Identity theft and fraudulent account claims

How do we handle a customer's report that service was opened in their name, collect the affidavit and the ID, investigate, decide and correct or close the account?

Treat the claim as a case with evidence, an investigation and a decision. When a person reports service in their name they did not open, Callvu captures the claim with the premises and the periods disputed, protects the victim (collection paused on the disputed balance, the credit reporting flagged, the account locked against further changes), requests the identity theft affidavit, the identity document and the police report number through a link, classifies the claim against the account's history (the application data, the channel, the identity checks at opening, the payments), investigates with the fraud team's checks, routes the decision to the fraud team in the Decision Desk with the evidence and only the allowed outcomes, and writes the correction (the account closed or reassigned, the balance removed, the credit reporting corrected, the collections recalled) to CIS and the billing system with the written decision to the victim.

In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: chase and verify, classify, decide, write back

Talk to an expert Try it in the sandbox

Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The victim sent the affidavit twice, the collections agency kept calling, and the account stayed on her credit file for a year.

Today, without Callvu

Utility accounts are a common target of identity theft because opening one needs little and the balance builds before anyone notices. The victim finds out from a collections notice or a credit report, calls, and is told to send an affidavit and a copy of their ID by mail. The investigation is a queue; the collections agency is not told; the credit bureau reporting continues. The victim's experience of the utility is worse than the thief's.

The Red Flags program requires a response to detected identity theft; the FCRA gives the victim the right to block information resulting from identity theft and requires the furnisher to stop reporting it and to provide the records to the victim; the commission's rules govern the balance and the collections. The claim is a case with a defined evidence set, an investigation of the account's own history, and a decision with consequences in several systems.

A victim should have to tell the utility once, and the systems should all hear it.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A person reports that service was opened or used in their name without their authority, in any channel. Callvu captures the claim and opens the case.

Victim: Reports the claim, provides the affidavit, the identity document and the police report through a link, and receives the decision.
Fraud team: Investigates and decides in the Decision Desk.
Collections and credit reporting: Pause, recall and correct from the case.
Callvu: Captures, protects, chases and checks, classifies, routes and writes.

Capture and protect
The claim is captured with the victim's identity (verified through the identity verification process), the premises and the periods disputed, how they learned of it and any known facts; the protections apply at once: collection activity on the disputed balance paused and the agency told, the credit reporting flagged as disputed, the account locked against further changes, and the victim given one case contact.
Chase and verify the evidence
The identity theft affidavit (the federal form or the utility's), the identity document, and the police report number or the report itself are requested through a link, read on arrival and checked (the victim's identity against the document, the premises and periods against the account, the affidavit's completeness and signature); what is missing is chased with the specifics.
Classify and investigate
The claim is classified against the account's history: the application data and channel, the identity checks and their results at opening, the contact details and devices used, the payments made and by what method, the premise's occupant where known, and any link to other accounts; the fraud team's checks (the device and address links, the payment sources, the occupant inquiry) are run and the findings assembled.
Decide and write back
The fraud team decides in the Decision Desk with the evidence and the findings and only the allowed outcomes (confirmed identity theft, not identity theft with the reasons, or partial with the periods); on a confirmed claim the account is closed or reassigned to the actual user, the disputed balance is removed, the credit reporting is corrected or blocked under the victim's rights, the collections are recalled, and the written decision with the records the victim is entitled to goes to them; a denied claim states the reasons and the victim's options; everything is written to CIS and the billing system.

Where it ends: The victim reported once, was protected from the day of the claim, provided the evidence by link, and the fraud team's decision corrected the account, the balance, the collections and the credit reporting together. The Decision Trace shows the classification, the findings and the decision; the Audit Trace shows the claim, the protections, the uploads and the corrections with time.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

FTC Red Flags Rule identity theft program: The program must include appropriate responses to detected identity theft, which may include monitoring the account, changing or closing it, not collecting on it, notifying the customer and law enforcement; the claim process is the program's response, and the red flags found (the application's inconsistencies, the channel, the contact details) feed the program's periodic update.
FCRA identity theft provisions (15 USC 1681c-2 blocks, 1681g(e) business records, 1681s-2 furnisher duties): A victim may obtain a block of information resulting from identity theft on their credit file with an identity theft report; a furnisher notified that information is the result of identity theft may not continue to report it and must have procedures to prevent re-reporting; a business must provide the victim the records of the fraudulent transactions within 30 days of a request with the required proofs; the correction step implements these.
State commission rules on disputed balances and collections: A balance in dispute is not subject to disconnection or collection while the dispute is investigated under the commission's rules, and a balance found to be another person's cannot be charged to the victim; the protections and the removal apply these.

Company policies

The protections apply on the day of the claim, before the evidence arrives.
The evidence set is defined and requested once through a link.
The fraud team decides on the account's own history and the checks, with reasons.
CIS and the billing system hold the correction, and collections and credit reporting act from the case.

Controls

Claim capture with verified victim identity.
Same-day protections across collections, reporting and the account.
Evidence requests with reading and checks.
History classification and fraud checks.
Decision Desk decision with required outcomes.
Multi-system correction and written decision.

Clocks and deadlines

Protections: The day of the claim.
Business records to the victim: Within 30 days of the request with the proofs, under the FCRA.
Investigation: The utility's service level, with the victim seeing status and a decision in writing.

Documents and checks

The claim with the premises and periods
The affidavit, the identity document and the police report
The account history and the findings
The decision with reasons
The corrections in CIS, billing, collections and credit reporting

In the Decision Trace

The classification and the findings.
The decision and the person.

In the Audit Trace

The claim and the protections with time.
Each upload with time.
The decision and each correction with time.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

Any channel; the victim uploads the evidence from a link and has one case contact.

The back office

The fraud team decides with the history and the findings; collections and credit reporting act from the case.

The Decision Desk

Every claim goes to the fraud team in the Decision Desk with the evidence and the findings and only confirmed, not identity theft with reasons, or partial with the periods.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

PSEG Long Island runs start, stop and move service on Callvu, live in 4 weeks.

Across Callvu customers

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

What happens as soon as the claim is made?

Collection on the disputed balance is paused and the agency told, the credit reporting is flagged as disputed, the account is locked against changes, and the victim gets one case contact.

What evidence is needed?

The identity theft affidavit, the victim's identity document and the police report number, requested once through a link and checked on arrival.

What does a confirmed claim change?

The account is closed or reassigned, the balance removed, the credit reporting corrected or blocked, the collections recalled, and the victim receives the written decision and the records they are entitled to.

Related processes

Identity verification before account changes Start service for a new customer Adverse action notice for credit-based deposits Final bill collection before agency placement Try it in the sandbox All utilities processes

Bring this process, or the one that costs you most.

We build it against your policies and your systems, train your team and stay with you through launch. You are live in weeks.