If Your Identity is Stolen

It can be informative to read about strategies and techniques for preventing identity theft, but those solutions won't help someone who has just discovered that his/her identity has been stolen. Unfortunately, 9 million Americans face this reality each year. If you are a victim of identity theft, it's important to know that you aren't the only one who has identity theft Q&A. Now that you're working with the authorities and credit agencies, it's important to take one more step: Seek the protection of an identity theft prevention service. This will help protect you from future theft, and will provide an extra layer of safety and security.

Actions to take

If you discover that you are a victim of identity theft - and you don't yet work with an identity theft prevention service - be sure to take these steps as soon as you realize there is a problem:

• File a police report: The authorities need to be involved. Your thief may be victimizing other members of the community.
• Contact the Federal Trade Commission: This agency also handles identity theft claims and may be of assistance to you.
• Check your credit report: Find out the extent of the damage. Look over everything carefully, and make notations of anything that looks awry.
• Notify your creditors: Immediately notify any creditor listed with incorrect information. You will likely need your police report case number and other information to back up your claim.
• Get in touch with an identity theft prevention service: Make sure this doesn't happen again.

Why you need to file a police report

It is imperative that you contact your local police department if you think you've been victimized by an identity thief. When your police fill out an Identity Theft Report, you are thereby entitled to certain legal rights. Credit bureaus will ask you for this report; by providing them with it, the bureaus will then have the ability to permanently block fraudulent information from your credit report. It will take time and effort, but the theft will be erased from your record. The Identity Theft Report may also place a notice on your credit report of past fraud - sort of a giant FYI to the credit bureaus that you've been a victim of a serious crime.

If you don't file an Identity Theft Report or contact the Federal Trade Commission to report the identity theft, you still are allowed to dispute charges and accounts on your credit report - but it might be significantly more difficult and frustrating. It will be your responsibility to prove that the information is, in fact, fraudulent. Often, the backing of your police department will result in extra research and reporting, and will give you a boost in repairing your credit rating and returning to normal. The police will be able to access sensitive information such as the thief's actual application for credit and the other ways in which he/she stole your identity. By going through the police department, you will have extra information and armor to fight back.