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Someone accidentally registered a car in my name?! Scam?
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mom2six




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 16 2015, 12:16 pm
I got a phone call a little while ago from someone who claimed that he had just purchased a car and since his teudat zehut number was similar to mine, someone had made a mistake somewhere and it had ended up registered in my name. Alarm bells went off right away since I didn't think anyone could put a car in my name without me signing, but I asked him what I needed to do. He said he was going to go to the post office to try to fix it himself and woudl let me know if I needed to do anything.

I googled the number he called from and it seemed to be a well-known scam number. Each person had a different story to tell about that number (nobody had the same as mine) and several people mentioned that it was a number that shows up when someone calls through 144 (Bezeq information). So I thanked my lucky stars I hadn't given him any info.

A couple of hours later, I get a call from someone on a cell phone who says he's from the car dealership. He says he knows I already spoke to X and that X wasn't able to work it out. I asked him the name and number of hte dealership, and he gave me both, which check out to be legit, though I have no way of knowing if he actually works there. He said that he knows it sounds crazy, but he saw the form that has my name and X's signature on it and I can really get into trouble if he gets tickets or sells it to an Arab or what not. I asked him what he wanted me to do, and he said I would have to sign something. I said, NO way, not signing anything. I told him X's number shows up as a scam number so I don't believe a word. He said that X is a young kid and isn't the brightest, but it's no scam. He said that if I'm concerned, instead I can go to Misrad Harishui in my city (he named the city) with the car's registration number and tell them what happened and to take it out of my name. He gave me X's full name and teudat zehut number (which is very similar to mine) and the car make and registration number and that was that.

Now what? I was sure it was a scam until he suggested going to Misrad Harishui - somehow I doubt a government office is in cahoots with scam artists (though one can never be sure). DH says I shouldn't do anything and that if we get in trouble because of it, we'll fight it at a later date, but I'm not comfortable leaving a car in my name with some kid driving around in it.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 16 2015, 1:24 pm
First thing you need to do is pull a credit report on your name to see all activity / open debt. Then you need to put a fraud alert on your account to protect yourself from future activity. Is that doable in Israel?
Can you hire someone to look into this for you once you have the report?
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mom2six




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 16 2015, 1:52 pm
ra_mom wrote:
First thing you need to do is pull a credit report on your name to see all activity / open debt. Then you need to put a fraud alert on your account to protect yourself from future activity. Is that doable in Israel?
Can you hire someone to look into this for you once you have the report?


Thanks for your input. What "account" though? They don't have my credit card info (at least as far as I know).
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grace413




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 16 2015, 3:57 pm
Call the police.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 16 2015, 4:24 pm
mom2six wrote:
Thanks for your input. What "account" though? They don't have my credit card info (at least as far as I know).

You need to pull a report on your credit, also known as your social security number. The only way to open a credit card account, finance a car, or anything like that is with a social security number. You need to check your credit to see if a car was financed under your "name" aka your social security number.
You can pull your credit report once a year from www.freecreditreport.com, a reputable site. Check all activity on your report, and make sure all open accounts are ones that you yourself opened, know about and pay monthly.
After you go over your report, even if everything is fine and hopefully it will be, put a fraud alert on your identity (your social security number) with all three US national credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and Transunion). This can be done over the phone through their automated services. They will walk you through the process and explain how your account will be protected over the next few months and explain what will happen if someone tries to open an account as you. Call all three bureaus separately even though they will say you only have to call one and they will share the information with each other (not fast enough to protect you adequately).

If g-d forbid something is not right on your credit report, alert the authorities immediately and hire someone to help you fight it.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 16 2015, 4:28 pm
Experian 888-397-3742

Equifax 800-525-6285

TransUnion 800-680-7289
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mom2six




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 16 2015, 4:43 pm
Thanks so much for that info, but I'm not in the US. I just did a bit of googling to see about getting an Israeli credit report, and it says that once a year you're entitled to get a copy of your own credit report for free, but you have to send in a form with a signature from the post office confirming your ID, and they send back the report in 7 days. Doesn't that sound like too long to wait?
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5mom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 16 2015, 4:58 pm
I don't see why you need a credit report, but you should go to the misrad harishui with ID and find out if there's another car registered in your name. It will be their job to explain if and how such a thing occurred. You should be able to cancel anything in your tz number that is not yours.

You may need a letter from a lawyer, or some other time consuming stuff, but it's worth doing. Also find out if you should open a file with the police. Don't talk to the people who got in touch with you.

Sorry you have to deal with this hassle.
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mom2six




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 16 2015, 6:57 pm
Thanks for the advice. I'm going to give Misrad Harishui a call in the morning bl"n.
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mom2six




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 17 2015, 3:28 am
I just hung up the phone with Misrad Hatachburah. They confirmed that the car is really registered in my name. I have to go in to Misrad Harishui to fix it. I don't have time today or Sunday, but I put in on my calendar for Monday.
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5mom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 17 2015, 4:20 am
Good luck!!
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Sanguine




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 17 2015, 4:30 am
mom2six wrote:
I just hung up the phone with Misrad Hatachburah. They confirmed that the car is really registered in my name. I have to go in to Misrad Harishui to fix it. I don't have time today or Sunday, but I put in on my calendar for Monday.
Why is everyone seeing this mess up as a bad thing that you have to fix?? Look around the neighborhood for the car - It's yours!! What a great RH present Very Happy
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mom2six




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 17 2015, 4:37 am
LOL! Someone else said I should report it stolen. I even have the name, teudat zehut, and cell phone number of the thief!
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mom2six




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 17 2015, 2:46 pm
All's well that ends well.

DH really didn't want me to have to go out to Misrad Harishui, and X didn't want to wait until next week, so he offered to come here and have me sign a power of attorney so he could do the transfer without me. I called a lawyer to make sure that was a safe thing to do, and he had X send him all the car documents to make sure it was all kosher. The lawyer also called the original seller who sold him the car 3 months ago and X's family to make sure the story added up. Then he had X come to his office to sign a declaration that I had never actually owned the car and it was all in error. After all that was done, he said I could sign, so X came over here a few minutes ago and I signed. Hopefully that's the end of that.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 17 2015, 3:08 pm
This whole mess stinks. I would suggest you keep a vigilant eye on your credit. Maybe sign up for a credit tracking service. There's no good way they were able to put this under your identity without having your personal information.
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Sanguine




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 17 2015, 3:16 pm
ra_mom wrote:
This whole mess stinks. I would suggest you keep a vigilant eye on your credit. Maybe sign up for a credit tracking service. There's no good way they were able to put this under your identity without having your personal information.
She had a lawyer check it out. He believed it was a mistake and checked all the papers.
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mom2six




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 17 2015, 4:05 pm
ra_mom wrote:
This whole mess stinks. I would suggest you keep a vigilant eye on your credit. Maybe sign up for a credit tracking service. There's no good way they were able to put this under your identity without having your personal information.


There is - it was a mistake. Now that I saw the documentation, I see exactly how it happened. When he transferred the car to his name in the post office, the clerk entered in my teudat zehut number instead of his. They really are very similar. For example, if his is 123456789, mine is 123445678. They accidentally typed one digit twice, so my number was entered and my name automatically came up. And X is only a 22-year-old kid and didn't look that closely and he signed his signature right next to my name. That's it.

My lawyer did very thorough research before coming to the conclusion that it was definitely human error. I'm confident that my credit is fine.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 17 2015, 4:18 pm
mom2six wrote:
There is - it was a mistake. Now that I saw the documentation, I see exactly how it happened. When he transferred the car to his name in the post office, the clerk entered in my teudat zehut number instead of his. They really are very similar. For example, if his is 123456789, mine is 123445678. They accidentally typed one digit twice, so my number was entered and my name automatically came up. And X is only a 22-year-old kid and didn't look that closely and he signed his signature right next to my name. That's it.

My lawyer did very thorough research before coming to the conclusion that it was definitely human error. I'm confident that my credit is fine.

BH you were able to get to the bottom of it! So glad to hear.
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mom2six




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 01 2016, 2:26 pm
Update: I thought this matter was finished as many months ago I went with the guy to the post office and transferred the car from my name to his. Just now, I got a parking ticket in the mail from a year ago. They want me to pay 393.88 for parking illegally. Obviously, this was the other guy who parked, but the car was registered in my name so they sent me the ticket. I just called him to tell him about it, and he said I should pay and he would reimburse me when he gets paid next week. He assured me I could trust him, but I'm a bit skeptical. I think I will pay since it's under my name and it's my credit that will be affected if I don't, and if he doesn't pay me, I'll have the receipt plus the letter from my lawyer to prove that I paid his ticket. Hopefully it won't come to that.
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grace413




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Sep 01 2016, 2:32 pm
There should be a date by which the ticket needs to be paid. If it's not immediately, wait for him to give you the money.

He's not going to be in any rush to pay you for it since not paying has no consequences for him.
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