Burden of proof - consumer vs creditor

[cra_trick]

I recently learned that I have charge off of several hundreds of dollars from comcast that is being reported on my CR although I have an active account in good standing with comcast. I contacted comcast and after several calls one csr was able give some details about why this was showing on my CR. She stated some catv equipment was ordered a few months ago and never returned. I explained that I've never ordered any equipment and had the same service for several years. I assured her that I never requested any upgrades or new service. After asking for the date and location of activation she was able to give the address of services and the person who opened the account which is not my address nor anyway related to my name.

She eventually realize that this appeared to be fraud and told me that I would have to fill out the following form: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-0094-identity-theft-affidavit.pdf and get a police report

Once I filed a police report and completed the form I would have to go into a local branch and show proof that I filled out this form. I attempted to iterate that this account was not created by me and that comcast needs to investigate why new service was allowed to be created especially since it would've been trivial to identify that service already existed for said ssn, but she stated nothing could/would be done until I completed the process she requested.

My question is since Comcast is making the claim that this is legitimate isn't the burden of proof on them and not on me. Legally they made a claim so why do I have to prove my innocents?

I have not sent any formal validation request to comcast but based on our phone conversation I do not think I would get any different results as all they will see is an account was opened with my ssn. This really isnt a post about the validation process but more of a question about burden of proof and what is consider proof...

Is an account showing in some company's system enough proof?

Should I be able to sue comcast - not that I necessarily want to to do this but its clear they were negligent or did I somehow forgo my rights to sue when I signed up for services?

I will probably submit to their request and fill out the form and police report but if there is any other recourse I may consider taking legal action. To be completely honest I do not feel good about filing a complaint with the sherrifs office. I'm no criminal and have a clean record but I choose to limit my dealings with government agencies. I like to keep my digital profile as non-existent as possible and I simply do not want to acquiesce to any additional contracts.

[moosetracks]

She is telling you that you are a victim of ID Theft, you need to file the proper forms to get it taken care of and I would also request FA be placed on your CRs with notation to call you to open new accounts. In the credit world its up to you to prove them wrong the opposite of the crimnal justice system of one being innocent until proven guilty.