#5 Utility Fraud
When you hear warnings about identity theft, most of us think about stolen credit cards and fake ID’s used to make unauthorized, expensive purchases in another person’s name. However, there is another form of identity theft not often thought about: utility fraud.
Utility fraud is when a person fraudulently uses someone else’s name or identity to order water, electric, gas, cable, or other types of services. Cable service fraud is the most commonly committed utility scam. This type of identity theft is actually quite easy to pull off, because often times a utility company only requires a name, address, and maybe a social security number – but often times they don’t confirm the identity of the person providing the name and personal information.
The benefit to the utility company of opening any and all new accounts is that the utility is not required to pay the utility bill – you are. Now you have to go through the process of proving that you did not open the accounts or authorize the accounts.
What Signs Point to Utility Fraud?
There are a few ways things that you can keep your eye out for that point to a potential identity theft by utilities fraud.
- Calls from Collections: Receiving calls from collections usually sparks one of two emotions: fear or confusion. If you owe money, that is when you are probably fearful, but if you don’t owe money to any company, you might be confused. If a collections company is contacting you about the money you owe for a utility bill, this is a direct indication of a potential identity theft by utility fraud.
- Bills in the Mail: You may believe that the letters from the utility companies are just junk mail or potential scams, but it might be beneficial to take a closer look at those. Receiving letters from a utility company from which you do not receive services could potentially point to an account that you do not know about.
- Lowered Credit Score: You might become aware of utility fraud by looking at a drop in your credit score.
Credit monitoring will not alert you to this type of fraud.
LibertyID will take the following steps for/with their members:
- Contact the utility company where the fraudulent account(s) were established and have those new accounts closed
- Make sure the fraudulent account(s) are removed from your credit report
- Place fraud alerts at all three credit reporting agencies
- File report with FTC
- File a police report
- Review credit reports with the victim to ensure there are no other types of fraud
- Provide credit monitoring with alerts for 12 months
- Periodically contact the member throughout the 12 months following resolution of their ID theft recovery case if warranted