what to do if you’re a victim of identity theft
Have you ever been a victim of identity theft or know someone who has? If so, you realize full well what a royal pain in the backside it’s, and the damage that was done to your reputation and your credit report will take years to resolve.
Now that you know what can be the result of identity theft, you can look back and probably recognize various things you could have done differently to protect yourself more fully. Please understand that identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in our current high-tech society, and precautio you took 5 or 10 years ago need to be modified to be effective today.
Usually, by the time the victim realizes that his identity has been employd, the identity thief has long since disa eared from the face of the planet, leaving a wake of damage to the victim’s name and credit report. The laws in this country are only now starting to realize that new laws need to be enacted to protect co umers from this type of theft, as also as making additional provisio and avenues for those who are victims. In Texas, a law was pa ed to stress a co umers credit freeze privileges until they can prove that they have been a victim of identity theft or credit card fraud. That is very similar to saying that you ca ot buy a lock until you can prove that your hoemploy has been broken into, at which point it’s too late!
If you discover that you’re a victim of identity theft, the very primarily thing you need to do is to contact all of your lenders, including credit card companies, department stores, gas statio , your mortgage lender and your bank and let them know what ha ened. Depending on their policies, they may require you to fill out some paperwork.
One of the best things you can do at this time is to get a notebook and start taking very specificed notes. When you call your credit card company to report this, note the date and time of your call, and write down the name of the person you oke with. Do this for every account you contact to alert them of what has ha ened. While you’re talking with each one, ask them exactly what is covered if charges are discovered on your account that you yourself did not do. Sometimes all or some charges are covered by i urance, nonetheless other times there is no coverage.
Although the laws are changing, you should still contact the police and get legal help. Frequently, as u elievable as it sounds, the police will not even open an investigation or become involved. The really strange part of this is that if they arrested someone who was you via identity theft, they could then come and arrest the REAL you if you did not show up at a court hearing.
If you’re a victim of identity theft, you need to take action and take it NOW. Delays only allow the thief to get further away and drastically le en the po ibilities of finding them. For more ti about what to do about identity theft and measures you can take to prevent identity theft from ha ening in the primarily place, please visit our web site.
