subject: Dodging The Next Identity Theft Bullet [print this page] Have you been a victim of identity theft? If you have and you survived it, you should protect your loved ones from being the next victim. Aside from telling them how you got through it, you should tell them how to be protected from it. In doing so, you must make sure that you are now more aware of how an identity can be stolen by arming yourself with information about it.
Now that you know that one of the ways you can find out that your identity may have been stolen is through your consumer credit report, tell people you care about to monitor their reports. If they find any suspicious activity in their reports, they should go directly to a credit bureau to put up a fraud alert. This fraud alert will be up for 90 days where the bureau does the initial investigation.
They will then receive a mailed copy of your rights. As soon as they receive this, contact the credit bureau for a free copy of their credit report and ask them to extend the fraud alert for seven years. They can cancel it as soon as the matter has been resolved. Tell them not respond to companies who promise to repair credit report in the quickest way possible because they may end up being a victim of yet another fraud. They can also ask the three major credit bureaus to freeze their credit report so no one can receive them except if they give their permission.
Tell them to report the incident to local law enforcement so they can do an investigation as well. Identity theft is a serious offense and will be taken seriously by any law enforcement agency. They should provide the law enforcers with all documented evidence that the victims have in their possession. They should also report to the Federal Trade Commission so that FTC can share the information they have against frauds to the police who are investigating the case. Be sure to have the victim provide the police report number.
Other than the tips previously mentioned, you can also be safer if you check your consumer credit report regularly. You should also "opt out" of pre-approved orders of credit from all three major credit bureaus. Have your name removed from mail marketing list by the Direct Marketing Association. Have your numbers be removed from Telemarketing lists as well. A copy of your earnings report should be ordered from the Social Security Administration. Your ID score should also be checked because your identity that goes with it might possibly be misused.
