Millions of people every year become victims of identity theft. Credit cards, checks or personal information are stolen and used for some thief’s personal financial gain. Identity theft is one crime rate that continues to increase in the United States. I was a victim once – one day a deputy sheriff informed me that a person had been arrested and had a book of my personal checks in their back pocket, and he wanted to know if they had my permission to use them. I can tell you that I will not forget the panic I felt or the sick feeling in my stomach which followed the realization that I had just become a statistic. So what steps do you take if your credit cards or checks are stolen, or if you think you have had your identity stolen?
The first and most important thing you do is file a police report. You want to give law enforcement as much information as possible about the theft. Even though they may not investigate the crime right away, make sure you get a report. It gives you certain legal rights when you provide it to the three major credit reporting agencies or other companies where the identity thief used your information. For example, this police report can block companies from continuing to collect debts that resulted from the thief’s actions. It can also stop the fraudulent information from showing up on your credit report. .
The very next thing to do is to contact the fraud departments of the three major credit reporting agencies and tell them your identity was stolen. The contact numbers for these fraud units are: Equifax – (800) 525-6285; Experian (888) 397-3742; and Trans Union – (800) 680-7289. You want to request a ‘fraud alert’ be placed in your credit file. It alerts creditors that you may be a victim of identity theft, and requires them to take certain steps to verify your identity before granting new credit accounts, increasing credit limits or issuing new cards for any existing accounts. The Federal Trade Commission also has forms available to assist you in contacting creditors. They include the ‘ID Theft Affidavit’, instructions on how to fill it out and a ‘Fraudulent Account Statement’. You can contact the FTC ID theft hotline at 877-IDTHEFT (877-438-4338) for more information.
You also want to call all financial institutions you have accounts with, in case they were compromised by the identity thief. Banks will monitor your accounts for any suspicious activity. In the event you had any checks stolen, or believe the thief set up any accounts in your name, you also want to call ChexSystems, a major check verification company, to alert them of the fraud. Their customer relations contact number is (800) 428-9623. You should regularly monitor your financial records, especially for the first few months after the crime. Credit reports should be reviewed a minimum of once every three months.
To avoid becoming a victim, there are several identity theft prevention services to help. These services provide daily monitoring of information that identity thieves most often compromise, like credit cards, public records, and credit reports. Some even include computer security software. There are fees associated with these services ranging from $8 to $20 per month. I found a website – www.nextadvisor.com - that has a great tool for comparing the various ID theft prevention companies to help you decide on the theft protection package best suited to your needs. One of them even has a million dollar guarantee!
The old adage – “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” – is very true when it comes to identity theft. For the price of one lunch or a few frappuccinos, you can protect your identity and rest easy knowing that you are doing everything possible to avoid becoming a statistic of one of the fastest growing crimes in America. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at eallen@northsacnews.com.