Identity theft by my brother

[Grant]

My young brother forged my signature on an apartment rental contract as a cosigner. He failed to make payments, and now debt collectors are calling my home daily, asking for their money. They threaten that unless I pay – they will report it to the credit bureaus and it will ruin my credit. Is that true? What should I do?

Thank you

[Tracy Winters]

It’s called Identity Theft, and it’s a crime!

What your brother did is a very serious crime, called identity theft. It’s not surprising – According to the Federal Trade Commission, 22% of all identity thefts are committed by family members or relatives.

Unless you deal with it promptly, it WILL ruin your credit, plus you will need to pay your brother’s debt in the end.

There is only one way to deal with this situation – you need to report the identity theft to the police. You have no other choice. You probably feel uncomfortable to report your brother, but he’s the one who put you in this position in the first place, and it doesn’t sounds like he cares too much about the damage he inflicted on you!

What you need to do is to confront your brother. Tell him that either he pays immediately the debt collector or you will report the identity theft to the police.

Unless your brother pays immediately, here is what you need to do:

• File an identity theft report with the police
• Send a copy of the report to the debt collector and tell him the cosigning was criminal fraud and you do not owe anything.
  State that reporting the debt to the credit bureaus is violation of federal laws. Also tell him to stop calling you
• Send a copy of the report to each of the credit bureaus, stating that your signature as cosigner was criminally forged and you do not owe anything
• Report it to the FTC

Send each letter via Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested and note the time that you sent the letters.

See ../how-to-report-identity-theft for more information.

[Author]

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