It was by chance that Ulla-Lena Lindqvist discovered that a large number of strangers had requested to have their mail delivered to her address at her summer cottage in Vidja south of Stockholm. Something she both reported to the police and to the Swedish Tax Agency in vain.
It is important to point out that this is not a population registry, then we would have had a larger toolbox because it is punishable to provide incorrect information. The majority in this case have a so-called special postal address or contact address, which is really just an instruction about the postal service and then we do not have the legal basis to remove it, says Tobias Wijk.
Unreasonable consequence
A special postal address is used when you want your mail to be sent to a location other than your population registration address. For those who have a coordination number – which is most common – it is called a contact address.
The requirement is really only that the mail should arrive, but it is of course an unreasonable consequence that an individual third party is affected in this way by incorrect use of data, says Tobias Wijk.
Cluster addresses common
So-called cluster addresses are not entirely uncommon in cases where an employer has a lot of foreign labor or temporary staff.
Then everyone with a coordination number has their address set to the employer and that in itself does not have to be incorrect, says Tobias Wijk.
To address the problem of hijacked addresses, the entire model of postal addresses needs to be reviewed, says Wijk.
It is not adapted to today's conditions when addresses are used as a tool and sold; it is too easy to change addresses.
