someone using our address ?

ANGEM

Hi all
we have discovered that someone is using our address for banking, car insurance and god knows what else. How can we stop this?
Sorry if this is the wrong forum :rolleyes:

sealgaire

Have you recently moved in? Could be past tennents. On the other hand where I am from knacks do that all the time. They can claim rent allowance on that address too. Prob not what is happening in this case . . .

MagicSean

Report it to the companies who are sending the letters and if you feel like it to the Gardaí too.

seamus

Cross out your address on the front of it, write "Return to Sender, Unknown at this address" in big letters on the front, and pop it into a post box.

If someone is using your address for correspondence, then presumably you are receiving their mail, so you can let the companies know that they have the wrong address.

ANGEM

this person was allowed to stay here by my son whilst homeless and it would appear he is helping her by passing post on to her and lying to us this has come light because she has bought a car and regisitered it to our home. Can we ring car registration and get our address removed from car title?

seamus

No.

If she is using your address as her home address, then that is a matter between her and the person who may be sending mail to her.

If she is not living there at present, then all you can do is return any improperly addressed mail to the sender. If your son is passing this mail onto her, than that is a matter between you and your son.

If you believe that she is using your address to commit fraud, then you are free to contact the relevant authority and alert them to this.

Possible, practical solutions:

Install a postbox with a lock on it outside your front door and seal your mailbox shut. Ensure your son doesn't have access to the postbox key.

Pay an Post to redirect all of her mail to an alternative destination, such as your workplace for a couple of months.

Both of these will allow you to appropriately send her mail back to the sender, notifying them that they are incorrectly addressed.

ANGEM

Thanks Seamus
my husband wants to open the post that doesnt have a return address i dont think its legal for us to do this ? if we put letters back in postbox that do not have a return address where do they go?

MagicSean

Returning them is all well and good. But if you don't adress the issue at the source it could lead to trouble in the future.

seamus

ANGEM wrote: »

my husband wants to open the post that doesnt have a return address i dont think its legal for us to do this ?

Grey area. It's an offence to obstruct the delivery of post, but if you have no idea where to send it, then what to do. I have opened stuff in the past, found the return address and written that on the envelope before sellotaping it back up.

if we put letters back in postbox that do not have a return address where do they go?

Sometimes they end up back in your mailbox by a lazy postal worker. Get a thick black marker to cross out your address, they'll just go into a dead letter office in an post, if such a thing exists.

I agree with k_mac - while sending them back is something you should be doing, it's not a long-term solution.

ANGEM

how do we address it at the source? if you mean telling this person she can not use our address this has been done several times.
We have also requested that my son move out which he is doing next week I will be taking his front door key so they will no longer have access to the our post.
We also suspect that she has a bank account from this address no statements come here that we know of but she uses internet banking