Back in October, some of our mail (bills we were sending payment to) was stolen. We called all three crediting bureaus and placed a fraud alert on our accounts, and also called all bill agencies to alert them of the stolen information.
Despite this, someone started using a card number, our name, home address, and home phone number. Curiously, it was not one of the credit cards whose bill was stolen that they were using.
Before anyone asks: 1) We do not use the cards on the Net; 2) We throw NO paperwork from any credit card company away–it is shredded or burned; 3) We only mail directly through the post office (now).
Earlier today we had a call from Nextel regarding “our” order. Now the person was using someone else’s name, someone else’s SSN, but OUR home address and home phone number. But–we have a SSN and name, although it would be a rather dumb thief to use his own. We also have a shipping address from some auto parts shop they tried to buy from, although again…whose to say it’s theirs.
My question is: How do we go about investigating this, if we can have an investigation? A police report has already been filed after we were advised to do so from one of the credit card companies, but the policeman said that at that point there was little to go on. I’m just thinking we have some interesting leads, if nothing else.
What, if anything, can we do from here?
Someone rang?
First, from the creditor’s perspective : Bank goes after fund recovery first. We do assist the authorities in prosecution but do not actively prosecute in the majority of cases. It’s the larger ring/larger losses that the bank goes after. With the amount of fraud the average bank gets, it’s just not cost effective to go after the perps.
Some information about California law found
here
If you live in California, and if you have a police report listing all the fraud accounts, the credit bureaus must block the fraudulent accounts from your credit reports within 30 days. That’s the law (California Civil Code 1785.16k). But that means you must file a police report first. If you don’t live in California, you should still send a police report to the company(ies) with an attached listing of the fraudulent account(s) demanding that they remove the fraud in 30 days. Once the fraud accounts are removed, they can only be reinserted in your credit profiles if the creditors prove the accounts are not fraudulent. There is a federal law being considered to take this concept nationwide (S1399 Feinstein, March 2002).
The loss amount needed for local authorities to prosecute varies. Honestly, the odds are not in your favor. 
Make sure to call all your creditors and change your mother’s maiden name to a password. That will help prevent someone from calling your bank and posing as you to order cards.
When you call, also request that you be removed from the telemarketing files, including being sent convience checks. It sounds like you have mail thieves and those checks are their crack.