What To Do If You Are a Victim of Identity Theft

1. Contact the fraud departments of any one of the three consumer reporting companies to place a fraud alert on your credit report. A fraud alert tells creditors to follow certain procedures before open any new accounts.
2. Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Use the ID Theft Affidavit (found on the FTC web site, see below) when disputing new unauthorized accounts.
3. File your complaint with the FTC. You may print a copy of your complaint to provide important standardized information for your police report..
4. File a report with your local police or police in the community where the identity theft took place. Give the police a copy of your FTC ID Theft complaint form. Get a copy of the police report (or, at least, the police report number).

See more on the Federal Trade Commission web site at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/ .