Case studies

Stolen Wallet

The ID theft victim had their wallet stolen from their car. They reported the crime to the police and bank and cancelled their drivers licence. The thieves used the victim’s drivers licence to take out a loan and register a car, which then incurred fines. The ID theft victim only found out about the loan a year later when they received a collection notice for $6000 for a loan they had never taken out.

The CIGNA Identity Theft Insurance would have helped the victim in this case as they would have received a credit alert when the loan application, with credit check, had been processed. This could have alerted them to the fraud early enough to stop it. Calling the Identity Theft 0800 number to report to Veda that they had received an alert which did not belong to them would have started the investigative process.

Lost Wallet

A Wellingtonian received threatening letters demanding more than $5,000. The problem was he had never taken out the personal loan the letters claimed he had.

He had however lost his wallet in a bar on Courtenay Place a few months earlier and cancelled all the cards and his drivers licence. Turns out the person who found his wallet had taken out a $5,000 loan using the drivers licence as ID and creating false power bill, pay slip and bank account. The victim was tracked down by the finance company when they moved house, updating her address with a Supplier. The victim had spent at least two full work days trying to get to the bottom of the fraud.

The CIGNA Identity Theft Insurance would have helped the victim in the case as they would have received a credit alert when the loan application had been processed. This could have alerted them to the fraud early enough to stop it. By calling the Identity Theft 0800 number to report to Veda that they had received an alert, which did not belong to them would have started the investigative process. Also had the insured required time off work due to the Identity Theft not being able to be resolved she would’ve been able to claim up to $600 for loss of income and also up to $10,000 in legal expenses.

School friend

The first time the victim knew she was liable for a loan of thousands of dollars was when the finance company called to demand payment. The 25-year-old was shocked to discover that she had defaulted on a $10000 a loan she hadn’t taken out. After a lot of stress, many hours and a police investigation, the victim found out that she had been the victim of identity crime, committed by an old school friend. She had to also remove the default from her credit file. To approve the school friend’s application all the finance company required was proof of income, photo ID and a good credit rating.

The CIGNA Identity theft insurance would have helped the victim in the case as they would have received a credit alert when the loan application had been processed. This could have alerted them to the fraud early enough to stop it. By calling the Identity Theft 0800 number to report to Veda that they had received an alert which did not belong to them would have started the investigative process.