What To Do if You Suspect Identity Theft: Step Three

There are four main steps that you should take. 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.

Now, here is the third step:

File a formal complaint with the US FTC.

Completing this step will help you when you go to fill out your police report. This information will help law enforcement track down the bad guys. It won’t necessarily put your life back in order, but it will make you feel a little better if they are caught and punished.

In addition, the FTC can forward your formal complaint to other agencies in the government for additional action. This will also serve to investigate the companies involved in your complaint to make sure they did not violate the law.

You can visit the US FTC’s website to file your complaint or you can call them on the phone at the FTC’s Identity Theft Hotline, toll-free: 1-877-ID-THEFT (438-4338); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. You can also write a formal complaint letter and send it to:

Identity Theft Clearinghouse
Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580