If you are the victim of an identity theft, you should contact your local law enforcement agency as soon as possible to make a police report. Early reporting will make it more likely that a suspect can be identified. The report or report number is often necessary in reporting losses to banks and credit card companies.

Police agencies will provide you with a brochure which gives you a number to call and report the identity theft to the three major credit bureaus. It is important to make this call at once. It is an important step in shutting down the person using your identity. The credit bureau will contact you for six months after the fraud report, anytime someone tries to obtain credit in your name. These credit bureaus can assist you in identifying if credit lines have been applied for or opened in your name. Any information you receive from these reporting bureaus should be passed on to the police agency who took the police report.

When you receive monthly bank or credit card statements and find unauthorized transactions, these should also be reported to the law enforcement agency handling the identity theft. It is possible that information from these companies can be helpful in the investigation.

The contact information for each of the major credit reporting agencies is as follows:

Equifax

P.O. Box 740241

Atlanta, GA 30374

(800) 997-2493

https://www.econsumer.equifax.com/consumer/

 

Experian Information Systems

P.O. Box 949

Allen, TX 75013-0949

(800) 397-3742

https://www.experian.com/yourcredit/index.html

 

TransUnion

P.O. Box 390

Springfield, PA 19064-0390

(800) 916-8800

https://www.transunion.com/