Unlike other crimes, victims of identity theft may not know they are victims until weeks or months after the theft has occurred. Often the first indication that your identity has been stolen is when you have an application for credit refused, you are notified you have defaulted on a loan you did not apply for or worse yet you are arrested for a crime you did not commit. However, what you do when you realise you are a victim of identity theft can minimise the damage to your good name and prevent further crimes being committed.
Report to the Police
Like any other theft, incidents of identity theft should be immediately reported to the police, even if only small sums are involved, as they can give you an idea on how the fraudster has operated. Assist the police by providing relevant documentation such as your credit report, account statements, debt collection letters and other evidence of fraudulent activity using your identity. Ask for a copy of the police report?sometimes banks or other financial institutions will ask you for a copy.
Contact the Credit Reporting Agency
Inform the credit reporting agency that you are a victim of identity theft. Ask that an alert be placed on your file that advises this. You have the right to include a written statement on your file. In your statement, ask that credit providers contact you (by telephone) before they open any new accounts for you or change any of your existing accounts. This way, additional fraudulent accounts being opened in your name should be avoided. The credit agency should send you a copy of your new credit file with these revisions. It should advise you of your right to have organisations who have accessed your file in the past three months informed of these changes. You should ask when this will happen. You should not be charged to access your file. If you are told you cannot access your own file because you refuse to pay the fee, seek advice from the Federal Privacy Commissioner. (http://www.privacy.gov.au/)
Review your credit file carefully
You need to check your credit report carefully. Look for any accounts that you did not open or where any unauthorised changes have been made to your existing accounts. Ensure you can authenticate all ?enquiries' made into your credit history. Note the companies and organisations that have either made inquiries or opened accounts under your name that you did not authorise.
Close all accounts and correct your credit file
Contact the credit providers and businesses with whom any unauthorised accounts have been opened in your name, or who have made enquiries about your credit file. Remember this includes phone and other utility providers and department stores as well as financial institutions. Inform them, and the credit reporting agencies, that you have been a victim of identity theft. Ask credit providers to close the fraudulent accounts and to tell the relevant credit reporting agencies to remove references to the accounts and enquiries from your credit file. Usually, the credit provider will need to conduct an investigation to establish that you are not responsible for any debts that have been incurred in these accounts and you may have to supply additional documentation. Where there is a large number of credit providers involved, it may be impractical to deal with each one individually. In this case, contact the credit reporting agency first on how best to remove the incorrect entries. You may also want to close any legitimate accounts you hold so that these cannot be tampered with in the future. Replace them with new accounts, with new PINs and passwords.
Keep all documentation
Take notes that include dates, names, contact details and what was said. Follow up all conversations and requests in writing, and send these certified mail if you need to post them. Keep copies of all forms and correspondence. Keep all original supporting documents, such as the police report, letters, and your credit file?never put originals in the post. Ask all agencies that you speak to, including banks and other financial institutions, to write to you confirming the actions they have taken or will be taking and when they expect to complete such action. Ask them to provide details of all accounts in your name that have been closed and ensure that they acknowledge that you are not responsible for any further debts incurred. Keep a record of how much time you have spent on this and receipts for how much you have spent on copying, postage, etc, as you may be able to claim these costs back.
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