Identity theft occurs, among other things, when a thief takes your personal information and uses it to open new credit accounts. In other words, it goes beyond stealing from your existing accounts. It involves opening brand new fraudulent accounts, using your name and personal information, so the new credit can be tapped by the thief.



In order to stop fraud activity you have to go beyond simply contacting credit card issuers. You must widen the safety net.

This includes:

-- Calling your state's department of motor vehicles and asking them to attach a "fraud alert" to your driver's profile. Request that no part of your personal information, such as home address, be changed without alerting you.

-- Contacting any organizations or memberships if their cards were in your wallet. Have a fraud alert attached to them.

-- Contacting the big 3 credit reporting agencies immediately. Their phone numbers are as follows: Experian - 888-397-3742, Trans Union - 800-888-4213 and Equifax - 800-685-1111. Ask each one to send you a free credit report. Your credit accounts, including ones resulting from or tainted by fraud, appear in these reports.

-- Getting credit reporting agencies to attach a fraud alert to your credit profile. Asking that no new credit or changes in personal information be processed without calling you for immediate approval.

-- Examining your credit report and doing more than just looking at open accounts. Look for new credit inquiries as well. These inquiries may be the result of an identity thief trying to open a new fraud account with the creditor.

-- Having the standard 90-day fraud alert with the credit reporting agencies increased to at least one year. Why? Because fraudulent credit inquiries can result in the establishment of new credit account for up to one year after the inquiry was made.

-- Filing a police report with your local police department. This is extremely important because both credit reporting agencies and credit issuers are going to want to see proof that you're actually a fraud victim. How are they going to know you're not simply trying to get out of paying for bills you actually created? A police report goes a long way in dealing with this "proof" issue.

-- Going back and forth between creditors (who issued fraud accounts) and the credit reporting agencies to get your credit reports cleared of errors. In other words, you're going to have to follow thru to make sure any fraud accounts you've identified are actually removed from your credit profile.