I went to training today and part of the block was Identity Theft. I would say the crime I am most asked about from family and friends is about identity theft. So I figured I would just put the process a victim would follow on here in case in happens to one of you.

Step 1 - Immeidately cancel the or close all accounts that have been compromised. Sounds like common sense but sometimes we are called first and we have to tell the victim to do this.

Step 2 - Call the police. File a report with the police department and make sure you get your DC number. Your credit card company or bank may say they want a copy of the report but the DC# will suffice. Plus, anyone who has tried to obtain a copy of a report knows what kind of a pain it can be.

Step 3 - Obtain and complete an Identity Theft Affidavit - The copy that most businesses, debt collectors and creditors accept can be found at www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

Step 4 - Place a fraud alert with at least one credit bureau/Review credit reports - Obtain your credit report and review it for any other possible fraudulent activity. Be advised that there are 2 types of fraud alerts. Initial and extended. Initial lasts 90 days and an extended lasts for 7 years. Being placed on the latter removes you from receiving pre-screened credit offers in the mail for 5 years and allows you to receive 2 free credit reports a year.

Step 5 - File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission - Either call 1-877-438-4338 (FTC Commission ID Theft Hotline) or go online at www.consumer.gov/idtheft Information pertaining to the theft is entered into the Hotline database. This info is then processed into the Consumer Sentinel Database that is available to Law Enforcement Officers.

Credit Bureaus

Equifax - www.equifax.com 800-525-6285
Experian - www.experian.com 888-397-3742
Trans Union - www.transunion.com 800-680-7289

The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires each major credit bureau to provide customers with a free annual report which can be obtained at www.annualcreditreport.com

Hope this helped.
Joe Murray
Southwest Detectives

Thanks.

This needs a weekly if not daily bump.

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Thanks for the info. I added a link to this thread from the Forum Index sticky.

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