Possible stolen identity, need help

[ZTAYLOR]

Im not a ham radio operator and know little about it.  However, my father was.  He took several tests and held a higher licsense as I recall.

Here is the problem.  My father passed away in 1996.  The other day my mother received a card from a ham radio operator up in Alaska.  The lady cited my fathers former call letters and said that it was nice talking to him.

I have yet to see this card or letter.  I'll visit my mother this weekend to take a look at it.

It sounds like someone has somehow stolen my fathers former call letters and uses his name.  The person up in Alaska had his address to send the card to my mom.

Has anyone heard of this and what should I do?  Im thinking that I should contact the FCC but I dont know if they regulate amateur radio.

[W7DJM]

Since you didn't post his callsign, it's hard for anyone to check, did you?

You can check his call here, or at www.qrz.com, as well as several other places on the internet.

If his license expired, it may have been reissued.

It may be that someone actually worked some other ham, and got the callsign wrong.

It actually may be someone "bootlegging"  but usually they won't be asking for QSL cards.

[WB2WIK]

Or, it could be confirming a contact made in 1996 or earlier.

That's not so unusual.  I receive QSL cards now for contacts made back in the 1980's.

WB2WIK/6

[ZTAYLOR]

I didnt know that I could check call signs.  Like I said, I dont anything about this stuff.

[ZTAYLOR]

Ill look at this card over the weekend and get more info.  My mom is somewhat concerned about the situation.  Thanks for the replies.  

[N3ZKP]

I am not sure why your mom should be concerned. She has no responsibility for any of this.

Your dad's license has long since expired and the call sign has probably been reissued. Even if it hadn't been reissued yet, your dad's information would have been purged from the database long ago.

I am not sure how any of this can be construed as identity theft.

Lon

[WB6BYU]

Also it isn't uncommon to get callsigns confused on the
air.  Many letters sound similar.  Some one could have
written it down wrong, looked the callsign up in his old
book to get the address, and sent it off to your mother
by mistake.  

Happens all the time.  Nothing to be worried about.

[KC2MMI]

As Lon said, call signs get recycled. After two years they are released back into the pool and if there is anything "special" about them someone is waiting to grab them.

And as someone else said, call signs get confused. Probably half the hams I've heard on the air mumble instead of enunciating phonetics clearly.

Considering that parts of Alaska have no phone service and are really DEEP woods...the lady may have simply used an old call book to look up the call sign, too.

So in this case I'd just send her a post card with a note on it, common courtesy and let her try to find out who else whe really contacted. (What are they, something like 17 cents now?)

Odds are that's what your father would have done, as one ham to another.

[KL7IPV]

KC2MMI,  times have moved on. A card is $.24 now. And I miss the good ole days too.
Frank
KL7IPV