Internet Fraud

I recently found out my 35y.o. cousin activated a credit card that was sent to me a few months ago. I stay with her my last year of high school so i still have mail coming to the address. I found out about it when i recieve a bill from the company. She activated the card on her cell number. She made 2 paymenys then stopped and I owe them close to $500 and it still adding intrest weekly. I cancel the card and let the company no what was going out and they told what actions i can take. One of the option is file a police report take her to court. My mother also agrees with me filing a police report. I made sure there wasnt any more accounts open in my name and change all the numbers and address to make sure anything with the account comes directly to me. I do want to legal actions against her, but i dont want her to go to jail for it. They told me she will be charge for 3 federal crimes (opening my mail, unauthorized use of my social, and credit fraud). What you think about it?

Tell her to give you the $500 or you will press charges. Then do it if she doesnt pay up.

File the police report and take her to small claims court. So what if she's charged for 3 federal crimes--it's her own fault for doing that. I know she's your cousin, but she's 35. She's destroying YOUR credit by doing that.

I would file the police report for sure! It's bad enough doing that to a complete stranger but I can't believe doing that to a family member!

I think you should press charges. It is against the law to do this. She obviously didn't have your best interest in mind when she opened up the account, let her go to jail.

If they put her in jail, so be it! she shouldnt have invaded your privacy like that, and this could have been REALLY detrimental to your credit if you didnt discover it sooner. i'm sorry that happened, it sucks to not be able to trust family anymore...

Even though it may be hard being your cousin, she didn't think of the hurt it may cause you when she did what she knew to be wrong. I think punishment through court actions is needed and maybe it will make her think twice before doing something so wrong.

you must charge her, if she goes to jail that is her fault

You can only have so much sympathy. Look at it this way, when she committed this fraud, was she thinking in your best interest? Clearly not. She was doing this in all full knowing that it would bite you in the ass in the end. Contact the card company, and notify them of the situation. They may be understanding, depending on the credit card company, or they may not care. Either way, do what must be done to protect yourself and to make sure that debt does not harm your credit. Civil suits may be an option too.

I think you need to talk to her and try to get her to sign a written agreement saying she will pay that bill. And don't just make it say that she will pay the bill, but make sure it says she will pay x amount every week/month until the entire balance is paid off. Let her know that if she is not agreeable that you will have to take action against her and explain what charges she will face. If she is unwilling to cooperate, press charges.

I would tell her she needs to pay the money back or you're going to the cops. It is possible that this can be prosecuted as a federal crime - and she definitely could get time.

You are a victim of ientity theft. If you do nothing it cn ruin your credit for years to come. You have to do a police report to protect yourself. I think your cousin deserves jail time but she can probably just get probation if she pays the money back.

My Wife went through this exact same thing with her Son a couple of years ago. She filed a police report and it was faxed to the credit card company. They cleared my Wife's credit report of all derogatory items as soon as they got the report. The police did nothing because they said it was a family thing and that most times the person that filed the report will not testify. My Wife wanted to press charges and the police refused.

It's her fault for doing this, you should definitely pursue legal action, no matter what the consequences are. She has hurt your credit rating, and that is horrible!!! Don't factor her feelings into this, she should have thought about that before she broke the law.

She broke the law. She should be punished. It may teach her a lesson to avoid doing it again. If she commits a relatively small crime and gets away with it, she may become encouraged to do more criminal activities. Tell her what you found out. Ask her to pay what she owes, to salvage your credit rating. If she does not do pay the bill, let her suffer the consequences.

File a police report right away. You'll need it as part of the stolen identity process. Don't just ask for the money to be repaid; your credit has been affected, and you need to clear it up. Here are the steps you should take: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/defend.html And here's a list of the penalties for identity theft, by state: http://www.ncsl.org/programs/lis/privacy/idt-statutes.htm

Give her 10 days to repay the amount in full as well as to supply a letter to the company confessing to the act. If she cannot do it or refuses to comply, file the report and don't lose a minute's sleep over it.

It is unfortunate that your older cousin is in a situation she stole from you and ruined your credit before you even got a chance to start building it. It is possible that they credit card company will hold you responsible for the debt unless charges are pressed against your cousin. I would start off by getting your free credit report from at least on of the three agencies and triple check that no other accounts are open. If you file a report with the police you should also be able to contact all three companies and have a lock put on your credit account for a year (no charge). If you want to take action against your cousin civil law is another option. However you will probably find that hiring a lawyer and court charges are not worth the $500 and will do little to repair your credit. Your 35 year old cousin should be old enough to understand the consequences of her actions and there is good reason that those 3 crimes are considered felonies. You are now old enough to make your own decisions. If you want to do what is best for you press the criminal charges and go talk to a lawyer about the possibility of a civil lawsuit.

It will be a shame to take her to jail for $500 dollars, but at the same time what she did is a federal crime. You can take her to small claims court and sue her there for the damages, or plain and simple make her aware of how much of a crime she has committed. Let her pay for the damages and the trouble she has caused.

that account may be very damaging to your credit report. When you are ready for a credit card yourself, buy a house or car, a bad credit report will either prevent you getting the loan , or cost you a higher interest rate. I dont believe you owe the card company anything. They would have to prove you activated it yourself. Advise them it was activated fraudulantly. If your cousin will pay all the costs , and admit to the company that she misused the card , you might get it taken off your credit reports. It may be best to file a police report. - opening your mail cant be proved , she may have gotten it out of the trash - fraud , yes she did that - unauthorised use of SS number , yes she did that too

Sorry but if u want your credit clean u did to take her to court and when u win, they will remove it from your credit report.. and don't feel sorry for your her, she knew what she was doing when she did it..

A couple of sites that may be worth mentioning are one for requesting a credit report ( https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp ) and one for opting out of firm offers of credit ( https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t ) As far as I know, the sites are completely legitimate, but it sounds like it would be hard to be too careful, so do as much research as you think is justified. Best of luck to you.

Definately file a police report - this way you can legally have the bad debt wiped from your credit. Also, if you want to protect yourself from this happening again, LifeLock is the answer - no one can open any account w/o your permission.

Honey, your cousin was not thinking about your best interest when she so fraudently open that line of credit in your name. I say file the police report and if she has to go to jail, then it's her own doing. She knew what she was doing was wrong.

I wouldn't think twice about filing charges..did she think twice stealing your credit? At 35 she should know better..and you need to teach her the difference between right and wrong

HOLD UP!!!!! You stated that you still owe these charges??? Hello! That is FRAUD. You are NOT responsible for these charges! You are NOT legally liable for unauthorized purchases even if you know the person who commited the fraud. TRUST ME! I am a Recovery Manager and I collect on frauds like this all the time.... You need to call back that credit card and advise them you never opened this credit card, these charges were all unauthorized and that YOU did not charge them and let them know you will not pay for them. You need to tell them flat out that it was "fraud" and that you never activated the card. The credit card company can not hold you responsible.....They may have "implied" that you need to pay but you are NOT responsible for a card opened fraudulently. If they tell you to file a police report do it! All you need to do is call the police and just say you were a victim of Identity theft and someone opened a fraud account in your name and you dont need to say much else --- Im pretty sure you can even do this over the phone and they will fax or mail you the report. The police will probably also give you some other info on how to protect your identity. Also, it's not YOUR job to go after the fraudster even if she is related -- -The credit card company can...and they WONT. All they do is kick back all those charges to the places where she made purchases and it will be up to them to investigate and go after her...They may too....And if they call you, you can tell them the same thing. I cant beleive they made you feel responsible -- YOU ARENT!!!! Go fight it -- It's FRAUD and the credit card company is supposed to protect you... Havent you seen their ads on TV? What a bunch of crap... If the credit card company gives you a hard time you tell them who ever you talked to the first time miss-lead you into beleiving this was "your" problem but that you have done some research on this and that you WILL NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY on this... Tell them you dont even live at the address the credit card was sent to, the phone # isnt yours, and the signatures arent yours....

Don't be mean. Always try to resolve these things in private before taking such extreme measures. That'd be awful if anybody went to jail for doing something like that. Just make sure she knows the consequences and that you will be filing a report if she doesn't comply.