Using someone's address without permission is illegal. If someone does this to you, you must take prompt and serious action. First, you need to determine if it's just a hunch or if someone is really misusing your address.
Contact whoever it is that is sending the letters (the number or address will be on the back of the envelope usually) and state that the addressee does not live with you. The next step, if you keep receiving unwanted mail is to visit your nearest United States Postal Service office to launch a complaint.
Your Address
Similar to your name, your physical address is almost impossible to protect. In fact, it's a matter of public record. Fortunately, there's not much an identity thief can do with just your address, even if he or she also knows your name.
There is also a physical way that a criminal could try to scam you using your home address. If a scammer knows your address, they could begin sending you mail to get more information out of you. This could be anything from a fake competition to a phony bank letter.
Frame you for crimes: A skilled hacker can use your IP address to impersonate you online, routing activity through your address instead of their own. Ultimately, they could frame you for buying drugs, downloading child pornography, or even creating national security threats.
People may use your address for their insurance, driver's license, and proof of residence. These are totally against the law and can even help criminals get away with bigger crimes. This will cause you undue hassle and is an invasion of your personal information too.
The person at that address must ensure that the correspondence is passed on to you personally. It is not possible to use a P.O. box or an address where nobody is living as a correspondence address.
You can remove your address from the internet by contacting the site administrator. Most data brokers and people-search sites have an easily accessible opt-out form to request your personal information be removed from their sites.
Request a copy of your credit report
Check your credit report for any unusual or incorrect debts, loans or credit applications. If you suspect fraud, you can request a temporary ban.
The best way to find out if someone has opened an account in your name is to pull your own credit reports to check. Note that you'll need to pull your credit reports from all three bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — to check for fraud since each report may have different information and reporting.
Why Is My Address Online? The main reason your home address shows up on the internet without your permission is that it's most likely a part of the public record. For example, it might have appeared in a phone book or a publically accessible document.
Ghost Address
Use a ghost address, an address that is not your actual home address, for as many purposes as possible. Use a mail receiving business like a UPS store. List your ghost address everywhere you legally can. Use your office as a ghost address or ask a family member or friend to be your ghost address.
A person with no fixed address may have mail addressed to a Poste restante service. Such persons may also have problems receiving government social services and registering to vote, and may be deprived of many common services.
Can I mail a package with a nickname or without a name? You can your package without a name or you can put any nickname on the package if you have the delivery address to a house. If you live in an apartment building, and the package has your address but a different name, the driver may not be able to find you.
If you want to find out where someone lives, you can do a few things. One way is to use public records databases such as the Social Security Administration's Death Master File or the National Property Database. You can also check voter records or look through property records.
Spammers often release information-gathering programs called “bots” to collect the names and e-mail addresses of people who post to specific newsgroups. Bots can get this information from both recent and old posts.
A device that is infected with malware or spyware can track your location even if your location settings are turned off. Malware can also record your online activities, allow cybercriminals to steal personal information, or slow down your operating system.
The easiest way to become a victim of a bank scam is to share your banking info — e.g., account numbers, PIN codes, social security number — with someone you don't know well and trust. If someone asks for sensitive banking details, proceed with caution.
Change the passwords, pin numbers, and log in information for all of your potentially affected accounts, including your email accounts, and any accounts that use the same password, pin, or log in information. Contact your police department, report the crime and obtain a police report.