No costs for those injured after identity theft!
- Unknown people use a stolen identity to steal a mobile phone contract and thereby harm a consumer
- Debt collection company wanted to collect money from the injured party
- The Federal Court of Justice has now confirmed the opinion of the consumer advice center that the consumer does not have to pay
Actually, this should be clear: If someone steals another person's name and address and uses them to enter into contracts, then that person should not have to pay for what others have bought. Especially not if the ordered products never reached the injured person. This happened in a case in which third parties stole the identity of a consumer and concluded a mobile phone contract in her name. She didn't know anything about it - until, after requests for payment from the mobile phone company, a debt collection company wanted to collect the alleged debt from the consumer, which she had never caused.
Federal Court of Justice speaks out
But it's obviously not that simple and clear: After the Baden-Württemberg consumer advice center sued for an injunction and won in the second instance before the Hamburg Higher Regional Court, the defendant debt collection company appealed because it did not want to accept the decision.
In the end, the Federal Court of Justice had to speak out: Since the consumer had not concluded the contract, she could not be asked to pay the debts accumulated by unknown third parties. “It happens again and again that consumers have to pay debt collection claims for products that they did not buy,” says Oliver Buttler, head of the department for telecommunications, internet and consumer law at the Baden-Württemberg consumer center. “Debt collection companies do not check whether the claims are justified or not, which would reduce their business. Objections from consumers are not responded to and are simply referred to the biller,” Buttler further emphasizes. Consumers who have received debt collection letters with unjustified claims can therefore contact the consumer advice center.
Further information
Free check of a debt collection claim with the debt collection check from the consumer advice center: https://www.vz-bw.de/inkasso-check
You can find more information about the specific case, as well as the associated judgments, in our judgment database: https://www .vz-bw.de/node/68837
- Federal Court of Justice judgment of October 20, 2021 (Az. I ZR 17/21) | 2.58MB | The file is not accessible
Notes:
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