Dozens of letters. Three companies. All linked to a stranger... and all using her home address.
Dozens of letters. Three companies. All linked to a stranger... and all using her home address. A 93-year-old San Francisco woman is at the center of a mail mystery she can't seem to escape.
Dozens of letters. Three companies. All linked to a stranger... and all using her home address. Strange mail for names and accounts you don't recognize: it's one of the first red flags of identity fraud.
And in this case, this woman did everything right; she reported it, flagged it, and still doesn't know why her home was targeted.
"I started receiving mail addressed to another company. First it was Chocolate Squirrel," she said. Lathan says the piece of mail was from BMO Bank, addressed to a man named Carlos with Chocolate Squirrel LLC. At first, she thought it could be a simple mix-up.
Her granddaughter sometimes uses the address for school paperwork.
"So I thought maybe somebody's calling her Chocolate Squirrel and she had told me to expect some mail," Lathan said. So, Lathan called her granddaughter and asked.
"She says she didn't think anybody would be calling her Chocolate Squirrel," Lathan said. "Non-stop? " asked 7 On Your Side's Stephanie Sierra. When Lathan Googled the business name, a global chocolate import and distribution company was the main site that showed up.7 On Your Side tracked down the CEO, Ella Selfridge.
She explained that her"We don't send any mail out. Nobody would receive a piece of mail from us, they never have," Selfridge said.
"We've done all the documentation," Selfridge said. "Somebody was holding that name. We had to wait until it was relinquished.
""I have no idea who this person is, who is using our company name. " Selfridge said. "I so appreciate you letting me know. I wouldn't have known.
" Lathan says since last summer, mail from two other LLCs also started filling her mailbox. Dozens of batches, from banks and credit card companies. But the envelopes kept coming back to her. Carlos Turns out all three companies have something in common: each one is registered with the California Secretary of State's office, listing Lathan's home as the principal address!
, a national nonprofit that provides free assistance to help victims of identity-related fraud.
"Any time you start getting mail for a business to your legitimate residential address, you should consider that a red flag," Velasquez said. "Because there are multiple business names with her address, that's a pretty good flag that someone is basically trying to hide themselves. "According to the state, he's listed as the registered agent for all three companies, with an address in Oakland.
Stephanie Sierra went to the apartment building at the listed address and spoke to the property manager, Jenesys Rodriguez.
"Our company, Trinity Property Consultants, has no affiliation with that individual," Rodriguez said. Meanwhile, the mailing address for each of the companies is listed across the Bay in a residential unit on Van Ness Avenue. 7 On Your Side went up to the lobby to check. But we were told: "No one is living in the unit.
"The pieces to this puzzle, not only strange, but suspicious. But Dorothy Lathan didn't give up. For weeks, she made numerous visits to more than a half dozen state and federal agencies to report the issue, starting with the post office.
"Told him they're not located here," Lathan said. "She wrote back that she could not just change the address based upon my word," Lathan said. "To be sure that my ownership papers hadn't been altered," Lathan said. "Bank of America...
Chase Bank... Wells Fargo... BMO!
" Lathan said. "You contacted the FBI here? " Stephanie Sierra asked. But with no clear resolution, Lathan turned to 7 On Your Side for help.
Lathan is referring to title fraud. While it's possible, Velasquez says it's rare with this approach.
"I've never heard of it happening this way. Title fraud, generally, is really sneaky, filing docs at the assessor's office," Velasquez said. According to the, bad actors may link several LLCs at a single address to obscure ownership to conduct various types of fraud, like launder money or run scams.
Velasquez says in other cases, scammers may apply for various loans using the same address across entities, or foreign actors trying to start a new business may use a random home address to try and avoid verification.
"By using an established legit residential address, they can push those applications through much faster. They can circumvent some of those extra checks... That is my sense of what they're trying to do here," Velasquez said.
"It's really hard to guess at this stage... " said Velasquez. "The possibilities of what they are attempting to do, there's a myriad... What they will be successful in really depends on how else they're trying to show her connection to this business...
" And as our team discovered -- the key difference in Lathan's case is her name doesn't appear to be linked to any of the mail -- just her address. But right now, there's no way to know for sure. Which is why every day the 93-year-old is fired up as she checks the Assessor's website to make sure there's no change in her property documentation.
"I want this damn fire out! So I can live out the rest of my years in this house. And not have someone steal it from under me," she said.
Identity Theft Mail Fraud Scams Shell Companies Business Fraud A Business Is Using My Home Address 7 On Your Side 7Oys Sierra Stephanie Sierra Consumer 19094501
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