Identity Theft - Stolen Adresses

Identity theft is a common concern, but what if your address was stolen? An Omaha woman is getting unwanted business mail addressed to her home.

"Sometimes I get more mail for the locksmith than I do myself," says Lois, who doesn't want her last name used. Piles of junk mail for 24-Hour A Locksmith come to her address.

"Why would a reputable company hijack someone's address and use it as their business address unless there was some reason to conceal it?"

24-Hour A Locksmith has a local phone number, but a call goes to a dispatch center on the east coast. "They put the addresses in there so you know that they're nearby and in your area, but there's no store fronts at all there,” says a dispatcher.

"I'm trying to find out why that address is being used?" asked Channel 6 News’ Mike McKnight. After a Six On Your Side call to 24-Hour A Locksmith for assistance, a local locksmith was dispatched.

"I don't know if it's legal or illegal, I don't know anything about that," he said. "I have nothing to do with that.”

Would he call them and ask why are they doing this? “I don't think it's any of my business, that's their problem."

Postal inspector Dave Margritz found 24-Hour A Locksmith on three Internet Yellow Page Web sites. All show the address for the company which we won't reveal because it's Lois' house.

"We're going to contact those three Web sites that I found and demand they take that listing off there because that company is not authorized to use her address," says Margritz.

Lois worries that one day a disgruntled customer will show up on her doorstep when she's home alone. "I'm not in the phone book, I have an unlisted number. I just have no idea how this locksmith got my address and felt they could use it."

The hijacking of her address by an out-of-state dispatch company for local locksmiths has Lois worried about opening her mail and her door.

The locksmith who responded to our call to the dispatch center says he's an independent contractor working for Dependable Locksmith out of The Bronx, New York.

Channel 6 News left numerous messages with dispatchers asking a manager to call Six On Your Side. No one ever did.

(source...)

Google is the worlds leading search engine, but unfortunately it is not immune to the fraudulent tactics of these and other unscrupulous companies either.

I have personally investigated the matter and noticed some interesting characteristics. Specific among these characteristics is the fraudulent company's claim to be allowed to use the subject address due to their works having been performed there, at one time. This action specifically confuses the search engines ability to recognize an address as true or false.

Coincidentally, the other more generic search engine known as The Yellow Pages, also suffers from similar identity frauds because similar addresses are also not checked prior to inclusion in their print books. Therefore, it begs the question as to whether or not the Yellow Pages and web search engines are aiding and abetting these fraudulent companies to defraud the markeplace?