Scammers using someone else’s home address
You may have encountered scammers posing as businesses. But a woman in Austin, South Wales, said a fake business was using her home address.
Austin, Texas – You may have encountered scammers posing as businesses. But a southwest Austin woman says the fake business is actually using her home address and that very confused customers are showing up at her door.
After Li Ningke’s father passed away last year, a series of strange events began.
“When she posted her obituary, it was like ringing the dinner bell for fraudsters,” said Ninke’s fiance, Paul Wortham.
Ninke and Wertham started receiving all sorts of phone calls, her Facebook account was compromised, and then suspicious mailers arrived.
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“It’s from a credit card company that we’ve been doing business with for a very long time,” Ninke said.
“That address is our address,” Wortham said.
It wasn’t addressed to either of them, it was clearly addressed to an air conditioner repair company.
“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me now?'” Ninke said.
After receiving more and more mailers from this so-called company, they looked online.
“And sure enough, it shows our house and address,” Wertham said.
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It turned out that this was not just a mix-up, but a fraudulent company using the address.
“I called them, and the landline they listed answered and hung up. I have a cell phone number. I called it and it said, ‘This user is currently unavailable. Please call again. ‘Please,'” Ninke explained.
Then it got really weird. People actually started showing up at my house.
“At least two people came to the door asking to get their air conditioner fixed,” Wertham said.
The unexpected guest wasn’t angry, just very confused.
“We have to explain to them. This is not a business. It’s a scam. And we’re trying to address that,” Wertham said.
“That’s difficult because you never know when someone is going to come to your door,” Ninke said. “It’s an almost paranoid feeling.”
Beyond the annoyance, Ninke says she’s worried about identity theft.
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“It’s like a living nightmare,” Ninke said. “It’s almost paralyzing to think about what’s at stake, so I’ve alerted every bank and every credit card company I do business with.”
Devin Benavidez of the Better Business Bureau says this is an important step, but she emphasizes that it’s also a crime.
“If someone is using your home address as a business address and it has nothing to do with you and isn’t even an actual business, that’s completely illegal. So yeah , report it to the authorities, that’s my number one advice,” Benavidez said.
With the use of fraudulent addresses on the rise, Benavidez says it’s critical to protect them as much as possible.
“Although it’s hard to do these days, it’s very important to monitor public records related to your address,” Benavidez said.
That means staying away from social media.
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“Even if it’s a private Facebook event, it’s not that private. You can just say, ‘I’ll text you the address,'” Benavidez said.
When I returned to Li Ningke’s house, there were several signs posted that read, “We are not a business.” Ninke said that while she is not having any guests for now, she feels sorry for those who may fall victim to scammers whose sense of security has already been shaken.
“It’s incredibly upsetting,” Ninke said. “They’re trying to take advantage of whatever they can, and I’m not going to condone that for a second. I’m through this. We’re not going to play this game,” Ninke said. Ta.
For consumers, Benavidez says, this all highlights the importance of doing your homework on a business, reading reviews and making sure the location is legitimate before handing over your money.
