Ex-UVic student left hanging by identity theft gets apology

It’s bad enough when telemarketers continue to bug you, worse when it’s a mobile carrier itself being the irritant.

Ruomin Zhang of Port Coquitlam received an invoice in the mail last July from Bell Mobility for $1,147.19. He not only hadn’t asked for their services, he was never their customer.

“At first I thought it was just some scam mail,” Zhang said.

But when a second invoice arrived in August, he called Bell Mobility’s customer service.

“I told them my identity was used in a fraud,” he said. “I tried to tell them I didn’t open any account with them, that I’ve never used their services, and they insisted that it’s in my name and that I’m somehow responsible [for the invoice amount].”

The problem began when an account was opened at a Stage E Wireless booth at the Richmond public market while Zhang was in Victoria studying engineering at the University of Victoria last year. He moved back to his folks’ home last summer.

After he contacted Bell Mobility following the second invoice, he was instructed by the company to file a police report with the RCMP in Richmond. Bell Mobility declined to offer any more information at that time, he said.

So he filed a report with police, who told him this type of thing is a common complaint that the detachment receives, and informed Bell Mobility it had been filed.

Other than the dates sent and the due dates, the invoices were identical: Final Notice appeared at the top, followed by “Our records indicate your Bell Mobility account remains unpaid. If your payment for the amount due is not processed by the due date indicated below, your account will be referred to a collection agency for recovery.”

The company — a division of Bell Canada, which last month laid off 4,800 employees across Canada — offered Zhang three options to pay including through his financial institution, but warned should he take that approach “this method of payment is not immediate and payment may not be processed by the required due date below.”

The letters ended by thanking Zhang for his business, with allcaps addenda that late-payment charges would apply, and were signed by Maria Ferranti, vicepresident of Bell Collections.

He had fallen through the cracks, it turned out, until Postmedia News asked Bell about it on Thursday. “After reviewing the information [Postmedia] provided, we can confirm that our fraud prevention team had identified the account as fraudulent in November,” Bell spokeswoman Caroline Audet said. “Unfortunately, the collection process was not halted at the same time.

“An agent has been assigned to immediately stop the collection process and we apologize for any inconvenience.”

Informed of Bell’s response, Zhang was relieved and pleasantly surprised.

If he has to guess how thieves got his information, he thinks it may be from when he signed up for a couple of delivery apps that asked him to submit photographs of his driver’s licence.

Because the amount Bell Mobility had initially demanded remained on his credit report with Equifax, he continued to check it regularly.

Last week he discovered another case of identity theft, this time with Koodo Mobile, which is owned by Telus. (His actual provider is Fido, which is owned by Rogers.)

“Another mobile account was opened in my name in Vancouver,” he said. “I called Koodo customer service immediately and filed a report with the Vancouver Police Department.

“Koodo was quick to respond, they called me back immediately, said they’ll notify the credit bureaus and cancel the account.

“What a contrast.”