Things to Do if Your Identity Has Been Stolen

 

Anybody who has ever watched "Eraser" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vanessa Williams would have an idea of how scary it is to lose one's identity, or one's true identity for that matter. Even more terrifying is the prospect of someone tampering with your public records to substitute a felony-ridden, debt-wracked and socially undesirable identity.

 

So what is this thing about identities being stolen?

 

Identity theft happens when an impostor (through technological wizardry or by sheer ability) uses your personal info (say, your name, Social Security and credit card numbers or other personal data) to commit a crime. People with stolen identities could spend a great deal of time and money cleaning up the trouble thieves have made of their good names and otherwise spotless credit records. Indeed, identity theft is a serious crime that wreaks havoc to its victims: they could lose their jobs, be rejected loans, housing, education, cars, or even arrested for crimes committed by someone else.

 

So what do you do when you wake up one morning to the tune of the Twilight Zone?

 

1. First off, keep your calm and take stock of the situation. You are not alone. There are plenty of other victims like you (about 500,000 each year!).

 

2. Notify credit bureaus. What should be on the top of your list is controlling damages, so it is best to immediately contact the department that deals with frauds of any one of the three major credit card bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion) and ask that your file be flagged with a fraud alert. As soon as you notify one credit bureau, it will notify the other two. What should happen is that the department of fraud alerts must request creditors to call you first before extending credit, opening new accounts, or doing some changes with your existing accounts.

 

3. Contact (by phone and in writing) all credit grantors, utility companies, department store credit card issuers, etc. with whom you suspect your name has been fraudulently used. Close the accounts that you think have been fraudulently dealt with. Use the ID Theft Affidavit to dispute new unauthorized accounts.

 

4. Report the crime to your local police department as well as in the area where the crime was committed. Give them all the documentary evidence you have. Get a copy of the report called an "Identity Theft Report" which you can submit to your creditors and others that may require proof of the crime.

 

5. If you are in California, Texas, Louisiana or Vermont, you might consider placing a security freeze on your credit reports. This is stronger than a fraud alert as it prevents anyone from accessing your credit file until and unless you instruct the credit bureaus to unfreeze your credit report.

 

6. Report the crime to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for investigations.