Identity Theft Prevention Tips

There is no 100% failsafe cure against becoming a victim of identity theft, but if it happens to you, you need to take action and take it quickly. It is very important to know where and how to report an identity theft crime. Although the identity thieves are difficult to track down, every minute that you delay reporting it makes it just that harder to find them, so time is of the essence.

At First Suspicion

If you have reason to suspect that you have become a victim of identity theft, you need to take the following steps as quickly as possible:

• Call each of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion), explain your situation and ask them to put a fraud alert on your credit report.

• Immediately close all accounts that you think have been used or tampered with in some way. Do this even if you don't know how much money or how many transactions have been done, as long as you have a valid reason to suspect that the account has been compromised.

• Call your local police department, as well as the police department in another city if you can determine that the fraud occurred in a different city. File reports at both police departments. Having filed a police report will be important if the thieves are found since then they can be prosecuted. It is also going to be important to have filed a police report as further proof that you may be a victim when you contact your credit card companies to report it.

• Make contact with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to report it and file a complaint. The FTC maintains a database that is accessible to law enforcement officials about the crime of identity theft.

Again, taking action as soon as you suspect identity theft will help to minimize and perhaps stop any further charges you may have to dispute and untangle.

The Next Step

The repair process to restore your good identity and credit rating can literally take years, so you should get started as quickly as possible on the task of restoring and reclaiming your identity. Realize that just because you have been an identity theft victim once does not prevent it from happening to you again, so you are going to want to take steps to protect yourself.

The following list of things are items that you may also want to pursue, both for your own benefit as well as to help make sure that other do not become a victim:

• Monitor your credit reports as often as possible, doing so will allow you to catch mistakes and discrepancies quickly. Checking your credit report at least twice yearly is not too often.

• Communicate with your credit card issuers to resolve fraudulent charges and prevent further charges. Working together, you and your credit card company may help to prosecute any suspects charged.

• Take an active stand against identity thieves by cooperating with and working with the police and prosecutors to ensure thieves are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

• Learn about all the various ways to protect yourself from becoming a victim again.

• Purchase a shredder and shred all old papers and documents when you get rid of them. The trash is the number one place criminals find information needed to steal your identity.

Although it may seem strange to have to fight to restore your own identity, you need to take this step and to continue to be assertive about it. Just one case of identity theft where you are the victim can ruin your hard earned credit reputation virtually overnight. You need to religiously check your credit report on a regular basis to reduce your chances of ever again becoming a victim.