Survival Guide for Stolen Identities

In a widely reported story, an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs had his laptop stolen from his home sometime in May. On June 30^th, federal officials announced the recovery of the laptop and pronounced that the sensitive personal information of 26.5 million veterans and military personnel that was housed on the hard drive apparently had not been accessed. They were lucky this time round, though Advisor Gina Hughes shows veterans how to check their credit report, just in case.

Veterans are just the tip of the iceberg, according to the Washington Post. It reports that in the last 15 months, corporations, universities, and other organizations alerted more than 85 million U.S. consumers that their personal or financial data might have been compromised due to data breaches, disgruntled employees, or just plain incompetence. (To prove the point, our own Chris Null found his identity mangled during his routine check on his credit rating.)

The FTC created a sort of survival guide for if or when your identity gets violated. And the faster you get to this list, the better off you'll be.

1. Place a fraud alert on your credit file: Contact one of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion), place a 90-day fraud alert on your credit file, and obtain a free copy of your credit report. A fraud alert tells these companies not to allow any major charges to your account. (You only have to notify one of these and they'll notify the others.) Twelve states, including California, let you place a "security freeze" on your credit. Stronger than a fraud alert, the security freeze makes it impossible for anyone to access your file for any reason until you instruct the credit bureaus otherwise.
2. Close out accounts that you suspect of fraud and begin the process of proving you are a victim and not responsible for fraudulent debt. (The FTC site shows you which documents can help you prove this.)
3. Report the theft to the authorities—both law enforcement and the FTC. Give them as much documentation as you can, which means you should be documenting every conversation or email between you and your credit companies.

Hit the link for the details. You'll probably want to bookmark it.