Identity Theft


One of the fastest growing crimes in the Unites States is identity theft. Identity theft occurs when a group or individual uses your name, credit card information, social security information, or any of your personal information without your permission, usually to commit fraud. In a frighteningly common situation, the perpetrator(s) will obtain your social security number and use it to fraudulently open credit cards in your name. You may discover that this has happened when you notice a charge on one of your legitimate credit cards, or when one your legitimate credit card issuers sends you a letter stating that some service will be reduced as a result of a negative credit report from one of the three major credit reporting bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). So what should you do?

After something like this happens, you must immediately check your credit reports from all three bureaus. If you've been the victim of identity theft, you may see only charges on your credit card that you did not make, and/or you may see on your credit reports credit cards and loans that you did not authorize. Your credit report may list a fraudulent address for you, possibly listing your true current address as a former address. You should immediately initiate a fraud alert with the credit bureaus. Next, file a report on-line with the Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft Hotline or call them at 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338). Call the local police and file a report with them. You must also as soon as possible call each of the credit card issuers who have fraudulent accounts opened in your name. Ask to speak with someone in the Fraud department and tell them that you have been the victim of identity theft, the account for you was not opened with your permission or knowledge, and that you've notified the FTC and local police. Make sure they close the account and ask them what their procedure is to have any fraudulent accounts removed from your credit report. Ask them specifically if they accept the FTC affidavits or if they have their own form. Make sure you keep a log of all activities pertaining to the identity theft. This includes recording names of people you speak with and the times of the phones calls.

When you write to the credit bureaus make sure that you tell them that you do not want to receive pre-approved credit card offers (you can also call 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567- 8688), and that you do not want your personal information shared for promotional purposes. The addresses are:


Equifax, Inc.
Options
PO Box 740123
Atlanta, GA 30374-0123

Experian
Consumer Opt-Out
701 Experian Parkway
Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion
Marketing List Opt Out
PO Box 97328
Jackson, MS 39288-7328

There are many other steps to take, which are outlined in the FTC document, "ID Theft When Bad Things Happen to Your Good Name" available at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/. This web site also contains much information on how to reduce your chances of becoming an identity theft victim. Following is a listing of useful identity theft related resources:


Other useful law enforcement and law related web sites include:


General advice. Guard your personal information and refuse to ever use your social security number (or credit card information) for identification purposes. Who needs your social security number? Your bank, your employer, the IRS and local tax department, and credit card issuer, and the credit bureaus. No one else! If your employer insists on placing your social security on a company identification card or health insurance card, demand that they use another number. If they refuse, change jobs at the first opportunity! Also report their practice to the FTC . The FTC maintains a database on Identity Theft issues. They should know which companies are part of the problem.



Posted: Friday - December 05, 2003 at 08:24 AM        

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