How do you, as a computer user on the Internet, help to insure that you will not become a victim of what is commonly known as identity theft? First let’s try to define what identity theft is and explore some general examples. Then we will move on to some suggestions of what to do if you think you have already become a victim and how to not become a victim.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes. This could be your name, Social Security number, credit card number or any other type of information that specifically identifies you. There is a wealth of information at the FTC website .

End Identity Theft

Contact one of the 3 major credit bureaus Close the accounts that have been effected File a police report File a complaint with the FTC

The problem is only beginning when you discover that someone has used your credit card to purchase goods. It is a very simple process to cancel the card. It is a very simple process to have fraudulent charges reversed. You make a call to your credit card company and they will cancel the card and reissue you another one. They will reverse the charges and the retailer that sold the goods then has to pay a charge from the credit card company to pay for the reversal. Then the retailer has to send proof to the credit card company to verify the sale and the procedures that were taken to make the sale. This could include the signature on the sales slip or the location that the sale was shipped to. If there is not sufficient proof then the credit card company will take the money for the sale away from the retailer.

That is the easy part. The hard part comes when one or more of the charges gets reversed and turned over to a credit collection agency. This is the point when your life could make some drastic changes. You, the victim will now have to prove that it was someone else that ruined your credit. You will have to make this proof to not just one company or credit reporting agency but many. Then you will have to deal with the problems that come with having a bad credit history, even though it is not your fault.

What steps do you need to take if you think your identity has been stolen? The first thing you need to do is contact the fraud department of one of the three major credit bureaus. You will want to place a fraud alert on your credit file, which asks potential creditors to contact you before opening any new accounts or making changes to your existing accounts. The firm that you notify will confirm the alert and the other two will be notified of the alert.

The next step would be to close the accounts that have been affected. This would include any new accounts that have been opened without your knowledge. You will want to use an ID Theft Affidavit when closing new accounts to help prove that you were not the one that opened the account. You will want to attach a copy of the police report that you will be filing as the third item in our list of things to do.

The last item on the list is to file a complaint with the FTC. You can find a form that will assist you in filing your complaint on the FTC website that we talked about earlier. This will put your information in a database that is used by law enforcement agencies when investigating these types of crimes.  If you are quick enough in finding out about the problems and taking action, then you should be able to minimize the damage that will occur to your credit history. The longer you wait to take care of the problem, the more that it is going to multiply.

What do you need to do to help to prevent identity theft from happening to you? The most important thing would be not to give out personal information on the phone, through the mail or over the Internet unless you are the one that initiated the contact. There are times when a credit card company or bank would contact you but you should verify this type of contact before giving out any information.

One item in particular that I want to stress at this time is that there is not a company or bank that is going to send you an e-mail wanting you to verify your personal information. I am sure that most of you have received the e-mail from “ebay” wanting to verify your account information or your account would be suspended. There are now the same type of e-mails that look like they are coming from Visa and some high profile banks. Answering these types of e-mails or clicking on the links and giving these people your information is one very fast way to become a victim of identity theft. If you receive these types of e-mails you should go to the Web site of the company in question and find a contact e-mail address to forward the e-mail to. You will want to send them an e-mail and send the e-mail in question as an attachment. This will allow the company to investigate the matter and give them all the information they need to get the site shut down as soon as possible.

Unless you live in a cave and have no contact with the outside world, I would recommend that you go to the FTC site and read up on how not to become a victim. There are many more ways than you can imagine for someone to get their hands on your personal information. Here is the link directly to the list of items that would help to protect you. Please spend a little time reading this page so you won’t become part of the statistics.