Immediate Steps To Take for Identity Theft
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008If you suspect that you just might be the victim of identity theft, time is of the essence. It’s important for you to take immediate steps to stop any damage that may have already occurred. You’ve likely heard many things about what to do in cases of suspected identity theft, but there are a few key things that you should undoubtedly do immediately.
- Get a copy of your credit report.
- Put a fraud alert on your credit reports.
- Close all of the accounts that you believe have been tampered with or used fraudulently.
- File a police report.
- File a report with the Federal Trade Commission.
The first thing you need to do is contact one of the 3 major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and Transunion and place a fraud alert on your credit report. The bureau that you call is required to contact the other two bureaus with the information. Once you’ve placed a fraud alert on your accounts, you can request free copies of your credit reports as well.
Once your credit reports arrive, review them very carefully. Check for any inquiries on your report that do not look familiar, companies that you didn’t contact or accounts or debts that you didn’t open and you can’t explain. Make sure that all of the core information on the report such as your name, current address, past addresses, SSN, employment history are all correct. If you find any inaccurate or fraudulent information, get it removed right away.
You should also file a report with your local police department and get a copy of the report, if at all possible. If not, at a minimum, you need to get the number of the report itself. Having this information can help you deal with any creditors that might require proof of the crime and establishes a paper trail to demonstrate that you didn’t make any fraudulent charges subsequent to the theft. If local police are reluctant to take a report from you, ask if you can file a “Miscellaneous Incidents” report instead.
Finally, contact the Federal Trade Commission with your complaint. The information you provide will be entered into the organization’s identity theft data clearinghouse and can help law enforcement track down and stop identity thieves.
You can file an identity theft complaint 3 different ways with the FTC:
- File a complaint online at www.ftc.gov/idtheft
- Call the FTC’s Identity Theft Hotline, toll-free: 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338); TTY: 1-866-653- 4261
- Write the Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580.
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