Scammers using people's home addresses for fake business
AUSTIN, Texas - Chances are you’ve encountered a scammer posing as a business before. But a woman in Southwest Austin says a fake business is actually using her home address, with very confused customers showing up at her door.
After Leigh Ninke’s father passed away last year, a bizarre series of events began.
"When she posted the obituary, it was like ringing the dinner bell for scammers," said Ninke’s fiancé Paul Wortham.
Ninke and Wortham began getting all sorts of phone calls, her Facebook account was hijacked, and then a suspicious mailer arrived.
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"From a credit card company that I've done business with for a very long time," said Ninke.
"The address is our address," said Wortham.
It wasn’t addressed to either of them, but to an apparent A/C repair company.
"I went, ‘are you kidding me right now?’" said Ninke.
After getting more and more mailers for this so-called company, they looked it up online.
"And, sure enough, it shows our house and it shows our address," said Wortham.
It became clear this wasn’t just a mixup, but a fraudulent company using their address.
"I have called them. And the landline that they list, picks up and hangs up. There's a cell number. You call it, ‘this user's unavailable right now. Please try your call again’," explained Ninke.
Then it got really weird. People actually started showing up at their house.
"We had at least two people come up to the door wanting A/C repair," said Wortham.
The unexpected guests weren't angry, just very confused.
"I have to explain to them, this isn't a business. It's a scam. And we're trying to take care of it," said Wortham.
"It's difficult because you never know when somebody comes to the front door," said Ninke. "It's almost a feeling of paranoia."
Beyond the annoyance, Ninke says she's worried about identity theft.
"It's like a living nightmare," said Ninke. "It almost paralyzes you because you're thinking, okay, what's at risk? So I've alerted every bank we do business with, every credit card company."
That's an important step, says Devin Benavides of the Better Business Bureau, but she emphasizes this is also a crime.
"If someone is using your home address as their business address, and it has nothing to do with you, and, on top of that, it's not even a real business, that is absolutely illegal. So yes, reporting it to the authorities would be my number one piece of advice," said Benavides.
With the use of fraudulent addresses on the rise, Benavides says it's so important to safeguard your address where you can.
"That's hard to do these days, but it's very important to monitor any public record associated with your address," said Benavides.
That means keeping it off social media.
"Even if it's a private Facebook event, nothing is ever really that private. Just say, 'I'll text you my address'," said Benavides.
Back at Leigh Ninke's house, some signage has gone up, stating "We are not a business". And while the house guests have stopped for now, Ninke says she feels bad for those who may fall victim to scammers who've already shaken her sense of security.
"It infuriates me beyond belief," said Ninke. "They're trying to take advantage of anything they can. And I'm not going to tolerate that for a minute. I'm over this. We're not playing this game," said Ninke.
For consumers, Benavides says this all underscores the importance of doing your homework about a business, reading reviews, and making sure a place is legit before you give them any money.
The Source: Information for this report is from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's John Krinjak