If Your Personal Information Has Been Lost or Stolen
If you’ve lost personal information or identification,
or if it has been stolen from you, you can minimize
the potential for identity theft if you act quickly.
- Financial accounts: Close accounts, like
credit card and bank accounts, immediately.
When you open new accounts, place passwords
on them. Avoid using your mother’s maiden
name, your birth
date, the last four
digits of your SSN
or your phone number, or a series of consecutive numbers.
- Social Security number: Call the toll-free
fraud number of any of the three nationwide
consumer reporting companies and place
an initial fraud alert on your credit reports. An alert can help stop someone
from opening new credit accounts in
your name.
- Driver’s license/other government-issued
identification: Contact the agency that issued
the license or other identification document.
Follow its procedures to cancel the document
and to get a replacement. Ask the agency to
flag your file so that no one else can get a
license or any other identification document
from them in your name.
Once you have taken these precautions, watch
for signs that your information is being misused,
and that your identity has been stolen.
If your information
has been misused, file
a report about the theft
with the police, and file
a complaint with the
FTC, as well. If another
crime was committed – for
example, if your purse or
wallet was stolen or your
house or car was broken
into – report it to the
police immediately.
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