Stolen Idenity

[ourstory]

About a month ago I received a letter from Bel Canada saying I owe $600 for a cell phone bill
I don't even own a cell Phone from bell, just a house phone so I called Bell and they transferred me to their fraud department and I explained the situation and they said they cant discuss the mater anymore with me since the thief was using someone elses credit card to pay for the cell phone bills and suddenly stopped paying and they said they will look into and take care of the mater
Today I got a call from a collections agency saying I owe them money so I explained the situation and they told me to call bell back
When I called Bell back they said to call the collection agency back...
I never been in this situation before
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Kwonie]

I would contact your local Police immediately since this is Identity Theft. Don't bother being spun around by Bell or that Collections Agency.

[lildevilx]

just a thought, try facebooking your name and see if another person shows up :P

cause i remember this happening to my brother a year or so back,
a fido bill came in with $400 and under it it says activation of a new plan, number + an iphone 3GS (yes only 3gs was out then)

anyways, apparently, theres another person in toronto with the same name as my brother so fido thought they were the same person and put it together on the same bill :P

but hopefully in your case it will be solved! =]

[ourstory]

Thanks for the replies
I called the non emergency number and they told me to go to the station and file a report
What's weird was that the collections agency didn't tell me their name or anything
They said they looked up my address on the yellowpages and that bell didn't give them the credit card the thief used to pay for the numbers
When I called the police, they said all that information should have been handed over to collections as well..

[Siefer999]

had a similar issue with a collection agency. it was big enough of a headache to deal with and it wasn't even my name (just my address). fortunately someone from rogers was kind enough to contact me online and we were able to sort this out. I honestly don't know what I would've done if someone didn't get involved since they were giving me the run around every time I called since they weren't allowed to discuss someone else's account.

Old thread here: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/resolved-getting-rogers-bills-sent-my-address-fake-person-1027762/

good luck, hope you get this sorted out

[blainehamilton]

Had the same issue a couple of years ago with a Rogers Home Phone account that was supposedly opened under my name. Rogers Home Phone isn't even available in western canada.

The scummy collection agency Icor starting calling multiple times a day at all hours including late at night. Multiple calls to Rogers including to their fraud department went unresolved.

Then I went to the RCMP, asked to file a report for identity fraud regarding the issue, got a case number, and gave that number to both Rogers and Icor.

Haven't had a call since...

[NoFixedAddress]

Had the same issue a couple of years ago with a Rogers Home Phone account that was supposedly opened under my name. Rogers Home Phone isn't even available in western canada.

The scummy collection agency Icor starting calling multiple times a day at all hours including late at night. Multiple calls to Rogers including to their fraud department went unresolved.

Then I went to the RCMP, asked to file a report for identity fraud regarding the issue, got a case number, and gave that number to both Rogers and Icor.

Haven't had a call since...

BRILLIANT! I hope everyone else reads your post!

[trini shotta]

Hopefully this helps: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sin/fraud/fraud.shtml

[lazarus]

If you want, you can get all the relevant information from Rogers, then take them to small claims court. (It's actually VERY easy to do, and if you sue them for under $3000, they probably won't fight it and settle out of court)

Basically it's:

$70 to file your claim.(make sure to bring 3 copies of the claim)
$160 ish to hire a process server

Then Rogers has 20 days (from the day they were served) to reply to your claim that they are falsely billing you, when they know it's an open fraud case. If they don't respond, you go back to the court, with affidavit of service the process server gave you and then get a default judgement.

Also, since they sent it to a collection agency, you can send the collection agency a letter by registered mail where they need to sign to receive saying that you "dispute this invoice (copy enclosed) and its charges, and suggest that this matter be taken to court if you wish to pursue it further." Ontario Collections Agency Act, under section 22. (http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/source/regs/english/2006/elaws_src_regs_r06103_e.htm) That way if they actually do take you to court, they will lose. (Though they probably won't if it's less than $4000.)

After that they can't legally bug you again unless they serve you papers.

Just and FYI, but personally I would just take Rogers to court and sue them like $3000 ish for court fees, financial damages, stress and lost time having to deal with such a ridiculous situation.

Of course you could go to the cops, but then you're relying on them to actually do their job. :/ I just wanted to give you the legal/civil litigation option.

[lazarus]

Had the same issue a couple of years ago with a Rogers Home Phone account that was supposedly opened under my name. Rogers Home Phone isn't even available in western canada.

The scummy collection agency Icor starting calling multiple times a day at all hours including late at night. Multiple calls to Rogers including to their fraud department went unresolved.

Then I went to the RCMP, asked to file a report for identity fraud regarding the issue, got a case number, and gave that number to both Rogers and Icor.

Haven't had a call since...

Ahhh, I wish this was going on now!!!! The Ontario Collections Agency Act (http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/source/regs/english/2006/elaws_src_regs_r06103_e.htm) is very strict about how collection agencies can contact you and at what hours!!! You could have taken them to small claims court and won.

It's good they backed off though. :)


---edit---
Just realized your in AB. I think the law is probably similar there too though. ;)