My Identity Stolen?

What Should I Do When My Identity Was Stolen?

‘My identity was stolen’ is one of the complaints that are heard more and more often these days. This happens when the wrong people get access to your personal information, such as the social security number, drivers' license, bank account, credit card. There are a few steps that must be followed in order to diminish the effects of this crime.

First of all you have to alert the police. You can’t just say ‘My identity was stolen’ and let the bank alone handle it. This is a very serious crime and the one who committed it has to bear all the burden of the law. Alert the bank, make sure they prevent the thieves from opening accounts and making money transfers in your name. Close all your credit and debit cards, request for your social security number to be changed. You also need to report the infraction in order to help those who take care of this matter better do their jobs and catch the perpetrators. Try to remember all the things you have done and see if you can figure how they entered in possession of your information.

You have to act really quickly and don’t let any second pass without announcing what you are going through since the moment you find out about the fraud. Get a very clear picture of the damage and try as hard as you can to avoid paying all the money you did not spend. You have to check it with specialists, as well as with law enforcement.

So if your question is what to do when my identity was stolen, the answer is to ask for help, but even more importantly, to prevent this from happening. This is very easy, since there are services that monitor your accounts and give you information whenever any change intervenes. One example is the Lifelock.com credit protection service. Another way of keeping your money safe is by monitoring your annual activity and supervising all the transactions you have made. This way you will know if someone else but you has ever accessed your account. An easy way of doing that is by subscribing for a free trial credit report on Freecreditreport.com.