas...or the U.S. for that matter? But that is generally the rule-here in Canada,and most of our existing laws 'usually' are mirrored on U.S. laws. I encourage you to enquire on your Rights and Obligations? If you don't know what they are-you don't have any! If you can prove Beyond a Reason of a Doubt...that the signature is in fact 'forged'. Then I would generally think that you should be Null and Void of any Responsibility! Hope this helps a little. Theerrander.

Answer 4

You have four choices - pay the bill yourself, make your sister or her parents give you the money to pay it, file a police report against your sister for identity theft (and send a copy to the cell phone company), or leave the bill unpaid and let it damage your credit rating. The cell phone company will give you no other choices. If you file the police report, the state will decide whether or not to press charges. It won't matter that you don't want to. I have no doubt they would do so, although as a juvenile she would probably not be charged with actual identity theft, but rather something else.

Answer 5

You are NOT liable. You need to do the following IMMEDIATELY!

(1) Tell your parents to keep their brat on a leash.

(2) File a police report (otherwise the cell company will insist you authorized her to do it!). Unfortunately, they will probably not prosecute her, anyway.

(3) Send a certified letter to the phone company w/ a copy of the police report stating unequivocally that she was NOT authorized to open an account in your name & that you are NOT paying it!

(4) Notify all 3 credit bureaus by certified mail that the account was opened fraudulently & tell them to FREEZE you account. Send them copies of the police report, too.

(5) NEVER, NEVER, NEVER pay a dime on this account or you will be admitting that you authorized it.

(6) If the cell company gives you any crap, tell them you are happy to sue them if they do not take this account out of your name & off your credit & cease any attempts to collect from you. Give them your sister's name & number. Tell them to call her.

One last thing, your sister sounds like she has some serious issues. If she doesn't get some help (& maybe a good ************), she is going to be a sneak & a liar her whole life & eventually find herself in REAL legal trouble. Maybe that is mean, but it is for the best in the long run.

Answer 6

See what "notyou" says? Well do it! If you don't tell the phone company immediately you will be liable for the bill. If you let you're sister get away with this you will enable her criminal behavior and help her to start a lifetime of using other people to get what she wants, regardless of how it harms the other people. You will do her no favor to ignore this.

Answer 7

Report her to the police and the phone co. That is identity theft and she could go to jail.

Answer 8

Go to the police and file a report. It would be a criminal matter but that is the only way to protect yourself.

Answer 9

Use your identity to shut it off .