Has anyone had their home address used fraudulently?

[hellokitty]

I received a speed camera fine in the mail the other day for a person I don't know, addressed to my home address. I though "weird" wrote on the envelope and sent back to the return address.
Today I have received an elections letter addressed to the same person.

I have lived here for 8 years and it seems odd that now I am getting official mail for this person. The last thing I want is fines being sent to my address.

Any ideas how I can find out who this person is?

[Dave Lobster]

Have you read the name they're addressed to?
Might be a clue..

[hellokitty]

Yep, obviously... done a google, facebook, twitter etc search.
Nothing.

[Virago]

Plug their name into White Pages, see what you find:

http://yellow.co.nz/whitepages/

Possibly a case of common typo. My mum's street number is 2D - the people at number 20 received lots of her mail.

[jafar]

I received a speed camera fine in the mail the other day for a person I don't know, addressed to my home address. I though "weird" wrote on the envelope and sent back to the return address.
Today I have received an elections letter addressed to the same person.

I have lived here for 8 years and it seems odd that now I am getting official mail for this person. The last thing I want is fines being sent to my address.

Any ideas how I can find out who this person is?

Mark the envelope ; Return to sender , not known @ this address. & send them back. There is little else you can do.

[hellokitty]

Mark the envelope ; Return to sender , not known @ this address. & send them back. There is little else you can do.

Yeah, I guess I am being paranoid

[jafar]

Yeah, I guess I am being paranoid

Possibly, or they have got the street address right but the suburb or post code wrong. A typo in the system somewhere is the most likely answer.
If you live in a common named street . I.E. queen st , high st, beach rd etc , this is an easy mistake to happen.
Have you contacted NZ Post to tell them anything addressed to that person is to be redirected to the sender?

[hellokitty]

Possibly, or they have got the street address right but the suburb or post code wrong. A typo in the system somewhere is the most likely answer.
If you live in a common named street . I.E. queen st , high st, beach rd etc , this is an easy mistake to happen.
Have you contacted NZ Post to tell them anything addressed to that person is to be redirected to the sender?

My street name is not common, quite unusual in fact..

[jafar]

My street name is not common, quite unusual in fact..

Contact NZpost & get mail addressed to that person redirected back to the sender. :msn-wink:

[spajohn]

I was getting notices repeatedly sent over about 18 months to an address despite returning advising "not at this address" etc. This escalated to what appear to be court notices, so I rang the the Wellington court, and Wellington city council, advising the persons name, and that it was a rented property I had been at since x date. The letters stopped after that.

[AllanB]

Start opening them - there may be money in the next one!

[jellywrestler]

do nowt for a while, then they'll have to pay more for the fine and that'll learn them

[avgas]

Start opening them - there may be money in the next one!
What he said - open, take the money, burn the bills.
Its not your name so it not your fault.

[steve_t]

I was getting notices repeatedly sent over about 18 months to an address despite returning advising "not at this address" etc. This escalated to what appear to be court notices, so I rang the the Wellington court, and Wellington city council, advising the persons name, and that it was a rented property I had been at since x date. The letters stopped after that.

That's good. My missus had the retarded situation of ringing up the sender to tell them to stop sending mail as the recipient had moved on, only to be told that she didn't have authority on the account to change the mailing address for the recipient :facepalm::weird::angry:
After a few more months and several more calls she managed to talk to someone on the phone who stopped the letters. Total fluke I reckon. I guess I can see how they wouldn't want random people ringing up to say that they live at (address) and that the other person no longer lives there if it's not actually true. It's just such a PITA

[spajohn]

It's just such a PITA

Maybe total paranoid but I was worried someone would come to repo their stuff or similar so I wanted to get it sorted once and for all. Def PITA.

[hellokitty]

Contact NZpost & get mail addressed to that person redirected back to the sender. :msn-wink:

Good idea!


I was getting notices repeatedly sent over about 18 months to an address despite returning advising "not at this address" etc. This escalated to what appear to be court notices, so I rang the the Wellington court, and Wellington city council, advising the persons name, and that it was a rented property I had been at since x date. The letters stopped after that.

I have owned this house for 8 years, I would understand if I had rented for a short time...


do nowt for a while, then they'll have to pay more for the fine and that'll learn them

:bleh: hahaha good idea!


Maybe total paranoid but I was worried someone would come to repo their stuff or similar so I wanted to get it sorted once and for all. Def PITA.

Yes that thought had crossed my mind, I know of a guy that owes a lot in unpaid fines, and he has been threatened with stuff being seized - problem is that his only possession (bike) is in his father's name (for this very reason) so his partners stuff may get seized instead

[wysper]

If I get that, I return the first few "not at this address" or something similar.
Then after that just start binning them.

[Blackshear]

Was at old house for about 16 years, and 2 years ago we got a good 10-15 piece of mail for some island-esque name addressed to an 84B X street, where there has NEVER been an 84B. Started ringing up AA, the bank and several car shark places to whom the letter originated and receive many a thanks, gasp etc.

Fucking shifty pricks.

[Laava]

My dropkick neighbours were deliberately using my address as they get a lot of final demands, baycorp, visits from the cops etc. I told the cops last time they came what all their aliases were and what they were doing and I rang Baycorp and told them the correct address for the demands. The guy asked me to just hand the mail over to them but I refused and asked him if he wanted me to RTS or just tear it up. So a different approach is needed for each thing I guess. So at least you have a name you can use for "dodgy" dealings!

[CookMySock]

Yeah I wouldn't be worrying about it. You could possibly even have some fun with that!

[JMemonic]

That's good. My missus had the retarded situation of ringing up the sender to tell them to stop sending mail as the recipient had moved on, only to be told that she didn't have authority on the account to change the mailing address for the recipient :facepalm::weird::angry:
After a few more months and several more calls she managed to talk to someone on the phone who stopped the letters. Total fluke I reckon. I guess I can see how they wouldn't want random people ringing up to say that they live at (address) and that the other person no longer lives there if it's not actually true. It's just such a PITA

Had the same situation, and answer from a finance company, I even told them the new address and the letters continued, the last time I rang them I informed them that from this date forward I would bill them each for each letter received, they immediately put me on to a manager who promptly was able to redirect the mail.

[KiWiP]

I would be worrying as it may be the first stages in identity fraud. In NZ it is really easy to set up a bank account etc with just an address. And it's really easy to get to mail before the house owner. I would contact the people directly and ensure the name is red-flagged. I would also go to the police as there may be other drop boxes being used in the same area.