Your address is unique to you, and it’s rarely a good idea to let someone else use it. That said, there may be situations where your friend wants to use your address and you have to consider – what are the risks of letting someone use your address?
When it comes to people you know using your address, the biggest risks tend to be financial. On the other hand, there are also risks to strangers using your address that range from identity theft to annoying package deliveries.
Learn more about the risks of letting others use your address and more in this article.
Can Someone Else Legally Use Your Address?
Before we dive into the potential risks, let’s talk about legality. The short answer is that, yes, someone can use your address. However, you need to grant them permission. For example, a friend can use your address to receive packages if you grant them permission to do so.
On the other hand, if someone is using your address without your consent it’s against the law, and you can report it. For this reason, it’s only common for family members and some friends to use your address, and even then, you need to be careful.
What Are the Risks of Letting Someone Use Your Address?
There are a handful of risks that come with letting someone use your address, even if it’s a friend or family member. Learn more about these risks below.
Identity Theft
This is unlikely to happen if you’re letting a friend use your address, but if someone else is using your address without your knowledge you may be in trouble. If someone has your address, name, and other personal details, there’s a chance that they can open accounts in your name and steal your identity.
Mail Fraud
While having your address might not seem like a lot, if a scammer has it, they can reroute your mail to their address. When this happens you can run into a lot of problems ranging from identity theft to more serious cases of fraud. For example, they may gain access to your financial records and use those details to open accounts.
Fraud
If your friend approaches you and wants to use your address, it may not be for receiving mail. It can be to gain lower insurance prices, evade taxes, or even to get their children into a different school.
While this may seem harmless if you don’t know about their motives, you’ll be implicated if you get caught. Unfortunately, this can result in jail time or hefty financial penalties.
Harassment
If you give out your address often you’re probably receiving offers all the time. While this may seem harmless, it’s a type of harassment, and you can put a stop to it by contacting the company. Spam mail may be annoying, but harassment goes beyond that.
Unfortunately, some scammers will send fake offers and try to get you to visit a website, click a link, or provide personal information so they can steal from you. For this reason, you should take all harassment cases seriously.
How to See if Someone Is Using Your Address
Unfortunately, it can be hard to tell when someone is using your address unless you’re getting packages in the mail or dealing with other types of spam. The good news is that you don’t have to wait until you see fraud appear on your credit report because tools like UnMask can help you check all public records associated with your address.
This can be done with UnMask’s address lookup search engine, which allows you to enter an address and learn more about what’s going on with it. For example, you can see the names associated with the address, along with financial records and much more. Therefore, if someone is using your address you’ll catch it there.
You can also run a Google search or check with your credit reporting apps to see if someone is using your address.
Understanding What Are the Risks of Letting Someone Use Your Address
At the end of the day, nobody else except you should be using your address – maybe a spouse and other family members at most. While it may seem like the right thing to do to help a friend, if they’re not someone you deeply trust it’s not worth the risk.
What’s more, you should always be checking your address records to ensure that nobody is using your address behind your back. And when you need the right tool for the job, always choose UnMask for the best results.
