What to Do If Your Identity Has Been Stolen

Identity theft has become a serious problem. Every year, there are millions of people who suffer both minor and major identity theft problems at the hands of criminals. If you believe that someone has stolen your personal identification, your personal financial documents, or other information with the intent to commit fraud, you should do something about it right away.

Just about everyone is at risk of having this happen to them and you can never be too sure when it is going to occur. However, if you have become a victim, you need to act quickly in order to reduce the amount of damage that could be caused. Below you will find a list of things that you’d need to get done the moment you realize your identity has been compromised.

Fraud Alert
One of the main things you want to do is make sure that you call your credit bureaus to report a fraud alert on your credit report. This is an alert that will need to be placed on time so that they may properly assist you with your needs as required by law. Fraud alerts can last as little as 90 days and go up to seven years if necessary. Be sure to speak this over with your credit reporting company for confirmation.

Contact Creditors
The next thing you’re going to need to do is make a call to all of your creditors. This is going to need to include places such as your credit card companies, banks, and any other lines of credit that you may have outstanding. You want to immediately make them aware that you have been a victim of identity theft. If you act quickly enough, they may be able to remove any suspicious transactions from your account.

File Police Report
Last but not least, you want to make sure that you file a report with your local police department. You want them to try and find whoever did this to you so that your credit can be restored. It is also important to notify the police so that you can have a paper trail of the crime.

You should also consider the idea of monitoring your credit reports for a while. This will let you know if any other suspicious activities have occurred so that you’re able to act on them right away.