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Advices for Victims of ID Theft



Guidance for Consumers and Business


 

What Should You Do If you've Become A Victim Of ID-Theft?


If you think you've become a victim of identity theft or fraud, act immediately to minimize the damage to your personal funds and financial accounts, as well as your reputation.

Here's a list -- based in part on a checklist prepared by the California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG) and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse -- of some actions that you should take right away:

1. Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report the situation, whether Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act , the Federal Trade Commission is responsible for receiving and processing complaints from people who believe they may be victims of identity theft, providing informational materials to those people, and referring those complaints to appropriate entities, including the major credit reporting agencies and law enforcement agencies. For further information, please check the FTC's identity theft Web pages .

You can also call your local office of the FBI or the U.S. Secret Service to report crimes relating to identity theft and fraud.

You may also need to contact other agencies for other types of identity theft:

1. Your local office of the Postal Inspection Service if you suspect that an identity thief has submitted a change-of-address form with the Post Office to redirect your mail, or has used the mail to commit frauds involving your identity;

2. The Social Security Administration if you suspect that your Social Security number is being fraudulently used (call 800-269-0271 to report the fraud);

3. The Internal Revenue Service if you suspect the improper use of identification information in connection with tax violations (call 1-800-829-0433 to report the violations).

Call the fraud units of the three principal credit reporting companies:

Equifax : 1. To report fraud, call (800) 525-6285 or write to P.O. Box 740250, Atlanta, GA 30374-0250.
2. To order a copy of your credit report ($8 in most states), write to P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241, or call (800) 685-1111 .
3. To dispute information in your report, call the phone number provided on your credit report.
4. To opt out of pre-approved offers of credit, call (888) 567-8688 or write to Equifax Options, P.O. Box 740123, Atlanta GA 30374-0123.

Experian (formerly TRW): 1. To report fraud, call (888) EXPERIAN or (888) 397-3742 , fax to (800) 301-7196, or write to P.O. Box 1017, Allen, TX 75013.
2. To order a copy of your credit report ($8 in most states): P.O. Box 2104, Allen TX 75013, or call (888) EXPERIAN.
3. To dispute information in your report, call the phone number provided on your credit report.
4. To opt out of pre-approved offers of credit and marketing lists, call (800) 353-0809 or (888) 5OPTOUT or write to P.O. Box 919, Allen, TX 75013.

Trans Union : 1. To report fraud, call (800) 680-7289 or write to P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92634.
2. To order a copy of your credit report ($8 in most states), write to P.O. Box 390, Springfield, PA 19064 or call: (800) 888-4213 .
3. To dispute information in your report, call the phone number provided on your credit report.
4. To opt out of pre-approved offers of credit and marketing lists, call (800) 680-7293 or (888) 5OPTOUT or write to P.O Box 97328, Jackson, MS 39238.

Contact all creditors with whom your name or identifying data have been fraudulently used. For example, you may need to contact your long-distance telephone company if your long-distance calling card has been stolen or you find fraudulent charges on your bill.

Contact all financial institutions where you have accounts that an identity thief has taken over or that have been created in your name but without your knowledge. You may need to cancel those accounts, place stop-payment orders on any outstanding checks that may not have cleared, and change your Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card, account, and Personal Identification Number (PIN).

Contact the major check verification companies (listed in the CalPIRG-Privacy Rights Clearinghouse checklist) if you have had checks stolen or bank accounts set up by an identity thief. In particular, if you know that a particular merchant has received a check stolen from you, contact the verification company that the merchant uses:

1. CheckRite -- (800) 766-2748
2. ChexSystems -- (800) 428-9623 (closed checking accounts)
3. CrossCheck -- (800) 552-1900
4. Equifax -- (800) 437-5120
5. National Processing Co. (NPC) -- (800) 526-5380
6. SCAN -- (800) 262-7771
7. TeleCheck -- (800) 710-9898


Where Can I Find Out More About Identity Theft And Fraud?


A number of government and private organizations have information about various aspects of identity theft and fraud: how it can occur, what you can do about it, and how to guard your privacy. To help you learn more about the problem and its solutions, we've attached a list of Web sites that you might find interesting and informative on identity theft and related topics.

[Note: All Web sites to which these pages cross-link are included as a service for the reader. Cross-links to non-governmental sites do not constitute an endorsement or approval of their content, or of the organizations responsible for that content, by the Department of Justice.]


Government - United States:


California Department of Consumer Affairs
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal Trade Commission - Congressional Testimony
Federal Trade Commission - Fighting Back Against ID Theft
United States Postal Inspection Service
United States Secret Service


Canada:


Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner


Non-Government - United States:


American Association of Retired Persons
• Better Business Bureau - Alert
Better Business Bureau -- Eastern Massachusetts/Maine/Vermont
CalPIRG
Center for Democracy and Technology
National Association of Attorneys General
National Consumers League
National Fraud Information Center
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse



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