Our families birth certificates have been stolen form our family home, should I report this to anyone and if so who?
(G.M, 23 June 2009)
A.
I am sorry that you have had such an unpleasant experience. Presumably this was part of a burglary or theft of other items from your home, unless the thieves specifically targeted your birth certificates. In either case you would be well advised to report the theft to your local police station and to get a crime report number. Hopefully the theft may go no further and the thieves will not be interested in your personal documents.
However, unfortunately, as you are probably aware, this loss may make you and your family vulnerable to the possibility of identity theft. This is where unscrupulous individuals use your personal information to obtain illegal financial services by fraud. This is especially a risk for you if these are the only items which have been stolen from you. It is increasingly the case that thieves are targeting this kind of information. It is important that you are proactive and take steps to ensure that the relevant authorities are aware of the possibility that your identity has been stolen.
In addition to notifying the police you should contact the General Register Office to obtain new copies of your certificates and to ask them to make a note of the fact that original certificates have been stolen. In order to protect yourself you should also consider notifying your bank and any credit card companies so that they are alerted in the event that any unusual activity starts to appear on your accounts. Although hopefully the risks for you are minimal in order to find peace of mind you may also want to report the theft to one or more of the three key credit reference agencies in the UK. These are Experian, Equifax or Callcredit.
You can also undertake a credit check with one of the agencies in order to see whether there is any unusual activity taking place under your name. As you have had several birth certificates stolen for ultimate peace of mind you may want to undertake a search for each member of your household. Some of the agencies offer subscription services so that you can monitor your credit rating on an ongoing basis. This may seem expensive or an overreaction, it depends on your personal point of view and attitude to risk. However it is certainly worth knowing that this option is open to you.
If you take these steps to inform the relevant authorities then your proactive approach should preempt the actions of identity thieves. At the very least, if the worse should happen the authorities will be quick to realise your innocence and to act to block any unauthorized activity. I wish you every success with this and in defying the thieves. Good luck.
Mine and my sons birth certificates have been stolen. What do I do
Kay - 18-Jun-19 @ 11:17 AM
I have lost/stolen birth marriage certs and NI no
Di - 27-Mar-19 @ 8:23 AM
My ex partner has my birth certificate and won't give me it back. He says he's thrown it in the bin.What can i do .any help.
Annie - 14-Jan-19 @ 5:12 AM
I believe there are certain parties in the passport office and child benefit office who insist you send in original birth certificates, which you do otherwise you don't get the passport or benefit, however they could check the records online and only request the originals as they've got a racket going on. They tell you 'oh sorry the birth certificate has been lost' but actually sell your documents for personal gain, while you risk identity fraud. I recently sent in the original birth certificate along with a recorded signed for SAE for easy return, but it never arrived and Royal Mail can't track the mail. The Passport Office are refusing to show me evidence of posting my documents back to me so I believe it's because there isn't any evidence they've put the letter in the post, in fact they've sold the birth certificate and now I have to get a replacement which I might or might not get reimbursed for. Has anyone else experienced this because I think it happens too many times to be a coincidence. Someone has to be held accountable. At best they are not responsible or reliable enough to be trusted with our important personal documents and treat them and us with a gung-ho couldn't care less attitude, at worst they are behaving criminally. Any whistle-blower out there or journalist care to investigate as I think you could have one major story here?
dontbelievewhattheyt - 8-Sep-18 @ 6:46 PM
About 8-9 years ago my niece's grandparents wanted to take her on holiday and needed my mothers birth certificate and my grandparents... My mother willingly gave them as she was assured she would get them back once they got them back from the passport office. Unfortunately my niece's grandparents did not keep to their word and have kept them ever since! I only recently found out about this...
My mother was born in India after the revolution and we can not obtain a copy of her birth certificate. As she was born in India as were my grandparents (were if French & English decent) my niece's grandparent's had to buy her a British citizenship that was between £700-800 at that time for my niece. The grandparents said they would only give my mother her document's back IF she gave them £800!
I have tried through my niece's mother (my sister) to get the birth certificates however we are not on good terms and she has said that she doesn't know where they live and neither does my niece (they use to go there every other day and live round the corner from them) they couldn't give me the door number and i was told by my "sister" that the grandparents names are NOT there real names and are in fact just "street" name's!!
Who do i contact?? What do i do??
Benny - 1-Jun-16 @ 4:26 PM
I need some advise concerning manipulation of a birth certificate to obtain a passport .
Thank You .
Normski - 28-Aug-15 @ 9:14 AM
@digweed - if you do not think it is a simple case of having mislaid it, and you think it has definitely been stolen, as specified in the article, you should contact the he police and the General Register Office to obtain new copies of your certificates and to ask them to make a note of the fact that original certificates have been stolen. In order to protect yourself you should also consider notifying your bank and any credit card companies so that they are alerted in the event that any unusual activity starts to appear on your accounts. Although hopefully the risks for you are minimal in order to find peace of mind you may also want to report the theft to one or more of the three key credit reference agencies in the UK. These are Experian, Equifax or Callcredit.
AboutIdentityTheft - 24-Jun-15 @ 1:44 PM
hello i would like to get advice my birth certificate was stolen from me and is no where to be seen in my family home and it was in my wallet and my wallet went missing i donty know who took it but no one is owning up to it
digweed - 22-Jun-15 @ 11:28 AM
My son's birth certificate was stolen amongst other items with working tax credit forms when he was born in 2007 this was reported to the police as my car was broken in to. I now have new certificate and have been told from the register office not to worry but there is more and more I.D theft and t.v program's about it that I'm worried for my son in the future how can I protect him?
I'm not sure if we as parents have been a victim or not with the tax credits with over payment could there be other parents trying to claim for things with my sons details?
Twiggy - 4-Feb-14 @ 12:06 PM
I sent my original of my adoption papers to student finance, but I only received photocopys of 3 of the 6 papers. I spoke to the student finance office, and they were very insistent that they sent back EXACTLY what I sent them! So this now leaves me with half of my adoption papers, and the worrie of thinking has someone photocopied my adoption papers!! I don't know what to do now! Please help me.
Jezkaw - 9-May-12 @ 3:59 PM
if someone has lost stolen your brith certicate what should you do
