Reporting Identity Theft

Identity theft just gets easier and easier for the criminals that perpetrate your personal information.  So every person really needs to know how to respond to an identity thief, considering we’re all at risk.  Especially considering many people don’t really even know where to turn when they find their identity has been stolen.  So here are a few steps you should take after you’ve become a victim of identity theft.

First off realize that no one can tell if your identity has been stolen, besides you.  There’s no iron clad service to send you a notice when you’ve become a victim.  You and you alone have to take the steps necessary to protect yourself.  That means knowing when you’ve become a victim by keeping track of credit activity, and instances where your social security number has been used.

Once you’ve found yourself to be a victim of identity theft, the first step is filing a police report.  That way you have on record that you feel you’ve become an id theft victim, and that you are taking the steps to reverse the damage.  Having that on file is invaluable when it comes to dealing with credit card companies, or banks that have taken out loans in your name unintentionally.

You want to go to you local post office as well to report the fraud.  This is more of a preventative action for the future, to try and ensure that you don’t become a victim again.  The Post Office can’t do much about reversing what has happened, but by having you on file as a previous victim, the task of trying to steal your identity again is made that much harder.

Contact the three major credit bureaus and file a complaint.  This way you contest what has gone against you so that you can have it cleared up off your report.  Plus this way you will get a free credit report from all the bureaus, allowing you to double check and see how far the identity theft has progressed.  This way you’re better armed to reverse what’s gone wrong.