Illegal use of my last name

[billbenson]

I have a very uncommon last name (it ain't benson). I got a call from a bill collector threatening me. The only people with my last name I know of in the world are direct relatives.

Apparently, some company with a legal sounding name schmutz lopez and gardner as an example, used my last name as part of their company name. The bill collector left a threatening message. It was an odd caller id so I didn't answer the phone. I called back, got a messsage and left one. Bill collector called me back.

She rattled off a bunch of stuff to fast for me to remember, but I said "I have an unusual name, never heard of the company you are talking about, and live in Florida. She had mentioned IL and asked me if a street address was familiar. I said the only people that have my last name are direct relatives and are in CA and Washiington other than me in FL. I know who the bill collection agency is, but she rattled addresses off so fast that I didn't catch the rest of the useful info.

Bill collectors aren't know for being friendly. As soon as she figured out I wasn't who she was looking for she hung up. No "thanks for your help", just click.

So it sounds like someone is out there using our family name as part of a business name and is either going bankrupt or committing some sort of fraud. They may be in IL, but they could be anywhere.

I'll probably never hear anything more on this, but is there a way to get the bill collector to give me the information on who is using our name and what they are doing? I'd sure like to know who is doing what with our name.

[orion_joel]

Hmm, i may not necessarily be that they are illegally using it. I think the problem would arise that even though it may be your surname and you and relatives are the only people with that surname, does not always mean that the word which is your surname cannot be used as a word otherwise (unless of course there can be proven that it was used to defraud or defame someone with that name).

I know that a lot of legal firms and such often use a bunch of surname's to make there name, just like the name you mentioned as an example for this firm. I had always thought that these names were being used because they were the surname or something of the people that had started these business. Then one day i come across one and question someone about it and the names they had used were nothing to do with the people in the business they were names that they thought worked well together and sounded professional.

[billbenson]

If I put the surname in google, I get only family related stuff. This is one of the reasons I don't put my real name on forums... I get my nephew's name for sporting events, my brothers name for books he's published. My fathers name for a company he had. The name is unique enough, that there was nothing in the top 500 google SERPS for something not related to a direct family member. And it's not a big family tree.

There were things like surname.com registered. Domain squatters. That's kind of amazing.

[Steve B]

It may be your surname and it may be unique, but unless you have it federally trademarked - I can't see why someone else couldn't use it.

I'm sure there are tons of people with the last name of "Derby".

[billbenson]

I agree, it's probably not illegal to use it. Its just that it appears its been used in a way to hide someones identity. Perhaps they used my complete name or SS? I'd like to figure out who it is.

[Steve B]

This may be a good time to run a credit report on yourself. Anything unusual should show up.

[billbenson]

I was thinking the same thing. How long does it take for a credit inquiry to appear on your credit report? I want to know if the collection agency did a credit check on me as well as anything else and they only called me Friday. Also, would the collection agency need my ss number to do a credit check? If they have my SS number that means someone else could as well, although I am sure there are databases collection agencies use to get that info.

[Business Attorney]

Your story reminds me of an experience I had with a client I had 23 years ago. Bob Bernard had just founded Whittman-Hart (which subsequently went public in 1996, became the largest internet professional services of its time when it bought US Web/CKS in 1999, and was one of the biggest companies to go bankrupt when the Internet bubble burst in 2000).

Bob came to me to draft a partnership agreement for the business. I noticed that none of the partners was named Whittman or Hart, so I asked him where they came up with the name. He said he liked the name Hart from the movie The Paper Chase and just thought the combination sounded good. He didn't say so, but I got the impression that since there were six partners, it was a way to come up with a business name that sounded like a partnership without putting anyone's ego at risk.

[billbenson]

Ya, but were bill collectors calling either whittman or Hart?

It also goes to another thread around here somewhere as to why try to appear larger than you are. I think there are valid reasons to do that.

[Business Attorney]

Ya, but were bill collectors calling either whittman or Hart?

I'm sure there were too many Whittmans and Harts for that, though I am sure there were plenty of creditors (and shareholders) who would have liked to have found the non-existent Whittman and Hart. :)