Odd correspondence and bills showing up at moms. Anyone else have same experience?

Usedup, for decades I've received mail for 2 people with the same last name as mine, but who have never lived here.   Calling the soliciting mailer does no good; others send mail anyway.

The cell phone bill could be troubling, and could be that someone else is in fact using your mother's address.   Good idea to file fraud reports.

As to running a credit check, you can contact Equifax, Transunion, or Experian, and not only request a credit report, but you can ask that fraud alerts be added to your mother's files.  That's what I would do.

The cell phone bill is concerning. Have you called the company to clarify what’s going on? Do you live near her house to see if anyone is is in it? Have the police check it for squatters. Once they have bills come to an address & they live there you may need to evict to get the out. I’d also check for title fraud to make sure that isn’t happening. Good luck!

Get on the credit reporting agencies, check her accounts, then lock your mom's credit TODAY. Someone is using her information, and locking her credit will prevent anyone from opening any accounts in her name.

Also send each credit agency a registered letter saying your mother has not opened any accounts, nor is anyone authorized to use her address for accounts other than her. Locking her credit will already stop any new accounts, but you should mention that phone bill specifically, too, as not being hers.

Finally, make a police report so they know someone is committing fraud with your mom's address. It's important to have that on record.

I would definitely look into this further. Freeze all three credit bureaus.

I can tell you an interesting thing that happened to my mom and dad. It’s pretty funny! Many years ago, I was visiting my mom and dad in their home. Someone at my dad’s work was having his mail sent to to my parents home.

This man said he was planning a ‘big surprise’ trip for his wife and in order to make sure that she didn’t find out about it, he needed the mail sent elsewhere. So, my dad told him it was okay to use their address.

So, different travel literature and letters addressed to this man, started arriving at my parents house. My mom placed them in a neat stack on the living room end table for him to pick up. The letters didn’t have a return address and they were in regular envelopes, not business stationery.

My mom thought it was weird and she had a funny feeling about it.
She got really curious, but did not want to open someone else’s mail.

Well, my oldest brother was visiting them one afternoon. Mom couldn’t shake the feeling that she had about those letters. So, my crazy brother opened one the letters. They were from a woman that my dad’s coworker was having an affair with. He took the letter into the kitchen to show my mom.

My dad was ‘true blue’ with my mom, and she was faithful to him. Daddy was the guy who went straight home after work. He never stopped off for a drink. Mom was always home with dinner cooked, and so on.

Anyway, it rubbed mom the wrong way that this man lied to my father, saying he was planning a trip for his wife for their anniversary, when in reality, he was planning a romantic get away with his lady friend. Well, my brother tells mom not to worry about a thing! LOL

When dad’s coworker arrived at my parents house to pick up the mail, my brother stepped out on the porch. He told the man never to use my parents address again. Mom said that there was shouting back and forth, but she heard my brother say, “Okay, but if you are angry about me ‘accidentally’ opening your mail, I suppose that I will have to tell your wife about your ‘surprise trip’ for your anniversary!”

The man left the porch and mom and dad never got any more mail addressed to this man ever again. I wonder if the man found another address to use. Hahaha 🤣 Or, if he decided to end the affair after my brother’s talk with him about ruining his surprise.

Postman here said if it clearly has your address, whether it is mail or packages, and you did not solicit, you can open to determine source.

I placed a credit freeze with all three agencies and I sent a letter to the California Lifeline agency and let them know I think that the address is being used fraudulently.

I also plan on going to Social Security office next week with copies of the POA and see about becoming representative payee.

I feel better with these safeguards in place.

all this caregiving thing has been like trying to roll a ball of jello uphill. It’s taken months and months to resolve problems created by my parents poor choices and by moms resistance to making any choices and changes. Moving her to a facility next week since we finally have most of the issues resolved. She says that we just want to get rid of her and does not understand she is out of money and we can’t take her to our homes.

Just praying that this move is a little relief for all. Us and her included.

You should be concerned because many places - like the DMV - will allow use of a utility bill to verify address in order to obtain ID with that address. You need to file a report with the police immediately. Also you need to check with your county that the title for the property has not been transferred to another name. They do that here in Durham because the government offices do not verify and it can be difficult to straighten out. Also you should consider directing your mother's mail to a PO Box. Having bills sent to her address does the con artists no good if they cannot pull them out of the mailbox, so they probably are going through her mailbox.

Years ago while living in MA, I had to have surgery at a major Boston hospital. My Dad and stepmom came up from FL to help me post-op. After a couple of weeks, they returned. They called to tell me that a bill from the hospital with my name and their address had arrived. Within a month, they were receiving my nursing journals, and much of my mail. Not with the yellow 'change of address' sticker, but typed in as though I lived there.

I contacted the head of the IT dept at the hospital to tell her that the only way my name and their address in FL could be connected was that I had listed them as emergency contacts prior to my surgery. Therefore, either she had an employee selling names and addresses or the system had been hacked! Dead silence on the phone. I had to ask if she was still there. Horrified was her response. She said she needed time to run a security check and would get back to me. Supposedly, all was clear. Personally, I have my doubts.

I contacted all of my journals, etc to ask where they got the change of address. No one knew! It took me over a year to straighten it out.

Ask for the Post Master of the regional area, credit reports and put fraud alerts on all credit cards. Monitor everything. Ignore the "it's a felony to open someone else's mail" advise!

Twice in my life I've had mail delivered where the envelope was slit then taped. The first time was in nursing school in Boston. As we were all poor, parents often sent us a few dollars (hey, it was in the 60's!). I walked up to the post office and spoke to the Post Office Manager with the envelope. He contacted me a few weeks later. It turned out that one of his employees had a ring with a sharp pin on the underside, had his shirt unbuttoned. When he saw mail to our dorm, he figured it was money. He'd slit the envelope, take the money, reseal. They got him on tape and charged him!!!

Take this very seriously.

We’ve certainly received mail at our address that wasn’t for us, including bills. I throw them in my recycling bin and think no more about it. Nothing bad has ever happened

Usedup1959: Put on the envelope "not at this address" and place back in your mother's mailbox as outgoing mail. Let an elder law attorney handle the legal aspect of this.