I am estranged from my famly for a year now. I just recently discovered my brother opened a ComEd account in my name and ran up a bill of $1335.43. Now I can't get service until it's paid. I don't have $1335! What do I do? My fiance wants to take him to small claims court. Is it worth it? Will he have to pay the court costs? What happens if he gets a judgement againist him and he doesn't pay it? Will I ever see the money?
Call the police, it is identity theft, family or not, and it is fraud. He will be charged and you should not be held responsible for the money owing on that account.
It's sounds like you've talked to ComEd. Are they aware that you're not the one who opened the account? Can they prove it was you? I don't know have you would go about this (probably start with your local police dept), and have your brother arrested for fraud.
Make sure you document everything. The dates and times and who you spoke to at ComEd. Write a letter to the credit card bureaus explaining your situation so this doesn't have a negative effect on your credit.
I don't know much about how small claims court works and how you can get the money from him.
You will have to pay the Court costs to file the claim. If you win the case you will have a judgement against your brother which will include the Court costs but if he doesn't pay you really have no way of getting the money. Blood from a rock. You could possibly garnish his wages but that will end up costing you more money unless you know how to do it yourself without having to pay an attorney. Alternatively, if you really didn't know that he had the account in your name that could be fraud and you could get out of having to pay but your brother will have criminal charges brought against him. You can call the police and see what they have to say but they might tell you it is a civil matter.
I agree with Shelby 100%. If this was a stranger who did this you wouldn't think twice about reporting them to the police for identity theft, you should think twice about reporting your brother etither. Chances are good that he either already has done similar things to other people or he will be trying to do this to other people unless he learns his lesson.
Also, pull your credit reports to make sure there are no other fraudulant accounts and notify them of the situation so they can put an alert out whenever new information posts.
A.,
What was his motivation for doing something like this? Does he have a drug or alcohol problem? If so, I'd tell him if he does not enter rehab immediately, you are going to call the police and report this fraud. That's peobably the only slack that I would cut him, and otherwise, I'd call the police.
I'd call ComEd and tell them that you did not open that account and will not pay for it. Then I'd call the police and fill out a report.
