CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Using a misspelled name, someone was able to use a Corpus Christi woman's personal information to pay off a nearly $2,500 payment on a residential account with TXU Energy.
The woman, Rosalinda Granado, says TXU also told her that when it comes to getting information to open a residential account, the company use the honor system.
What's interesting is that the house the account was used for, burned down in January. So the woman called the Troubleshooters for help
Granado says it was early February when she received an alert from her credit card company.
"Come to find out, there was a charge-off of $2,448 made under my name," she told us.
So someone, somehow, accessed Granado's personal information to pay off a TXU account, even though they misspelled her name.
So she called TXU.
"I did ask her, I said, 'how does this happen?'" she recalled to the Troubleshooters. "'Can you please walk me through it? How does someone get electricity under someone else's name?' And she said, 'oh, we just take it on the honor system.'"
Of course she was shocked, especially considering she insists she's never opened an account with TXU.
"I just am in total disbelief that somebody would have done that to begin with," she said.
So who did it? Who paid off this account for 826 16th Street, using Granado's information?
According to the Nueces County Appraisal District website, the estimated 1000 sq ft property on the city's west side is owned by BB&B Properties of Dripping Springs, Texas since 2019.
The Troubleshooters contacted BB&B. They told us the house burned down in January this year.
Granado contacted the property manager, who she claims told her, he no longer had any paperwork related to 826 16th Street.
He had thrown it away.
"I am submitting a request, a written request, that the fraudulent charges that are affecting my credit score, and being wrongfully charged to me," Granado wrote in an email she sent to TXU.
She says TXU initially told her it would take 45-60 days to resolve this problem, but she wasn't about to sit around and wait.
She filed a report with Corpus Christi police, then contacted the Troubleshooters, and we contacted TXU.
On February 16, TXU wrote in an email to Granado;
"As a result of the fraud investigation, we've determined that you're not responsible for the debt incurred, and a victim of identity theft."
But even though TXU says this has been resolved, Granado wonders if it could have lingering effects.
"If I'm wanting to apply for employment. Whether I would be turned down based on the fraud. The blemish that's there," she said.
Granado did a lot of investigating on her own and found help from freecreditscore.com.
