Identity theft advice for victims

Identity theft or credit theft happens to many unsuspecting people, so it could easily happen to you. What if you should become a victim of identity theft?

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Financial crimes might be as simple as stealing access to your eBay account or it might be as complicated as purchasing a house in your name and leaving you with the loan or mortgage payments. Identity theft or credit theft is an escalating problem, and according to some forecasts, will affect a few million Americans this year to some extent. Finding your way out of this situation if you have been victimized by a criminal with the intention of obtaining your identity can be a nightmare.

The opportunists participating in these activities are getting smarter every day, and it's hard to keep up with the latest methods of identity theft if you have other things to do, such as living a normal life. It can affect anyone, even if they have taken great care to avoid becoming a victim.
 

Here is a listing of some things you may want to do if you think your identity has been taken or compromised.

• Drop any accounts from stolen credit cards - They will probably give you a card with a completely different charge card number. Get in touch with your bank about receiving a replacement for your debit card. Ask your issuing bank for new cards to replace the compromised ones.
• If possible, put a freeze on your credit report. Some states only permit freezing credit files if you have been a victim of identity theft, so you might need to produce a crime report to prove it. Without a credit inquiry, no one can open an account on your behalf, so a freeze acts as a proactive step. Some states allow you to put a freeze on your credit that will prevent anyone from conducting a credit check on you until you unlock it.
• Submit a report to the police - A mortgage lender is not going to write off a $250,000 loan just because you tell them, "I didn't buy that"; you need legal confirmation. It may not help apprehend the thief, but filing a report to the police will do a lot towards persuading your creditors that you have, really, been victimized. If it's in your name, you are accountable for it until you can prove otherwise, so you need to report the incident to the authorities.
• Get in touch with the three main credit bureaus - Fraud alerts don't always work, but they represent a good effort towards fixing an identity or credit theft problem Call Experian, Trans Union and Equifax and notify them that you have been scammed. The reporting agencies can put a notation in your credit report. On paper, such a notation, called a "fraud alert" will require that you be contacted should anyone attempt to open an account or borrow money on your behalf.

It might take months, or even years, to completely rid yourself of damage done by a thief. It is a wise idea to keep all of your personal or financial documentation in one safe place so that you can get at all of it quickly should you need to in an emergency. The process of getting over identity or credit theft is laborious and not a whole lot of fun and the time you spend trying to unravel all of the damage done by a criminal is time you could better spend doing just about anything else. In this case, a bit of prevention goes a long way.