What to do when Identity is stolen
It is important not to panic when your identity is stolen, since you will need your sense to take the appropriate steps to recover your life. The first step if you become an identity theft is to notify your local authorities immediately and provide all that you are knowledgeable of to the authorities. Next, you will need to visit the FTC Consumer Alert site or Federal Trade Commission Consumer Alert page and report the crime to the government officials who will have a broader reach in finding the perpetrator. At the site, you can report the identity theft crime to the three credit bureaus as well, where for three months the bureaus will place a Fraud Alert on your reports. Unfortunately, the alerts does nothing more than alert creditors that someone has done some legal activities with your information, which creditors may assume that the illegal activities were conducted by you. Thus, Fraud Alerts do nothing, but create more problems and leaves the door open for the perpetrator to continue using your identity.
The Federal Trade Commission may recommend that you request that your banking providers provide you with new 'passwords' and monitor your accounts for a time, however closing the counts and open new accounts might be a better choice. I recommend the ladder, since as a victim, changing the password did nothing, since your emotions is affected once you become a victim of theft and suffering occurs. I left my account open and changed passwords, however I lost respect for the account. It took opening up a new account to relax my mind of the pain and suffering caused by the perpetrator.
Thus, what to do when your identity is stolen is continue the battle to restore your life. It depends on what information the perpetrator stole, but you should report to the Social Security Administration and Department of Motor Vehicle also if you are a victim of identity theft. If you have, credit cards are sure to contact your providers immediately to alert them of the fraud. If the perpetrator took hold of your material information, cancel all of your credit cards immediately. You will also need to keep a watch over your credit reports and statements regularly if you are a victim of identity theft. Keeping watch over your statements and reports will let you know where you stand in the identity theft crime.
The battle will never stop once your identity is stolen. Few identity theft victims have found them self-fighting their credit reports years after the theft occurred. One victim became the target of various crimes committed against his family, including finding bankruptcy on his files when the man had a successful life and had never filed bankruptcy at all.
Under certain circumstances, victims of identity theft may need a new social security number if the perpetrator (s) continues to use their identity. However, new numbers does not mean that you will have a new life. Thus, your previous number may affect the new number, or else the thief is holding your information and may have links to the new number.
To prevent identity theft or becoming the victim of theft you should guard your information with your life. Statistics has shown that millions of people in 2003 alone were victims of identity theft. When identity theft occurs and continues as the victims, we pay for the crime, since services, foods, products et cetera are increased and we pay the cost. The government may be working hard to fight the crime, but in all honesty when the World Wide Web is utilized to commit crimes, it is often difficult since the Internet is World Wide and evidence is often buried in the servers and connections easily. When evidence is buried, it becomes very difficult to uncover the tracks.
Unfortunately, everyone is a potential victim of identity theft. Therefore, we all need to take the steps to protect our identity from everyone, since many of the crimes are committed by friends and family members. Fight back now and learn all you can about identity theft, including how to prevent your self from becoming the next victim.
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