Your Financial Statements.

Monitor your financial accounts and billing statements regularly, looking closely for charges you did not make.

Your Credit Reports

Credit reports contain information about you, including what accounts you have and how you pay your bills. The law requires each of the major nationwide consumer reporting agencies to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. If an identity thief is opening credit accounts in your name, these accounts are likely to show up on your credit report. To find out, order a copy of your credit reports.

Once you get your reports, review them carefully. Look for inquiries from companies you haven’t contacted, accounts you didn’t open, and debts on your accounts that you can’t explain. Check that information, like your Social Security number, address(es), name or initials, and employers are correct. If you find fraudulent or inaccurate information, get it removed. See Correcting Fraudulent Information in Credit Reports to learn how.

Continue to check your credit reports periodically, especially for the first year after you discover the identity theft, to make sure no new fraudulent activity has occurred.

Please do not send the FTC your printed ID Theft Complaint Form, ID Theft Affidavit, police report, credit reports, financial information, or any other documents relating to your case. The FTC does not keep these materials on file or forward them to law enforcement agencies. If a law enforcement agency decides to open an investigation on your case, they will contact you directly and let you know what documents they need.

The Identity Theft Report is a detailed police report that gives enough information about the crime for the credit reporting companies and the businesses involved to verify that you’re a victim of ID theft. When you file your Identity Theft Report with the credit reporting companies or creditors, you get several important legal protections that will help you recover from ID theft. However, the credit reporting companies and businesses can decline your Identity Theft Report if it does not contain enough detail.

The ID Theft Affidavit is a less detailed version of an Identity Theft Report. If you request copies of applications or transaction documents related to your ID theft from companies that opened fraudulent accounts for the thief, they may require you to give them an ID Theft Affidavit and a police report before they give the records to you. And, if you don’t want to file a police report, you can use an ID Theft Affidavit instead of an Identity Theft Report to request that companies remove your responsibility for debts where an identity thief opened a new account in your name. However, an ID Theft Affidavit doesn’t give you as many legal rights as you get with an Identity Theft Report.

via www.ftc.gov

To order your free annual report from one or all the national consumer reporting companies, visit www.annualcreditreport.com, call toll-free 877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. You can print the form from ftc.gov/credit. Do not contact the three nationwide consumer reporting companies individually; they provide free annual credit reports only through www.annualcreditreport.com, 877-322-8228, and Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

Under federal law, you’re also entitled to a free report if a company takes adverse action against you, such as denying your application for credit, insurance or employment, and you request your report within 60 days of receiving notice of the action. The notice will give you the name, address, and phone number of the consumer reporting company that supplied the information about you. You’re also entitled to one free report a year if you’re unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days; you’re on welfare; or your report is inaccurate because of fraud. Otherwise, a consumer reporting company may charge you up to $9.50 for any other copies of your report.

To buy a copy of your report, contact:

Equifax: 800-685-1111; www.equifax.com

Experian: 888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742); www.experian.com

TransUnion: 800-916-8800; www.transunion.com

From www.ftc.gov

The most common way for criminals to get credit card information is through phishing, which involves a fake email that appears to be sent from your credit card company. Normally, this fake email states that there was an error with your account, or that it was accessed by unauthorized personnel and needs your attention.

Spotting fake emails isn’t hard to do - as long as you know what to look for. The most obvious hint for most, is the fact that they don’t even have a credit card from the company that has sent the email. For others, the link is what gives the fake email away. Anytime you get an email from a credit card that you believe to be fake, you should always hover your mouse over the link, then “right click” the link with the mouse and select “view source”. If the link is indeed fake, the website address that comes up will be something other than that of a credit card company.

The criminals don’t want you to look at the source for their website, as they simply want you to click on the link before you look at anything else. Once you have clicked on the link, you’ll arrive at a website that is usually an exact copy of a credit card website. Fake sites normally include everything that the actual site does, including the logos and banners. Even for the most amateur of credit card criminals, web pages like this are very easy to create.

Those of you who have fell victim to this scam, probably realized what you have done little too late. Once you have entered in your credit card information, you have done exactly what the criminals wanted and put yourself in violation of credit card fraud and identity theft. Once the criminal has your social security number and credit card information, he is more than likely to use that information to go on a shopping spree - stealing your money and running up your account.

With the old system, it took weeks to notify stores of the fraudulent activity. “Thieves are stopped in their tracks,” State Democratic Rep. Helen Giddings said. “No longer will identity thieves be able to profit from their crimes by passing bad checks for weeks.”

read more | digg story

Identity theft, which made up 32 percent of total complaints received. Internet fraud-related losses averaged slightly more than $2,700 per person victimized, the FTC said.

read more | digg story

The company urged its customers to monitor their credit and debit cards for unusual transactions and report any problems to authorities. It also told customers to beware of e-mails and calls from people claiming to represent Hannaford and seeking any personal information.


read more | digg story

Credit freeze laws vary from state to state.  In some states, anyone can freeze their credit file, while in other states, only identity theft victims can.  The cost of placing, temporarily lifting, and removing a credit freeze also varies.  Many states make credit freezes free for identity theft victims, while other consumers pay a fee – typically $10.  It’s also important to know that these costs are for each of the credit reporting agencies.  If you want to freeze your credit, it would mean placing the freeze with each of three credit reporting agencies, and paying the fee to each one. 

You can find more information about credit freeze laws specific to your state by clicking here, including information on how to place one.

From www.ftc.gov

Unfortunately, many consumers learn that their identity has been stolen after some damage has been done.

• You may find out when bill collection agencies contact you for overdue debts you never incurred.
• You may find out when you apply for a mortgage or car loan and learn that problems with your credit history are holding up the loan.
• You may find out when you get something in the mail about an apartment you never rented, a house you never bought, or a job you never held.

From www.ftc.gov

• accounts you didn’t open and debts on your accounts that you can’t explain.
• fraudulent or inaccurate information on your credit reports, including accounts and personal information, like your Social Security number, address(es), name or initials, and employers.
• failing to receive bills or other mail. Follow up with creditors if your bills don’t arrive on time. A missing bill could mean an identity thief has taken over your account and changed your billing address to cover his tracks. receiving credit cards that you didn’t apply for.
• being denied credit, or being offered less favorable credit terms, like a high interest rate, for no apparent reason.
• getting calls or letters from debt collectors or businesses about merchandise or services you didn’t buy.

From www.ftc.gov

Skilled identity thieves may use a variety of methods to get hold of your information, including:

Dumpster Diving. They rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with your personal information on it.
 
Skimming. They steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card.
 
Phishing. They pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information.
 
Changing Your Address. They divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form.

Old-Fashioned Stealing. They steal wallets and purses; mail, including bank and credit card statements; pre-approved credit offers; and new checks or tax information. They steal personnel records, or bribe employees who have access.
 
Pretexting.  They use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources.  For more information about pretexting, click here.

Via www.ftc.gov

First of all, LifeLock asks the credit bureaus to set fraud alerts on your behalf through their automated systems (the alerts are set within an hour). This allows for immediate protection against identity theft. Then every 90 days or so they ask the credit bureaus to do it again.

Next LifeLock requests that your name be removed from pre-approved credit card and junk mail lists and continues making the requests as they expire.

Getting rid of the pre-approved credit card lists may be worth the money in and of itself. Think about it - if you never received the credit card offers in the mail would you have ever applied for that card? I know I wouldn’t. So I guess LifeLock kind of protects us from ourselves.

For more information visit www.lifelock.com

An initial fraud alert stays on your credit report for at least 90 days. You may ask that an initial fraud alert be placed on your credit report if you suspect you have been, or are about to be, a victim of identity theft. An initial alert is appropriate if your wallet has been stolen or if you’ve been taken in by a “phishing” scam. With an initial fraud alert, potential creditors must use what the law refers to as “reasonable policies and procedures” to verify your identity before issuing credit in your name.  However, the steps potential creditors take to verify your identity may not always alert them that the applicant is not you. 

When you place an initial fraud alert on your credit report, you’re entitled to order one free credit report from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies, and, if you ask, only the last four digits of your Social Security number will appear on your credit reports.

An extended fraud alert stays on your credit report for seven years. You can have an extended alert placed on your credit report if you’ve been a victim of identity theft and you provide the consumer reporting company with an Identity Theft Report. An automated Identity Theft Report, such as the printed ID Theft Complaint available from this Web site, should be sufficient to obtain an extended fraud alert. With an extended fraud alert, potential creditors must actually contact you, or meet with you in person, before they issue you credit.

When you place an extended alert on your credit report, you’re entitled to two free credit reports within twelve months from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies. In addition, the consumer reporting companies will remove your name from marketing lists for pre-screened credit offers for five years unless you ask them to put your name back on the list before then.

To place either of these alerts on your credit report, or to have them removed, you will be required to provide appropriate proof of your identity: that may include your Social Security number, name, address and other personal information requested by the consumer reporting company.

As mentioned, depending on the type of fraud alert you place, potential creditors must either contact you or take reasonable steps to verify your identity.  This may cause some delays if you’re trying to obtain credit. To compensate for possible delays, you may wish to include a cell phone number, where you can be reached easily, in your alert. Remember to keep all contact information in your alert current.

From www.ftc.gov

The FTC estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year. In fact, you or someone you know may have experienced some form of identity theft.

The crime takes many forms. Identity thieves may rent an apartment, obtain a credit card, or establish a telephone account in your name. You may not find out about the theft until you review your credit report or a credit card statement and notice charges you didn’t make—or until you’re contacted by a debt collector.

Identity theft is serious. While some identity theft victims can resolve their problems quickly, others spend hundreds of dollars and many days repairing damage to their good name and credit record.  Some consumers victimized by identity theft may lose out on job opportunities, or be denied loans for education, housing or cars because of negative information on their credit reports. In rare cases, they may even be arrested for crimes they did not commit.

From www.ftc.gov