Identity theft

Records containing your personal data -- credit-card receipts or car-rental agreements, for example -- may be found by or shared with someone can still be used for fraudulent purposes.

What Should I Do If I am A Victim of Identity Theft?

If you think you are a victim of identity theft or fraud, act immediately in order to minimize the damages financially, as well as damages to your reputation.

Here's a list -- based in part on a checklist prepared by the California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG) and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse -- of some actions that you should take right away:

• 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
• 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 fraud.

You may also need to contact other agencies for other types of identity theft:
• Your local office of the Postal Inspection Service if you suspect that an identity thief has submitted a change-of-address form with the Post Office to redirect your mail, or has used the mail to commit frauds involving your identity;
• The Social Security Administration if you suspect that your Social Security number is being fraudulently used (call 800-269-0271 to report the fraud);
• The Internal Revenue Service if you suspect the improper use of identification information in connection with tax violations (call 1-800-829-0433 to report the violations)

Call the fraud units of the three principal credit reporting companies- Equifax:, Experian (formerly TRW) or Trans Union.

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 created 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).

Contact the major check verification companies (listed in the CalPIRG-Privacy Rights Clearinghouse checklist) if you have had checks stolen or bank accounts set up by an identity thief

Visit http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/websites/idtheft.html for more information.

Who has the right to view my Credit Report?

Not everyone has the right to view your credit history. Find out what you can do to keep your information confidential.

You HAVE the rights if you are among the victims whose consumer applications are turned down due to inaccurate information in credit reports for :

• Credit cards
• Mortgages
• Employment
• Student and Personal Loans
• Housing loans

The Fair Credit Reporting Act

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act enacted in 1970

• You can view your credit report, to dispute inaccurate or outdated entries and have them removed
• Practices of those who provide information to the credit reporting agencies, the agencies themselves and credit report users are regulated
• You can make a legal claim against, and sue the credit reporting agencies, creditors and debt collectors for reporting wrong information
• You are entitled to specific consumer protection if you are a victim of identity theft
• Housing loans

You can order a report from any of the three credit reporting agencies:

Equifax
1-800-685-1111
www.equifax.com

Experian
1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)
www.experian.com

Trans Union
1-800-916-8800
www.transunion.com