Report Possible Identity Theft

How To Report Possible Identity Theft

It is important for every person in the nation to know how to report possible identity theft. Identity theft is a terrible offense that causes a great deal of financial problems for the people that are affected by the crime. The problems associated with identity theft will generally occur when the theft of the person's personal information is discovered when they try to open a new account or obtain a loan for a new car. If the individual catches the fact that their identity has been stolen quickly, they will be able to report possible identity theft before the criminal is able to do much damage to their credit history. To report possible identity theft, there are several steps that need to be taken to ensure that all of the person's bases are covered.

A person should report possible identity theft as quickly as possible because many criminals are smart enough to take what they can from the accounts that they open very quickly and then get rid of the information so that it cannot be tied to them later. Any accounts that are opened with the fraudulent information are often mailed to addresses that have no connection with the criminal or the victim so the mailing address for the account will not reflect the victim and cannot be traced to the criminal. If you suspect that your personal information has been compromised, you should report possible identity theft to the proper agencies and fill out an identity theft police report so that the criminals can be prosecuted when they are caught.

Steps To Report Possible Identity Theft

To report possible identity theft, the person will need to follow several steps to make sure that they have talked to everyone that they need to talk to about the occurrence and begin fixing the damage to their credit history. The first step that should be taken to report possible identity theft is to contact the companies that have opened the fraudulent account and ask them to close the accounts immediately. By closing the accounts and notifying the company of the identity theft, you can limit your liability for the charges that are made on the account.

The next step to report possible identity theft is to contact the three major credit bureaus and alert them that some of the information that is being reported about your accounts may not be accurate because of the identity theft. If any of the information that is reported to the credit bureaus is found to be inaccurate, the credit bureaus have a legal obligation to remove the inaccurate information from the credit report. The last step to report possible identity theft is to contact the police and let them know that you were the victim of the crime of identity theft so that when the person that compromised your identity is caught, the police can charge them with all the crimes that they have committed and put them away for a long period of time.