Take Steps To Recover From Identity Theft
Immediate Actions
- Order a free credit freeze from a credit bureau. Make sure no one else can access your credit reports.
- A credit freeze will stop all credit inquiries until the freeze is lifted with a security pin number.
- A credit freeze will not impact your credit score. It will add another layer of personalized security which will help stop any further use of your credit.
- Here is the Security Freeze page for Experian which let you apply the credit freeze online: Experian Security Freeze Page
- A police report can be helpful in correcting fraudulent activity in your accounts.
- An official police report may be required for some organizations and creditors to legally recognize your identity theft situation, allowing you to take full advantage of any available benefits to correct the problems.
- Reporting the identity theft to the police department can also be helpful for the authorities to keep track of other similar incidents which may assist them in finding the identity thief.
- Make sure to accurately describe the situation and provide copies of all relevant documentation of events such as bank/credit statements, phone records, credit reports.
- Reporting the identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will provide you with a formal filing of the identity theft.
- Some creditors may request an identity theft report from the FTC in order to stop or correct inaccurate credit report entries.
- Here is the link to the FTC page where you can file a report: Federal Trade Commission Website
- Call each account that has been compromised by identity theft immediately to stop any new charges from occurring by freezing the account.
- Make sure to also alert the company about your the identity theft to make sure your information does not get used to open additional credit lines or accounts.
- Keep monitoring other accounts that have not been compromised by identity theft to make sure that they also are not also used for fraudulent transactions.
- Ask each account to turn on full monitoring and authorization alerts for transactions if the account cannot be frozen.
Things To Keep In Mind
- It is important not to panic over identity theft. Remember that there are measures to reverse the impact of identity theft.
- Stay focused and complete the steps necessary to get through the recovery steps of identity theft. All of the work may be intimidating, but none of it is too difficult of a task for you to handle.
- If you feel too distressed to handle this situation and these tasks on your own, contact Identity Theft Recovery Center directly:
- Keep in mind that you do not need to fight this battle alone.
- There are a lot of resources and communities you can count on to help with identity theft. Identity Theft Recover Center can help you get connected with all the resources you need.
- Identity Theft Recover Center has credit/debt experts, attorneys, paralegals, and customer service representatives to assist you with all of your identity theft needs.
- Vigilance in this situation can go a long way to help you get through all the steps.
- Stay updated on the latest identity theft threats.
- Keep checking Identity Theft Recovery Center’s website to see the newest guidelines and news regarding identity theft.
Click here to read our latest articles and news on identity theft threats
- If you are feeling emotionally distressed by your predicament, you should know that it is normal for people to feel this way. Your privacy has been compromised and you are feeling the stress of not knowing how this will affect your future.
- Keep moving forward with the steps we have made available here to help you deal with the distress.
- Once you start to make some progress, you will feel begin to feel relief and normalcy.
Giving up is exactly what the financial organizations and identity thieves want you to do. Get the right team together to help yourself to completely recover from all the effects of identity theft!
Identity Theft Prevention
- Keep updated on your credit report. You can use free credit report services such as annualcreditreport.com to pull your credit report and carefully look through it to make sure there are no new fraudulent charges.
- Get relief from fraudulent charges that are already on your credit report (Click here to learn how).
- If you have filed all of the proper paperwork and information, a financial organization should be able to correct all of the fraudulent transactions which appear on your credit report to restore your credit to your normal credit score.
- If a financial organization is not cooperating with you to remove fraudulent charges or incorrect credit report entries, contact Identity Theft Recovery Center here:
- The more you know about the methods people are using to reach your personal data, the better you can manage your data to avoid identity theft traps.
- Criminals are creative and will come up with new ways to reach your data.
- Research new devices and websites as much as possible before using them to make sure you are sharing data with secure sources. Many virus protection software packages can help you secure your computers, laptops, and cell phones, but other “smart home” type devices such as Amazon Echo can be more difficult to secure.
- Use virus protection software on your computers.
- Use virus protection on your mobile devices.
- Examine your financial statements carefully to make sure there are no fraudulent charges. The sooner you identify fraudulent activity, the more you can discourage identity thieves from more fraudulent activity.
- Avoid any places which you have done transactions in the past which may have put your data at risk.
- Try to narrow down who you were making any transactions or providing information to in the past that may have put your information at risk or used your data fraudulently.
- Find out where any previous organizations you use have had data breaches and make sure your accounts with them are safe.
- Identify any individuals that may have access to your mail or computers or any other personal information to see if they have used your personal data. Insiders constitute 34% of all identity theft cases. Make sure that your personal contacts are all safe to leave your information with.
- Make sure your personal mail is secure. 53% of all identity theft cases are still caused by non-digital sources of data.
- Share what you have learned about identity theft and protecting yourself with others close to you including your family.
- Each of your family members may also face the same identity theft risks that you are facing in your environment.
- Make sure that your children have credit freezes applied if they are not using their credit yet.