Identity Theft Home

How is it possible that someone can steal you identity? When someone uses your name, credit card, social security number or any other personal information without your permission, this is called identity theft. Identity theft can be used for fraud and other crimes.

Some may think it's not a big deal but identity theft is a very serious crime. Someone who has their identity stolen can end up spending lot of money over months and even years trying to clean up the mess. These thieves can ruin your good name and your credit record. During this time the victims of identity theft can go through hell. Victims can be refused much needed loans, education opportunities, homes, cars, lose job opportunities, and even get arrested for crimes committed by the thief.

If you think you are the victim of identity theft you need to do the following:

Immediately contact the departments of fraud of any of the three major credit bureaus. Tell them to put a fraud alert on your credit file. This fraud alert will tell the creditors to get into contact with you before they open any new credit accounts or make changes to your existing ones. Once this fraud alert is confirmed by the credit bureau you contacted, they will notify the other two and you will receive a free credit report from each of them.
If you know or think an account has been tampered with or opened by the thief, close it immediately. Get an ID Theft Affidavit and use it to resolve any disputes over unauthorized or fraudulent accounts.
You must file a police report and give a copy of it to your creditors so that there is no argument that a crime has occurred.
Finally, file an identity theft complaint with the FTC. The FTC compiles a database of all the identity theft cases which is used by many law enforcement agencies as they investigate these crimes. Filing your complaint with the FTC also helps them learn patterns which will benefit you and others in the long battle against identity theft.