It's not usually obvious that someone is using part of your identity for their own purpose.
But it's really important that you stop it quickly to prevent further harm being done to your financial and personal history.
We've put together a few situations to be looking out for.
Signs That You May Have an Identity Problem:
1. You see an unusual or strange charge on one of your credit cards or debit cards.
2. You notice something unusual in one of your bank accounts.
3. Some monthly mail stops showing up in the mailbox.
4. One of your credit reports shows a transaction or account that you are convinced isn’t yours.
5. You get a call from a debt collector and it regards something you never did or someplace you never lived.
6. You receive account mail from a medical provider that you have never been to.
7. You receive an email or letter that mentions a change to your account details, especially a change of email, physical address or phone number.
8. A health insurance company sends you an invoice about a medical procedure or office visit that isn’t yours.
9. You lost a computer or had one stolen.
10. There was a data breach at a financial organization where you have an account.
11. The Internal Revenue Service or your state revenue department contacts you.
12. You find that your computer has a serious computer virus, and it may have been there for a while.
13. Someone stole your purse or wallet (or you lost it).
14. The police want to talk about something with you which you have no knowledge of.
15. Your home was broken into and you think you lost some financial or personal documents.
We talk about each of these in more detail at our website -- http://www.IdentityTheftHelp.com/Detection -- plus you can read more about it at http://www.IdentityTheft.gov as well.
But it's really important that you stop it quickly to prevent further harm being done to your financial and personal history.
We've put together a few situations to be looking out for.
Signs That You May Have an Identity Problem:
1. You see an unusual or strange charge on one of your credit cards or debit cards.
2. You notice something unusual in one of your bank accounts.
3. Some monthly mail stops showing up in the mailbox.
4. One of your credit reports shows a transaction or account that you are convinced isn’t yours.
5. You get a call from a debt collector and it regards something you never did or someplace you never lived.
6. You receive account mail from a medical provider that you have never been to.
7. You receive an email or letter that mentions a change to your account details, especially a change of email, physical address or phone number.
8. A health insurance company sends you an invoice about a medical procedure or office visit that isn’t yours.
9. You lost a computer or had one stolen.
10. There was a data breach at a financial organization where you have an account.
11. The Internal Revenue Service or your state revenue department contacts you.
12. You find that your computer has a serious computer virus, and it may have been there for a while.
13. Someone stole your purse or wallet (or you lost it).
14. The police want to talk about something with you which you have no knowledge of.
15. Your home was broken into and you think you lost some financial or personal documents.
We talk about each of these in more detail at our website -- http://www.IdentityTheftHelp.com/Detection -- plus you can read more about it at http://www.IdentityTheft.gov as well.