Has anyone had to deal with this? My 31 yr old neice used my mom's identity to open all kinds of accounts- to the tune of over $5,000. My mom , who's 72 , can't bear to think of pressing charges, because it's her granddaughter, but she also cannot pay this back. I've been able to talk to one company for her, and they said she must do something, because they will soon begin collection. Have any of you been in this type of mess? How did you clear it up? Of course, I'm not asking for any specific info that's not appropriate to share. I'm totally freaked that my neice had the guts to do this. My mom has helped her financially so many times in the past, but I guess some people feel entitled.
Sorry to hear about what has happened to your mom. Here is a website that might help you with getting things cleared up. www.consumer.gov/idtheft/ Also your niece may also be looking at elder abuse too because she has financially taken advantage of an elderly person. Not sure, but it may come up. I hope things work out for the best for your mom and the your niece learns a lesson, even if it is a hard lesson learned the hard way. Mariann
No experience but maybe someon else in the family should press charges on behalf of your mom? That's just horrible that she did that to her own grandmother!!!!
PRESS charges she had no problem being dishonest or unfaithful to the family. You are an enabler. Your mother provided for her before and now she did something very wrong, illegal, and you are enabling her if you dont press charges. Trust her after this? I think not. In my home we experienced identity theft where my husband was never in california *we live in Florida* opening up home depot accounts and buying the max on gift certificates from FOUR locations. it makes buying a car and home extremely difficult UNTIL it is setteled and your case is closed. It means keeping a meticulous eye on your accounts. We were told to be prepared for a call one day for appearing for depositions and such because the investigation for the credit card company would be completed and we would continue on with our lives, but the criminal investigations would be continuing. Our identity thefts charged 2-4 thous times 4 home depots AND then three furniture stores of california where collection agencies notified US and then we in turn had to contact the credit bureau that these charges from the same incident occured. The time span for these charges are ALL within a two week period. I can tell you that a stranger stealing my husbands identity is horrible but your own family= either way, IT IS CRIMINAL.
31 year old THIRTY ONE- what lesson at 31 does she need? this girl is a crook. I thought let me reread your post and see if this JUVENILE screwed up and saw that she is 31. We all learn life lessons at different stages but i am willling to say 18-25 are those years to learn to be an ADULT. five thousand dollars are MONTHS of work for me, why isnt she working.
Ruth, I'm no enabler- I told mom to call the cops right away. It ends up this all began at least as far back as 1997, 6 years after the girl graduated. My mom was helping my niece and her husband with bills and even bought them a new t.v. during this time. I spoke to Equifax for her, so there's a fraud alert on her credit report, and she's in the process of calling twelve pages of companies to report the fraud and close the accounts. There's even some dated for 1992 and 1994 that mom can't remember if they were hers or not. The easy part is, ones that are clearly my niece's are overdue, and some others are marked closed by consumer. Others that are open but with a zero balance are among those that wiil be closed. Mom also has to get her reports from the other two credit reporting agencies. It's a complete blip. The only reason I didn't step in and call the police is because I was afraid of what it would do to my mom's health. I can't believe my niece didn't care about that.
