Perhaps she should sue the emailfinder.com people as well as the person wrongly suing her.

@I Love New Jersey: Thats my thought as well.

Either way shes going to have to get a real lawyer for this, and its going to end up being promoted away from small claims.

@I Love New Jersey:
Exactly. (At least the first part.) I would sue the crap out of emailfinder.com and try to put them out of business.

As far as counter-suing the other guy, I'm not sure what she could so him for, or what good it would do (other than complicate things further).

Go to small claims court, afaik (which admittedly, only extends to a suit I was involved in a while back and basic legal knowledge) discovery is on -him-.

Say: Can he match my I.P. address with one associated with the email? No? Can/did EmailFinder? No? Why are we even here, your honor?

TBH, I see this being a slam-dunk for you. The judge would hopefully not rule against you without proof that it's your email.... and the connection to you is only your name, and it's not even your name?

You might also see if Hotmail can provide a list of all the accounts associated with your computer/I.P.

The guy needs to sue EmailFinder for selling him crappy info, not you!

@Hank Scorpio: There's no damages (yet), and so nothing for her to sue for.

You should be counter-suing for your costs.

Here you go just did a quick look.

[www.emailfinder.com]

Basically multiple times in there, are legal clauses that state what he is doing is in violation of his agreement with them.

@Wombatish: Also: The Bank of America account. Be sure to stress that he has no idea who that is connected to, and that it's not connected to you. Is it mentioned in the Credit Report?

Once again, it's up to him to show that -you- are the scammer, and he's just... not.

Her first mistake was in accepting the certified mail from the court. Make 'em hire a process server!!! :-)

OK, in all seriousness, she needs to contact BofA for proof she's not involved, contact Hotmail for same, and get proof to the guy. Get all her ducks in a row in case the guy decides to fly here.

And yes, she should consider suing or filing some kind of charge against the people that sold her identity to someone else.

Under no circumstances should she skip the court date - default judgments are not fun.

IANAL, but you can file a Motion to Vacate without having to show up in person.

Jennifer Higgins...Jennifer Simpson...Jennifer Stevens...Martha Stewart...Penelope Olsen...Muddy Mae Suggins? These are the calling cards of a con artist.

(Sorry, had to be done.)

Lordy, from one scammer to another.

Vacating a Judgement: [www.creditinfocenter.com]

I would definitely get in touch with a lawyer and see what they have to say about going after emailfinder.com. I think she could get significant damages from them, much more than what you can get from small claims court.

@esd2020: That's only after a judgment is rendered.

Maybe I'm naive - but maybe OP could reach out to the {idiot} suing her and try to clear this up? If she has the info from EmailFinder, she can provide copies of official documents showing her middle name, which would seem to deomnstrate that EmailFinder did not do a good search. If this {idiot} is a reasonable person (which is unlikely, given that he got scammed in the first place and is trying to fly to the US to sue with no better evidence than EmailFinder's word), he may be willing to drop the suit at that point.

@I Love New Jersey: The guy should probably sue emailfinder.com too, since they gave him the wrong information.

YOu can get a certified/notorized statement from BoA stating you do not now nor ever have had an account with them. Also contact Emailfinder.com and inform them of their mistake. The BoA statement is your saving grace legally. It proves you are not involved in this personally. But a judge should look at this and toss it aside. Sorry for the guy but he isnt getting his money out of an innocent person just because he was stupid enough to fall for that scam.

@Hil-fish: You are not naive, but apparently you cant read.

she did EXACTLY that.

@I Love New Jersey: If they truly did provide some random person with her credit report, then she needs to sue the bejesus outta emailfinder.com - hai2u identity theft!

I would however, suggest she start by filing some sort of complaint with the AG's office; she might even want to consider pressing some sort of criminal charges against them (note IANAL, don't know if there's anything she can have them charged with, but sure seems like there should be).

@I Love New Jersey: She hasn't suffered any injury other than a day in small claims

How does EmailFinder work? What information does it use to determine the identity of the owner of the email address? Doubtful that they are tracking the IP address and getting the customer info from the provider.

Are they getting the info from the information you set up when making the account? If so, could you figure out who the judge is on the case, make a hotmail account with his name on it, and show to the court that EmailFinder has shown that the judge owns the email account ilikemypagesbentover@hotmail.com?

As far as the small claims lawsuit goes, simply printing out the terms of service from the emailfinder.com website should be enough (although I'd still try to get BoA to provide details regarding the bank account in question, as mentioned above).

Here is a part of the Terms and Conditions from emailfinder.com that you can find at [www.emailfinder.com]

"11. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. The information in our databases has been compiled from public records, user submissions, and other proprietary sources for the specific purposes of (1) locating individuals, property and businesses, and/or (2) providing general background information about individuals and businesses for verification purposes. The information is provided "AS-IS" and neither EmailFinder.com nor any of our data suppliers represents or warrants that the information is current, complete or accurate."

Since they explicitly state that the data is supplied "as-is" and they don't make any claims as to its accuracy then it should be pretty much a slam dunk to get the small claims judge to throw it out. Bring a complete printout of the T&C to court with you.

Not to worry "Kim". I doubt he will show up -- and if he does, it will be a long trip home. Imagine risking $3,000 to get back $1,200. Nuts

Watch out for their "opt-out" policy as well; by requiring your first and last name, they are essentially building their "people search" database used by their "partner sites"' access - all of this based on the information you freely provide them.

I would send a certified letter to the individual in London explaining your defense, which would amount to asking for proof of the link between you and the individual in question. Since proof of discovery is on him, hopefully he would realize there is no way he can make the case. Then explain to him that you are going to file a motion to vacate based on the lack of a provable link (no BoA account, no proof of identity, etc.) Then file the motion. Finally, explain to him that he would be taking a great risk of losing more money if he travels and the case goes against him.

@Hil-fish: Did you even read the article?

"Seeing as how this document gave me his name and address, a little Googling brought up his personal site and I called his listed mobile number."

It appears the details were obtained from this phone call.

@Wombatish: IANAL, but would the report from emailfinder even be directly admissible? It would seem that it would be considered hearsay and that an actual representative from emailfinder would have to appear in court to present their findings - otherwise there is no way to cross-examine the witness.

At a minimum it seems that an affidavit specific to this case would be required (ie: emailfinder affirms that these results are true nder penalty of perjury)

@Amber Cooper: That's it right there. Ignore everything else and go to BoA. That's your defense right now - "I have never had an account at BoA" or, if you do, get BoA to provide a FULL transaction history going back, say, three months before the guy got scammed, JUST to be sure. And have them certify all of that, etc. It'll cost you some expense most likely, but its cheaper than losing.

As for countersuing, I don't know what the laws are in your area. But typically you can only cap it at court and legal fees, no punitive. But as I said, it depends on where you're located and the venue you're being sued in.

@Murph1908:
+1 for creative problem solving. :)

First of all,

The guy suing her is a total tard. Why on earth would a random 'email finder' service be able to determine the true identity behind a hotmail account.

Go sign up for one. Did you have to give your real name and address?

I'm trying to figure out why a sane, competent person would bother going through all this trouble to sue someone who is obviously not related to this crime at all.

Perhaps the guy in London is himself, a scammer?

Deep.
-Cuban

The OP can check her credit report to find out who did the credit check - then go after them/report them for unauthorized activity.

@Wombatish: If I were the judge that question/answer would be all that is needed to toss the case. BUT, if you get a judge that is technology illiterate, then that definitely will not be enough.

A low tech would be to cast considerable doubt on the information supplied by emailfinder. Get your relatives to sign and notarize statements of their relationship to you. Then use it to show how the relative list is full of wholes. Go over the other documents with a fine tooth comb. Consult a lawyer to check if any were illegally acquired. If anything has your social security number on it, go after them. That should not be released.

@Amber Cooper: Better yet, as she's now the defendant in a lawsuit she can file subpoenas to get this information. She just needs to go to the courthouse and ask for help from the clerk. They have standardized forms to fill out & file for a small fee. BoA might hesitate to provide any information without a subpoena, but with one she shouldn't have any problems. And as far as emailfinder.com goes, she should subpoena all records and communications they have regarding the plaintiff, all records involving the data they ultimately provided him, etc.

@Hoss: Plus lawyer fees and any other charges (research fees, notary fees, etc.) she might incur trying to prove that she's not who they claim she is.

From all the responses here I get a warm fuzzy feeling that if I were in a jam, a post by Chris would open up so much advice my problems would just melt away.

Of course, as long as the original post doesn't have my name in it. If it did I'm sure it would be a "BURN HIM AT THE STAKE" time.

Do we know what state the small claims court is in?

@Hoss: Yeah, he went on a fishing expedition and didn't get the one he wanted, when he knows this he won't spend the money on the trip knowing that it won't be recovered.

How do you fix this?

I'm pretty certain the information he gathered is not legal for him to possess without your permission. Sue *him* for the illicitly obtained documents. You have proof of damages -- the amount he is suing for.

Let him decide if he wants to pay your filing costs + drop his suit in exchange for you dropping yours. Otherwise, enjoy winning while he loses.

@balthisar: Lost time for something where she did nothing wrong. She needs to estimate the time spent, mileage and any other costs incurred for her to defend herself and counter sue for that amount.
The fact that she is zero at fault in this case might be enough for the judge to award the counter suit in her favor. It also then puts some pressure on this idiot in London to withdraw the suit.

This is quite a pickle; I would contact a lawyer before contacting anyone else. Do not be afraid to seek a second opinion either.

A birth certificate and a document resulting from the legal name change to her married name should get the judge in gear, along with the details about the middle initial. A BoA statement attesting to her never having an account with them should clear up the rest. It's pretty clear that she's not the right person, it's just a matter of having the documentation. Go overboard, and the judge will be all over the guy for having even brought this to court.

ALSO: I don't get how these sites work...how are they allowed to give out your credit report without your permission???? I'm totally clueless as to those rules, can someone clear it up for me?

Also, if you really want to burn this guy for messing with you, let him set the court date. Wait until about a week or so in advance, then ask for it to be changed; usually the defendant gets wide latitude in small claims court to do this. Make him pay a ton of money for the ticket change. Maybe he'll give up, but if he doesn't and still loses, he'll be out that much more.

@Hil-fish: "Clear it up"? Imagine for a minute that you just got scammed for over a grand, and you think you're Sherlock Holmes, so you find the address and credit report of the person you think scammed you (score!), but they call you up and say "hey, I'm not who you think I am; I never scammed you. Could you not sue me please? Thanks!"

Isn't that exactly what you'd expect a scammer to tell you? Would you walk away from $1200 just because someone told you they weren't the one who took it? I'm not asking for sympathy for this guy, he sounds like kind of a dumbass and he's about to cause big problems for someone who never did anything to him, but it's not exactly reasonable to expect him to take Kim's word for it if he thinks she's a shifty shyster.

Get a lawyer, in other words. (And then counter-sue for the fees.)

@Hoss: How about wasted time? My time is valuable and if I am not working I am not making money. She will end up wasting more than a day in small claims in order to build a defense for herself.

(IANAL)

While the standards of proof is lower in a civil case than in a criminal case, the onus is still on the guy from London to prove it was you. I would doubt something from emailfinder.com is going to be evidence to reasonably think it was you. There's no basis to think emailfinder.com is a very good authority on the subject. He's got to have something more; such as showing that the bank account in question actually belongs to you.

Call BoA and ask for some proof that you never held an account with them. If you know a good techie guy, bring him in to explain how any services from emailfinder.com would be farfrom perfect and that it's no proof at all that it was you. Also be sure to note that he broke the terms & conditions of the emailfinder.com - specifically part A which states "Our Products are restricted to U.S. customers and information only." If he's in London, then he's not supposed to use it.

Then counter sue him for any appropriate damages.

@bohemian: Agreed. File a well-thought-out counter suit in small claims before the guy has a chance to fly here, and he'll likely drop it. I mean, sucks for him, but hasn't anyone learned anything about wiring money to random accounts???

@bonzombiekitty: Edit: sorry, that's part 1 of the terms & conditions of emailfinder.com, not part A

@shepd: None of the information that he got is illegal or illicitly obtained (as long as the credit report doesn't include an SS number, which I don't think it does)