Things People Don’t Know About Identity Theft
Though state and federal laws has made it easier to prevent identity theft, it is still up to us to keep an eye out for fraud and put an end to it. Along with havoc it brings into the victim’s life, the damage identity theft causes can take years to undo.
The first thing to do when suspecting identity theft
If you suspect or know for sure your personal information is used by an identity thieve, contact your credit provider and ask them to place a security freeze or security flag on your account. This measure will prevent potential or your current creditors from raising credit limits or opening a new account in your name without verifying the requested action with you personally. A security freeze will not prevent collection agencies and your current creditors from accessing your credit information. But this access will be denied to the creditors you don’t currently work with.
Monitoring as a way to detect identity theft early
Checking out your credit reports from all the three of the major credit bureaus is absolutely crucial for detecting identity theft as soon as possible. Creditors don’t necessarily report to all the three of these bureaus. If you monitor your credit reports from only one bureau, you are most likely to remain unaware of becoming an identity thieve victim, until you start getting refused for credits. That will happen in case your identity thief has opened a line of credit with a lender that reports to only one or two of the credit bureaus. Check our regularly all the three reports for the accuracy of information they contain. From annualcreditreport.com you can get one free report from every bureau once in 12 months.
Other applications of identity theft
Apart from financial application, which is covered in media the most, your personal information is exploited by identity thieves in other ways, too. Medical care is one of such ways. Your insurance information may be used to get medical care. What makes medical identity theft so dangerous is the inaccurate medical information, entered into your medical files, that may result in inappropriate medical treatment. You can detect medical identity theft by closely monitoring the forms, “explanation of benefits”, sent by your insurance company. You can also monitor your insurance claims online on the website of your insurance company.
Criminal identity theft, another type of identity theft, is more difficult to detect and remedy. In this case your personal information is given by the thief to law enforcement and you “obtain” a criminal record. There are “passports”, issued by some states today, to be presented to law enforcement by identity theft victims, if detained.
