How to find out if scammers have taken out a loan in your name

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The answer is in your credit history.

How scammers arrange loans for victims

There are several common online and offline schemes that are best known. Then you will quickly understand if something goes wrong.

In collusion with bank employees

Attackers can have their own person in a credit institution. Sometimes the employee himself becomes the only culprit. In any case, he has access to databases and the ability to apply for a loan by entering the necessary information.

By photocopy of your passport

In general, in order to get a loan, you need to present your original passport. But here the human factor comes into play. Perhaps a bank branch employee will refuse. But there are also points of registration of loans in hardware stores or microfinance organizations (MFOs) - a purposeful fraudster will find where they turn a blind eye to the rules.

Lost passport

The original document opens up many opportunities for criminals. You can find a person who looks like the victim and try to use the passport without changes or "improve" it by pasting in a new photo. The result is one - the loan will be hanged on the true owner of the document.

From a photo with a passport on the face

Such images often require different services to understand that you are you. For example, they are asked by social networks to return you access to hacked pages, or car sharing services. And MFOs - take out loans.

Through the reissue of a SIM card

An attacker comes to the office of a cellular operator with a fake power of attorney and asks to reissue the SIM card. From now on, all SMS with codes and passwords come to him. Previously, this scheme was more common, but now operators block incoming SMS after replacing the SIM card for an average of a day. So the true owner should have time to notice the problem and get the number back. Nevertheless, not everyone attaches great importance to the SIM card that suddenly stopped working.

Through a banking application or website

Online access to a personal account on a website or application opens up great opportunities for criminals. True, for this they need assistance. And this is exactly the case when the victim himself says passwords and codes or installs a remote access program on his device, as a result of which the attacker completely controls the computer or phone. Accordingly, after that, the criminal can transfer money and take out loans without hindrance.

Why you should think about whether you have become a victim of scammers

You will hardly miss if you get robbed in the backyard. But today's valuables thieves don't have to go out. An attacker may well be doing this in an easy chair with a laptop on his lap. From January to September 2020, one third more scams were registered than in the same period of 2019. At the same time, the number of crimes committed via the Internet has grown significantly.

Situations when criminals take out a loan in the name of the victim, take money for themselves, and leave debts for her are also common. The motivation is clear: it is easier to steal money directly from the account, but the savings of ordinary Russians are often modest. And you can borrow hundreds of thousands, if not millions. An additional bonus for the offender - the victim may be unaware of the deception for a long time and learn about it only when collectors with baseball bats, but no balls, appear on the doorstep.

When money is stolen, it is extremely unpleasant. Attackers can deprive all savings, but the loan hanged on the victim is even worse, because someone has to pay it back. And if you do not prove that the person for whom the loan is issued has nothing to do with it, it will be he who will be the last one. And because the sooner he finds out whether he has become a debtor against his will, the better.

To do this, you need to start a tradition - periodically check your credit history.

How to check your credit history

Credit history is data about all loans issued to you and even requests submitted for obtaining them. It can be seen from the document when you applied to banks or other credit organizations to receive money, how disciplined you were to return it, whether there were any debts. But if you are concerned about possible fraud, you are primarily interested in the presence of extra loans in the history.

There are many ways to find out the content of your credit history.

But we will consider the simplest option. To get the data you need, you have to go through two stages of the quest.

1. Find where your data lies

There is no one base where your credit history would be recorded in full. Fragments of it can be stored in different credit bureaus (CRBs). There are currently nine such organizations, but their number is subject to change. However, you do not need to know the number of bureaus, it is much more important to find out which of them have information about you.

This can be done quickly and easily through the "State Services". Select the option "Access of individuals to the list of organizations that store credit history", and then click "Get a service" and in the next step, enter your data. Most often, they are filled in by the system automatically, but sometimes you need to fill in the gaps.

Then click the "Apply" button and wait. The list of credit bureaus where your data is stored is promised to be sent within 24 hours. However, usually the document with the list of CHBs is available after only a few minutes.

2. Get a credit history

Then you need to go directly to the credit bureaus (in each of the list) to get your data.

Twice a year, you can request a credit history in each CRI free of charge. You will have to pay for the third and subsequent reports.

Now this can be done online by logging in with the "State Services" account. Somewhere this will be enough, somewhere you will have to additionally register, and the data of "State Services" will help to confirm your identity.

Next, it remains to analyze the list of loans and understand whether there are those among them that have nothing to do with you.

What to do if your credit is not in your credit history

If you find loans that you did not take, file a claim with the bank and file a fraud report with the police. In parallel, you can collect evidence and apply to the court to challenge the agreement that you allegedly entered into with the bank.

You need to immediately tune in to something that will not be easy. Although the situation seems to be much more advantageous if the crime happened without your participation. If you are involved in some way, such as granting access to your device, things get more complicated.

When someone logs into the banking system, the institution, by default, considers that person to be the account owner. Entering passwords and codes is equivalent to an electronic signature. So it is difficult to prove that someone else took the loan. Moreover, the client of the bank undertakes an obligation not to disclose data that could lead to money leakage. However, it is still worth trying to achieve justice.

How to keep yourself safe

Here is a list of basic rules that everyone seems to know about, but not everyone follows:

1. If you have lost your passport, do not delay and contact the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. You will not only be given a new document, but also invalidated the old one. In case of theft, rush to the police even faster.
2. Find out how to prevent your mobile operator from replacing your SIM cards without your presence. The mechanisms may vary slightly, but it is usually necessary to come and write a statement. This will not protect the operator's employees from fraud, but completely from stray intruders.
3. Do not send passport photos in front of anyone and keep them in a safe place.
4. Do not tell anyone passwords, SMS codes and other data - those that are constantly recommended to us not to tell anyone.
5. Consider any call from an unknown number suspicious and pass everything that is told to you through the fine sieve of doubt. If you get a call from the "bank security", they are scammers. Even if they know how much money you have in your account and what the name of your goldfish is, they are scammers, just very knowledgeable. When the real security service notices suspicious account transactions, it blocks it. And already you run and prove that you yourself transferred money.
6. Do not install applications on your phone, the purpose of which you do not understand as accurately as possible, especially in a rush and panic. And follow the links with caution.