Proving That You're an ID Theft Victim Becoming Complicated

The occurrence of identity theft is growing dramatically. The number of reports being filed each day is staggering, and it is becoming a substantial problem for officials to manage. It has come to the point where the Federal Trade Commission has issued requirements for an affidavit that must be filled out by victims of identity theft, along with some other requirements, in order to become recognized as an official identity theft victim. Just saying that someone stole your identity is no longer sufficient.

Proving Identity Theft

The steps are fairly simple and straightforward. Once you have reasonable suspicion that some sort of fraud has taken place, your initial step is contacting the appropriate authorities. Here's what to you need to do:

• Fraud alert. Contact at least one of the three national credit bureaus and file a fraud alert. Each of the credit bureaus must immediately provide you with a free copy of your credit report.
• File a complaint. If upon examining your credit report you find some false information or an indication of fraud, you need to file a complaint to have that information removed from the report.
• Create an affidavit. Once you have completed all of your complaints with the credit bureaus, print out a formal copy of your complaints. This copy then becomes your Identity Theft Affidavit.
• Fill out a police report. Go to your local police department (or the police department with jurisdiction over where the theft occurred), and fill out a police report. Then attach a copy of your Identity Theft Affidavit to the report. Be sure to keep a copy of the police report.
• Inform creditors. Send a copy of the police report and affidavit to all of your credit and financial institutions. This will keep them alerted to look for additional signs of fraud or identity theft.
• Monitor your credit report. Continually monitor your credit report and report inaccuracies. It may take months or even years before you have identified each instance of identity theft.

Signs of Identity Theft

Before you can file a complaint or create an affidavit, you need to know that you were a victim in the first place. If you don't monitor your credit reports on a regular basis, there is a good chance that you won't know something has happened until several months have passed. If a credit thief has used your identification to open a fraudulent credit account, you won't have any idea that it has happened until the creditor comes to you seeking payment for the loan or credit card.

If the identity thieves have accessed your bank account, you may become aware of the theft when you realize that you are missing money. Some early signs that something is going on can be as simple as not receiving your bank statement at the usual time. Identity thieves often change addresses on accounts and then request replacement credit and ATM cards. So if you haven't seen your credit card or bank account statement recently, you should do some inquiries to find out what is going on.

Your Credit Report

The real key to identifying possible fraud or identity theft begins with your credit report. This document contains all of your credit history, including account numbers, balances, payment histories, and dates of when the accounts were opened and closed. By reviewing this information, you can stay abreast of your credit information and identify possible fraud or identity theft. If you know what to do after stolen identity is suspected, you can reduce the damage done to your bank accounts and credit reports, as well as increase the chances of catching the thieves.

Identity theft is a huge problem these days and anyone can fall victim. The thieves are becoming bolder and are using some very high-tech gadgets to steal your personal information. Don't wait for thieves to strike before taking a look at your credit report. You can review your report as often as you wish. You can even hire a credit monitoring service to check your credit on a continuing basis to help eliminate and prevent identity theft issues.

Joy Mali is an active blogger who is fond of writing articles on identity theft and advising people how to identify the theft signs and prevent identity theft. Follow her on Twitter to know more on how to prove that you're an id theft victim.