Have you been a victim of an identity theft? It could have been that your purse was stolen and someone used some of your credit cards. Maybe, you’re a victim of mail theft and they opened up a ton of accounts in your name? Either way, the basic steps you need to follow are here.
1. Call the police and file a police report. Certainly, you don’t need to call 911, unless the theft is in process. Nevertheless, even if it has been a few days and you just discovered the initial theft, you should still report it to the police. It helps for crime reporting and it establishes a paper trail for you. That way if you need to prove you were a victim of identity theft you do have the paper trail.
2. Notify all three credit reporting agencies and have them place a fraud alert on your reports. This protects you from the possibility of credit score erosion and it prevents the thief from opening any more accounts in your name.
3. Personally contact all your creditors (yes ALL of them). You should contact them by phone so you can verify any possible fraudulent charges and change account numbers if necessary.
4. Often, you never know exactly what the thief stole or how he or she may use it. To be safe, you should change all your passwords and PIN numbers on all your accounts.
5. If you have to close any accounts – whether made by the thief or stolen by him or her – make sure the creditor notes on your credit report that the account was closed by customer request.
The last step is to ensure you are protected from future theft. I have heard stories of thieves stealing someone’s wallet and then going back to their house to steal their mail a few days later (assuming they had new credit cards sent to them…).
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*Identity Theft – Ways to Protect your Money!