Protect Your Identity

Reclaiming Your Name

For identity theft victims, fast detection is critical. According to the FTC, when victims discovered within one month that their personal information was being misused, more than 90 percent were able to thwart the criminals from opening new accounts in their name, and incurred no monetary losses in the process. By law, consumers are limited to $50 of credit card liability when their accounts have been compromised, and in many instances credit card companies waive even that amount. But when victims didn't discover the misuse for more than six months, 45 percent found that criminals had opened new accounts in their name. Nearly half of those victims were charged at least $5000.

The first hurdle is perhaps the most galling: convincing credit card companies, credit reporting agencies, and sometimes even legal authorities that you are who you say you are. That process begins with obtaining a police report from the jurisdiction where the crime was committed. While it is usually easy to convince police that you are the victim and not the perpetrator--who, presumably, wouldn't step into a police department--getting a report is another matter.

Victims at times face resistance from local police when they ask for a report, with 28 percent of those who contacted police saying they were "very dissatisfied" with the response, according to an FTC survey. Getting the report is mandatory, even if you must go to different police departments, including local, county, and state offices. While there's little chance of police catching the thieves, you need the report to persuade financial institutions to clear your credit history.

Also, you should immediately contact the major credit agencies, Equifax (888/766-0008), Experian (888/397-3742), and TransUnion (800/916-8800), and request "fraud alert" status. Under a fraud alert (free to victims), companies that issue credit in your name are asked to call you before opening new accounts, so you can verify the validity of the credit request. Victims are eligible for free reports from each of the three major bureaus, as well. For extra protection, victims can extend the fraud alert status indefinitely beyond the initial period (90 days to a year, depending on the agency).

After contacting the agencies, sharpen your pencils and get ready to take a spin through the maze of corporate bureaucracy. You'll need to send letters and copies of the police report to fraud investigators--not to customer service representatives--at every company that issued credit to the identity thief.

The FTC's Web site includes a healthy section devoted to identity theft help, including form letters for disputing new, unauthorized accounts. The Identity Theft Resource Center offers a compendium of information, sample letters, and other resources, as does the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

IdentityTheft.org, the Web site of attorney Mari J. Frank, also provides tips and sample letters, and sells a more extensive book of forms and advice called Identity Theft Survival Kit for $80. She also wrote two other books on the topic.

Frank, who fell victim to an identity thief in 1996, says you should not get a lawyer unless credit issuers continue to hold you responsible for purchases you didn't make. "If you do all your work and they haven't done theirs, then go get an attorney. But if you just go to an attorney at the start and say 'I'm a victim,' that's not enough," she says. "Unfortunately, this is a self-help process."

Victims who follow the process diligently can expect their credit to be cleared within months, depending on the timeliness of their letter-writing campaigns and the responsiveness of the various companies. At that point, they can go back to life as normal--only this time, with a considerably diminished sense of trust in the world around them.