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If I have become a victim of Identity 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. Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report the situation, whether, online, by telephone toll-free at 1-877-ID THEFT (877-438-4338) or TDD at 202-326-2502, or by mail to Consumer Response Center, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580.
Under the 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 credit fraud.
You may also need to contact other credit agencies for other types of identity theft.
Call the fraud units of the three principal Credit Reporting companies. 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 issued 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).
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