Identity theft? That’s not funny.
I’ll wait until I see the guy at the school tomorrow to judge if I really buy the story or not. I want to sit down with him and hear directly from him exactly what happened, and who did it.
But back to the identity theft idea: how would I know if this was something to worry about or not? other than waiting to see if there are any strange dealings with my bank account or credit cards, that is?
Now you all have me worried…
Have a long talk with your credit union. They are the legitimate folks in this case. Get them to do the legal legwork.
We’re talking a type of fraud here. Just because things appear to be working for you – loan approval, gonna get educated, yadda, yadda – don’t stop now in your efforts to make sure everything is all settled legally. That means it should become a state/federal legal issue. Take the credit union’s lead on this.
Somebody should end up doing time for this.
Good advice, Duckster, however the credit union’s lead seems to be “ah! Someone screwed up and was fired… good 'nuf!”
Well, I’m looking forward to seeing the written explanation tomorrow to see if it makes more sense.
Identity theft is not funny, not funny at all.
Do not be satisfied with, “Well, someone got fired.” As soon as you get some more information from the guy shoveling stuff over the phone at you, arrange a meeting–in person–with someone higher up the food chain at that school. From what you’ve described so far, it seems fairly obvious the phone shoveler doesn’t want a whole lot of attention paid to his fiefdom.
Might as well make a swing by the local DA’s office or police station to see what kind of legal attention should be paid to that fiefdom also.
Don’t forget to make that stop at a credit bureau to (a) get a copy of your credit report and (b) put a notice on it that someone may be attempting to misuse your information.
a) Will do!
b) Will do!
Both are on the table for Monday, as well as a swing by the bank to alert them and change my PINs etc.
As for involving the police, I’m reluctant to do that… but I’ll have to make a decision regarding that after I have a meeting with the guy at the school today. If I should make a police report, what would they do about it? Just keep a report on file, or what?
OK… I’ve just come back from having a long chat with the director of the school. I’m satisfied that it was an isolated incident, and that nothing more sinister was going on than that a new employee (who was, in fact, getting a comission for every successful loan application) altered my application to ensure her comission. She stupidly thought that no one would check out the employment, was wrong, and got caught. My application was, apparently, the first that she had altered (they have been going back through the applications filed since she was hired, and have yet to find another fraudulent one).
She was informed that she could have been charged with a crime, was fired, the passwords to computers that she had access to have been changed, the other employee who was doing the same job (and whoever replaces the woman who got fired) will no longer be getting comissions from loan applications, etc.
I have a signed statement from the director of the school detailing what happened, and that I had no knowledge of the fraud. I think my butt is now sufficiently covered.
I will still talk to my bank on Monday, and talk to the credit agencies to put a fraud alert flag on my account just in case!
I’m still wavering about the police though… I have no desire to cause this woman any more trouble than she has already (despite being a Republican, I’m not all that hard-hearted and vengeful. Don’t tell anyone, or I may have to turn in my secret decoder ring!). So one more question for you all: the entirety of my involvement with the police has been speeding tickets so I know nothing about this… can I file a report about this without actually charging the woman with a crime, or causing any trouble for the school?
Frankly, I have an extremely hard time swallowing a single word of what they told you. One single word. I just don’t buy it. If they are messing as I think they are, what did you expect? That they would confess to you? They have a good story but I don’t buy it. I would be talking to the police tomorrow. It makes no sense to me. I do not believe one lowly employee who has been fired is responsible.
This is not the kind of place I would be entrusting my future job skills to.
“They” who have been going through all the files are exactly the people I’d be most worried about.
“So, Mr. Fox, would just go in there and count the chickens for me, so I know they’re all in there?”
What sailor said. That story doesn’t make any sense at all. There is no logic (IMO) to the scenario that a loan package processing secretary would get a “commission” for simply doing her job. She’s not a mortgage broker. She’s simply submitting your loan application to the bank.
Playing semi-sophisticated fake paperwork games and risking the consequences of being caught defrauding a bank is not something a person does for a hundred or two in commission on a small loan. It’s something someone making a decent, results based salary does. Someone like the guy you’re talking to.
You’re being “handled”.
sailor and I don’t usually agree on much (if anything); however, on this we’re completely in agreement. I think you’re being fed a story in the hopes of you, as astro so aptly put it, being handled. The woman’s supervisor was not the victim–YOU were. It was your application altered; it was your name used dishonestly. It’s up to you, IMHO, to make the decision of referring it to the police. And, even without charges being pursued, having a file with the appropriate authorities will be a hedge against this happening to someone else.
It’s cool the director of the school talked to you personally. What I’m wondering is why he’s not hot on the theft the woman pulled.
Because there was no theft… there was an attempted theft, but she was caught. While I don’t think I’m qualified to judge the logic of the story, the credit union that was, in fact, the party that the attempted fraud was perpetrated on, investigated and was satisfied that the situation had been taken care of. I’m pretty sure that if they had any qualms, they would have called the police themselves… or am I being needlessly naive (it would not be the first time!)?
I still have the question, though: Can I file a police report without her being charged? I think I will speak with the police on Monday and ask what they think about it…
I agree with what Monty and sailor have said. This isn’t about being Republican/hard-hearted/vengeful [/tongue-in-cheek]. False documents were intentionally submitted to encourage the credit union to loan money on false pretenses. That’s pretty serious and should be drawn to the attention of the police. [Note: the above is not legal advice. I’m just telling you what I would do if I were in this situation.]
I’m seeing “theft of identity” written all over the secretary’s stunt, Astroboy.
** Astroboy14**, you are being extremely naive. You are just taking their story at face value when it makes no sense whatsoever. None whatsoever.
Look, secretaries have no interest in this. The “fired secretary” is most probably an invented story and she is non-existent. It just doesn’t work that way. Even if it did, if my secretary was caught doing that the first thing I’d be doing is investigating all prior cases she had worked on. This is a story you are being fed. Of course they are going to tell you it is the first time it’s happened. What do you expect? You have touched the tip of an iceberg and they are telling you there is nothing underneath. Every shoplifter caught in the act says it was the first time he did it. Some years ago a cop stopped me because my car did not have the required front plate. The fact is it was coming lose and I took it off intending to reinstall it but time went by and I never got around to it and it was a few months before I was busted. Of course, I told the cop it had just fallen off and he said “I thought so” in a voice which implied he did not expect me to say anything else.
More people are involved and yours is not the first time they have done it and they will continue to do it as long as they can get away with it. People do not shoplift just once and they do not forge papers just once. Don’t be so naive. You are not helping anybody by covering up. Not yourself and not the public.
Side story: A couple years ago I went to a Kinko’s and while I was waiting for a machine I discovered in the trash all sorts of cut-n-paste altered photocopies showing titles to cars, insurance papers, etc. with names and other data altered. there were at least 20 vehicles involved. A car dealer was forging all sorts of documents and the idiots had been so stupid as to leave all their evidence at the Kinko’s trash from where I took it and mailed it to the police.
OK, I’m naive! As I said, it’s not the first time. This is why I posted here about this, after all…
So I will go talk to the police tomorrow, as well as talk to the credit union to see why they simply let the matter drop rather than pursue charges themselves.
(boy! You all certainly are a cynical bunch! But I loves ya for it!)
I’ll post tomorrow as to what the police have to say.
I would not advise you pursuing the matter with the credit union as you have nothing to gain tehre except being told more stories which really make no difference. They have told you their story and you are not going to get a better truth from them. I would just drop the matter with them. If you have any further contact with them and the question comes up of why you reported it to the police you can just say that for your own peace of mind and if everything is as innocent as they say then they should have no problem.
I would go to the police and just, matter of factly, tell them the story. Don’t accuse, just tell the facts and leave it up to them to draw any conclusions. That is their job. They will decide if there’s anything worth looking into and even if they decide there’s nothing to be suspicious about you did the right thing in letting them know and you are covered in case any doubt may come up that you were a willing participant in the scheme.
When you find a lump in your body you don’t just ignore it and hope it is nothing. You go to the doctor and let him, the expert, tell you that it is nothing and it will go away by itself. Same thing here.
If you can learn the lesson from others’ experience and avoid being stung yourself, you are already ahead of those who learnt their lessons the hard way and much more ahead of those who do not learn from their experiences at all. There is nothing wrong with being trusting but be prudent and do not suspend your common sense.
Come to think of it, sailor’s surely right on the bit about the secretary. Disciplinary actions–absent public court filings–are certainly covered by confidentiality laws. I really can’t see someone saying, “The secretary, whom we shan’t name, has been fired for violating a number of federal and state laws, not to mention good business practices. Hope you have a nice day now that we shafted you. Want a cookie on your way out?”
They’re circling the wagons, Astroboy. Talk to whoever it is at the DA’s office who’s responsible for identity theft and/or fraud prosecutions.
Actaully I think most dopers would come here first and let Qadgop tell them to see a doctor. Just like Astroboy is came here so other dopers could tell him to go the police.
I’ll throw in another point supporting sailor’s view that you are being fed a line of BS by people who just want you to shut up and go away.
At legitimate companies, they don’t investigate, rewrite policies, and take personnel action nearly so fast. In three days, they’ve fired an employee, restructured the compensation plan for some category of administration personnel, and even changed all the access passwords to their financial data? From scratch?
I’m sorry, there is just no way on earth they’ve done all this. Companies just do not move that fast. At best, they gave you an action plan and passed it off as the results of the plan. At worst (and IMHO most probable) they just came up with a story esigned to satisfy anyone who who wouldn’t look behind it.
In any case, IMHO they were lying to you.