Using Zabasearch and some other search engines, I see a false name listed at the address of the house I own in the U.S. The same name is also listed at my mom’s address. The name has the same surname as my mom and I, but we don’t know him.
Is this guy trying to scam us in some way? Or is he scamming someone else and letting the paper trail lead to us? Is there any way to correct the error?
Thanks!
I’ve found false information in databases quite often. Although fraud may be one reason, sloppy data entry/transfer can explain others, especially if there are similarities in the names. Does the full name mean anything to you?
There seems to be very little error checking in this business. Once a wrong entry is made, it may stay there for a long time unless challenged. Also databases also don’t get purged of old info as often as I think they should be. I’m still shown as living at addresses where I haven’t been for 20 years.
As to how to fix it, you’d have to contact the database owner.
That could be an old con. People steal credit card info, then they file a change of address with that name. So your bills and letters still come but the false name gets forwarded to another address (usually a PO Box) and they can get mail like that.
For years we’ve been receiving junk mail for “Brian [ourlastname]”. From the mail he receives, Brian appears to be about the age of my younger daughter. First he started receiving information about various universities and military services, then he started receiving credit card applications, then he started receiving information about home mortgages…
(sniffle) I’m so proud of how well Brian has turned out…
Just wait until you get the bill collector’s phone calls.
That is indeed how my name became associated with an address that I know to be a mail drop. Someone took a credit card carbon (I know exactly where it happened since I used that credit card only once in 4 years) and mailed in a change of address for me to that mail drop, then started making charge purchases. We (the credit card company) and I got that fixed pretty quick, but years later that address still showed on some databases as one of mine. Just goes to show my original statement that little or no verification is done when data is committed to computer.
Well, I’m a little worried. The name means nothing to me. ZabaSearch shows him as living in Maryland, and two addresses in San Diego County … mine and my mom’s. Even if I could get ZabaSearch to purge it, they probably got it from somewhere else. On the bright side, I’ve never got mail for him. Should I let it go, or try to do something?