So, you might know of someone in your family or a friend, who has stolen your identity or that of someone you are close to or know personally. What do you do to warn others about them and how do you protect yourself if you have not yet been a victim?

You will want to let others know about the problem and inform them to get a copy of their credit report so that they can check it to see if everything is accurate. If not, they will have a lot of work ahead of them, but the problem can be dealt with. It is very important to report any theft to the police. Although the thief might be someone you know and that you don’t want to see arrested, you won’t be able to remove the erroneous entries without a police report. Creditors will most likely ask for a copy before removing credit that was not initiated by you.

How can you protect yourself before becoming a victim? Simply put, use caution by locking your financial papers and checkbook in a LOCKED filing cabinet; having your mail held when you leave home rather than asking a neighbor to get it for you; keep your credit cards to yourself; don’t give out your PIN numbers; monitor accounts online and question/report anything you are not sure of; check your credit reports at least twice a year; having mail delivered to a locked box (like a PO Box) rather than just a mail box; shredding receipts and important documents before throwing them away; memorizing social security numbers and keeping the cards locked away. Signing up for an identity theft prevention service is not a bad idea either.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Articles Concerning Identity Theft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.