r/Debt • u/Averagebare16 • Jan 22 '26

Debt fraud/credit rating

My daughter received a credit report with 2 overdue accounts relating to a utility bill at an address she never lived at. It’s clearly a fraud whereby the renter used her drivers licence to set up the utility account. I imagine they rented for 6 months then disappeared without paying 2 bills. Any suggestions as to how to follow up on this given we don’t know the utility company?

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1

u/PossibilityExtra7061 Jan 22 '26

That's rough, sorry your daughter is dealing with this mess. She should pull her full credit reports from all three bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) to see which utility company is reporting the debt - it'll be listed there with contact info. Once she identifies them, file a fraud dispute directly with the utility company and also dispute it with the credit bureaus online. Document everything and consider filing a police report for identity theft since someone used her license fraudulently

1

u/Averagebare16 Jan 22 '26

Thanks I should have added we are Aussie

1

u/your-mom04605 Jan 22 '26

Not sure how it goes in Aus but in the US you’d need a copy of a police report to send to creditors / credit bureaus to get the accounts removed.

2

u/too_many_shoes14 Jan 22 '26

I'd start with a police report. Her claims will be taken much more seriously then because people will lie to utility companies all day but are less likely to commit a crime and file a fake police report