Thursday, January 25th, 2007...7:52 am...by:
What To Do if You Suspect Identity Theft: Step Four
If you ask a victim of identity theft (and their numbers are growing), there is really no easy way to deal with the intrusion. Many of them say the feelings are similar to the feelings of someone who has had their house robbed, except on a much larger scale.
It can take years to completely recover and most of that time will be very frustrating. On a positive note, credit agencies and law enforcement are developing better methods for dealing with identity theft and better ways to help the victims.
There are four main steps that you should take if you have become a victim of identity theft. Let’s recap what we have so far:
- The first step was to contact a credit reporting agency and notify them.
- The second step was close all suspicious accounts.
- Step three is to file a formal complaint with the US FTC.
Finally, here is the fourth step you should take:
File a police report with the local authorities. When you go to file this report, take the FTC ID Theft complaint form and give a copy of that to the police. Also, make sure that you get a copy of the police report when you are done.
Then, if a creditor requests proof of the crime, you can send them a copy of the police report.
Additionally, there is a section on the ID Theft Report which is entitled “Law Enforcement Report”. Ask the officer to sign that section. If he/she has questions, you can refer them to the US FTC’s website. It has a special section for Law Enforcement.
Keep all of this information in a safe location (possibly in a safe-deposit box at your local bank). Then you are sure it will be available when you need it.
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2 Comments
September 19th, 2007 at 5:24 am
That is a good four ways to do when on idendity theft. Much useful for some organisation to identify the theft.Thank you
November 17th, 2007 at 8:45 am
We are glad you liked it, Patrick. Thanks for the comment
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