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Update: Company clears victim’s debt, cancels fraudulent account

Posted at 6:02 PM, Apr 15, 2015
and last updated 2015-04-15 20:17:23-04

MIDDLEVILLE Mich. -- Angelica Zenquis now has peace of mind. We first chatted with the 19-year-old April 7. The Middleville mom had been fighting a collections notice for a long overdue cable TV bill. It was from a cable company she said she never even heard of. To top it off, according to the notice, the bill became delinquent in 2012 when Zenquis was 16 years old. She was attending Allegan High School.

"Everything kind of fell into place after I got you involved," she told FOX 17.

On April 7, Zenquis said, "When I called the second time, I tried to tell them I was 16 at the time. The first person told me the birthday on the account was in '95. A 16-year-old can't have a cable account."

The apparent victim of identity theft faced an unjustified blemish on her credit report. So Zenquis called the FOX 17 Problem Solvers. We called Cablevision to try and straighten things out. Less than a week later, she got a letter in the mail.

"Couple days ago, I got a letter in the mail from Cablevision saying they were clearing my credit, and it would no longer affect my history," Zenquis said.

She said the fraudulent account has been closed, and she doesn't have to pay anything. Last week, she and her husband said they had a hunch who was behind the fraudulent account. They said they learned from the company that the account was connected to Bridgeport, Connecticut.

An online search led them to a distant relative who they messaged on Facebook. Since FOX 17 contacted Cablevision, Zenquis said the relative fessed up and said she was struggling.

Zenquis recalled, "She said she had got my social security number from her dad who passed away in 2011, which is my great grandpa."

So we called the relative in question, Victorua Zenquis Fernandez, and she agreed to a quick phone interview.

Fernandez said she was "being stupid" when she stole Zenquis identity. The Connecticut woman said she has a $1,000 fine from the cable company.

Zenquis plans to call other utilities in the Connecticut area to make sure there are no other fraudulent accounts in her name.

She said she was "very, very, happy that you guys were involved."

It's not clear if Fernandez will follow through and pay the fine or what happens if she doesn't.