She needs to contact the credit agencies and have a stop put on her SS and other information so that no new accounts can be open. Then she needs to close down the bogus accounts and work to cleanup the mess that was created. Identity theft is such a problem. Companies can be pretty sloppy granting credit, but expect the people to be meticulous cleaning up the mess made. I don't envy you what you'll face the next few days.
BTW, save things that show her address now. I hope you also have things like bank records that prove her residency during the time the fraud took place. Elders are particularly vulnerable to identity theft because of the shoddy practices of companies that harvest and sell information.
Thomas, get yourself POA for finances if you haven't already, so you can more easily help her through this without her having to try to answer all the questions that will be asked, and to stay polite but appropriately assertive - with people who may be rude, demanding, and acting on the assumption that she is trying to cheat them, without getting totally stressed out. It can be a huge mess, and some creditors will hound you and her in hopes of getting money even though it is completely obvious this is identity theft. You may be spending a lot of time on the phone and fax as well as online. Persistence and insistence should get you through it though.
Been there done that, cleared it all up - except ended up having a pay a returned check fee for a stopped payment to my grocery store (I had a wallet and checkbook stolen, along with the register, so I was having to guess at the check numbers and was off by one or two!) and you'd think they'd have known me as a good customer long enough to realize I was not a check kiter, but no, I was treated rudely and clearly suspected as such, and I guess I was lucky they didn't turn it over to the police...and I do hope I never have to do it all again!!
Thomas can you provide more information? Does your mother live with you, on her own, in a nursing home? Does she have dementia? If she has dementia it could be that she's having someone else go online for her.
Here's my suggestion: She (well actually it would be you doing this if you are her DPOA) can go on-line and request a free credit report from each of the big 3 credit reporting companies. If she doesn't have a computer, you all can go to the local library which will have computers for public use (the earlier in the morning the better too). The big 3 are:
Equifax, P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374; phone: 800-685-1111
TransUnion, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19022-2000; phone: 800-888-4213
Then once she has requested her annual free report from each, she will then file a fraud &/or identity theft report to each of the 3 agencies. That will pretty much keep anyone from doing more new credit cards under her name. If she has existing credit cards, she may have to have new ones issued too. She can have a fraud alert placed on her bank accounts too.
Now for each of the creditors that have contact mom with debtor letters, they each will need to get a letter from her stating that the accounts are not hers and she is a victim of identity theft and is not responsible for the debt. This could take a while to clear too but you have to be on top of all this and respond to any letters that she is elderly victim of ID theft and not responsible for the debt.
Been there done that, cleared it all up - except ended up having a pay a returned check fee for a stopped payment to my grocery store (I had a wallet and checkbook stolen, along with the register, so I was having to guess at the check numbers and was off by one or two!) and you'd think they'd have known me as a good customer long enough to realize I was not a check kiter, but no, I was treated rudely and clearly suspected as such, and I guess I was lucky they didn't turn it over to the police...and I do hope I never have to do it all again!!
She (well actually it would be you doing this if you are her DPOA) can go on-line and request a free credit report from each of the big 3 credit reporting companies. If she doesn't have a computer, you all can go to the local library which will have computers for public use (the earlier in the morning the better too). The big 3 are:
Equifax, P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374; phone: 800-685-1111
Experian, P.O. Box 2104, Allen, TX 75013-2104; phone: 888-397-3742
TransUnion, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19022-2000; phone: 800-888-4213
Then once she has requested her annual free report from each, she will then file a fraud &/or identity theft report to each of the 3 agencies. That will pretty much keep anyone from doing more new credit cards under her name. If she has existing credit cards, she may have to have new ones issued too. She can have a fraud alert placed on her bank accounts too.
Now for each of the creditors that have contact mom with debtor letters, they each will need to get a letter from her stating that the accounts are not hers and she is a victim of identity theft and is not responsible for the debt. This could take a while to clear too but you have to be on top of all this and respond to any letters that she is elderly victim of ID theft and not responsible for the debt.
Equifax: 800-685-1111 (general) or 800-525-6285 (fraud); P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374; www.equifax.com
Experian: 888-397-3742 (general and fraud); PO Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013, www.experian.com.
TransUnion: 800-888-4213 (general) or 800-680-7289 (fraud); P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19022; www.transunion.com.
Good luck and get on it!