LEE BOYCE: Using just my name and address a fraudster took £1,000 of Wonga loans - yet it won't reveal how this can happen

This is Money’s banking correspondent Lee Boyce fell victim when a fraudster managed to take out payday loans under his name with Wonga.
What has ensued is a number of unsatisfactory responses from Wonga which has left him in the dark as to how the fraud has happened and questioning just how seriously Wonga takes treating fraud victims. He delves a little deeper…

Wonga barrier: The payday lender is staying tight-lipped as to how I became a victim of fraud

On Christmas Eve, I received an unwanted present when I went back to my mum’s house in Essex for the festive period.
Opening old post, as I hadn’t been back to the property since September, I had three separate letters from payday lender Wonga – final demands for money I had allegedly borrowed from it.
I felt my pulse race and hands tremble; I had become a victim of identity fraud and someone had managed to take two loans in my name to the tune of more than £1,000.
Frantically, I called the number on the letter to no avail. Frustratingly, it rung-out. I knew if I didn’t sort it before Christmas, I would struggle to relax.

I took the route not open to most – I called its public relations (PR) team. I explained the situation and I was told it would be looked into. If I wasn’t a journalist with such access to getting a problem I planned to write about looked at, I dread to think how powerless I would have been feeling.
A few days after Christmas, Wonga informed me that it had investigated the situation, the money would be written off and my credit record would be adjusted.
It turns out a fraudster using just my name and address had managed to open a loan.
Two small pieces of information which are easily available – how could Wonga let this fraud happen so effortlessly?
You think this answer could be easily obtained. I asked the payday lender to describe to me, in detail, how the fraud happened. After all, this is just the latest in a spate of Wonga fraud cases that This is Money has seen and as a journalist I felt a duty to explain to others how this can occur.
After a week of waiting, a member of its PR team contacted me to say I was simply a victim of ‘identity fraud.’ It was clear to me it was putting the barriers up with such a derisory response.

Simple information: Just my name and address were needed to open a Wonga loan - in my opinion, the payday lender needs to be much more thorough with its checks

Eventually, a member of its fraud department contacted me and said: ‘I’m afraid we won’t go into how the fraud may have happened as publication may encourage copycat attempts.’
I didn't agree with this statement, but never-the-less I wanted to know for personal reasons as a victim and for professional reasons to get some off-the-record understanding and, as such, wouldn't have published it in this article.
However, Wonga wouldn't even agree to do this.
I have been a victim of fraud, yet it wasn’t willing to tell me how it had happened and I find that disgusting.
I believe I have a right to know, as should any fraud victim, no matter what company they are dealing with.
So, as a journalist I am asking: does Wonga have a fraud problem it is trying to hide from public view and is it all-too-simple for scammers to get cash in your name?
Wonga tells me that 8,000 pieces of data are analysed when assessing a loan application – but the fraudster needed to only use two things  to get a loan, my name and address.
Not even my bank details were compromised. My bank says there is no evidence of them ever having been used for a Wonga account and the lender says they were not put in.
Yes, that’s right; they managed to get the money paid straight into another bank account.
So what I want to know is how they are managing to comb through 8,000 pieces of data in just fifteen minutes to properly check loans?
And how can loans be opened with such little information when, for instance, you need photo identification and copies of bills to even open a current account in a bank?
Getting an answer from Wonga, however, is like getting blood from a stone and it chose not to answer when I asked how its processes work.
I also asked how, if the money was paid into another bank account that is not my own, they cannot establish who the fraudster is.
It said: ‘We did make the bank, which held the account where the money was deposited, aware. Data Protection rules mean they will not share the details with us. You should also inform the police.’ 
Yet This is Money's previous investigations have suggested that it is actually Wonga that should be reporting this to the police, as it is actually considered the victim of the theft, despite this having been done in my name.
Is Wonga at all taking my case seriously? And is it taking other members of the public, who have been victims of fraud, seriously? It certainly doesn’t feel like it and it doesn’t appear the police are being notified by the payday lender when fraud happens.
So what about my all important credit file?
Wonga said: ‘References to the loans have been removed.’
I told it I wanted to check for myself that it had been done, but it took three times of asking to get an answer to which agencies it uses.
All of these hurdles to get the information are very frustrating.
How someone can use just my name and address to access high interest payday loans is frightening. I understand that identity fraud is a widespread problem that affects a number of companies, but what worries me more is how tight-lipped Wonga is about the subject.
I have lodged a Subject Access Request (SAR) with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in hope this can shed some light about how my data was used and where the money was paid to.
It can take a few weeks for this to be processed – I will keep readers updated when I get the result. I am also in the process of checking my credit report with Experian to make sure Wonga has been true to its word and updated my credit file.
This isn’t an attack at Wonga as a payday lender and the APR rates on its loans - it’s an attack at how frustrating it has been at giving simple answers to questions to someone who has been a victim of fraud.
In my opinion all organisations, not just Wonga, should be more transparent when it comes to this growing problem and advise ways to protect your data from fraudsters in the future.

HAVE YOU BEEN A VICTIM OF WONGA FRAUD?

Wonga states that its fraud rates are some way below the UK average for online transactions – but This is Money’s inbox has had a steamy stream of complaints.
My colleague Tara Evans has reported on Wonga fraud in the past and also has ongoing cases  – some with similar problems as mine highlighted above and others who have had payments for loans they never took out swiped from their current accounts.
Have you been a victim of fraud with Wonga similar to my experience above? Let us know in the comments box below or e-mail lee.boyce@thisismoney.co.uk and tara.evans@thisismoney.co.uk