What to Do If Your Identity is Stolen

Here are two simple suggestions from Kiplinger's on what to do if your identity is stolen:

• If your personal information has been compromised because of a security breach, check your credit cards for suspicious charges.

• If your name and Social Security number are stolen, contact the three credit bureaus and put a fraud alert on your account, which requires lenders to verify your identification. Call the Federal Trade Commission's ID Theft Hotline (877-438-4338) and visit the agency's identity-theft page for instructions on reporting ID theft.

After writing on this topic for some time (including the useful posts How Long Does It Take to Clear Your Name if Your ID is Stolen? and Identity Theft Not that Big of a Deal (And What to Do If You're a Victim)), it seems like one key to how painful the loss will be for you -- at least one key that you can control -- is the speed at which you contact the appropriate organizations and tell them about the theft. The faster, the better. So once you suspect your identity has been stolen or mis-used, don't delay in acting. The sooner you stop it in its tracks, the sooner (most likely) the thief will move on to an easier mark.

Comments

[Amateur Investment]

Don't steal my identity.

[Argon]

Step one: Make sure you've taken your meds; you might have stolen your own identity!

[J Martin]

Good advice to follow.