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Ok, realized I have totally neglected the most important part - out lining step by step what should be done when faced with fraud... File Police Report: a. Very important to establish time of discovery & action on your part. b. Always submit relevant documents relating to the case. Copies only c. Itemize all creditors affected & properly identify them. name / account number / amount... d. Obtain copy of the police report; if not then the file number. e. Be persistent, local authorities may tell you they can't take a report. If that does not work suggest going to county or state police. If you're told that identity theft is not a crime under your state law, ask to file a Miscellaneous Incident Report instead. f. If you don't have everything at that time needing to be added - that is ok, you can follow up later with additional information just be sure to obtain an updated police report at that time. Contact Credit Reporting Agencies to activate Fraud Alert Experian - 888-397-3742 PO Box 9532 Allen Tx, 75013 Equifax - 800-525-6285 PO Box 740241 Atlanta Ga, 30374-0241 TransUnion - 800-680-7289 Fraud Victim Assistance Department PO Box 6790 Fullerton Ca, 92634-6790 a. When calling one credit reporting agency should activate the other 2 automatically. This is only in affect for 3 months for you to review and get disputes in order. b. You will have a free credit report mailed out to you. c. It will automatically opt you out from receiving junk mail cause by the credit reporting agencies selling name & addresses to creditors. Here is further information for opting out: Opt-Out: 1-888-567-8688 Mail Preference Service Direct Marketing Association Removal – Mailing Lists PO Box 9008 Farmingdale NY 11735 Telephone Preference Service Direct Marketing Association Removal – Telemarketing Lists PO Box 9014 Farmingdale NY 11735 Do Not Call Registery Site: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/donotcall/index.html Even if you exercise all of these options for opting-out, you may continue to receive solicitations from local merchants, religious and charitable associations, professional and alumni associations, politicians and companies with whom you conduct business. To eliminate mail from these groups- as well as mail addressed to “occupant” or “resident” – write directly to each source. To explain better about opt-out: All three credit reporting agencies on a regular basis will sale mailing lists to creditors for the purpose of soliciting various products this is how you get the pre-screened credit card offers in the mail. This is not good if you happen to move around and will result in id theft on occasion. When moving people will put in request at post office for change of address; but this forwarding, will only last one year. If there are creditors out there they mail circulation after this point – you will not know about it until to late. Recommend that should you plan to move, at least six months prior establish a PO Box with the local post office. Forward all mail to the post office address, then wait and see which creditors slip by sending directly to the physical address. Write these creditors with the correct address. This will help catch some of them out there, and opting out hopefully will catch the rest of them. Finally when you do opt out include all prior addresses and names ever used... can't be careful enough on this matter. Note: Fraud alert is not a guarantee that creditors will be alerted to protect your information, or stop further fraud activity. This is a purchased product on their side - not many pay to know the fact of the matter that you have been a victim of fraud. Recommended: To further protect yourself by writing in request for Victim Statement to be added to your credit report. Must include a copy of your phone bill - section which shows your name, address, and phone number. They will add a statement like this one: Please verify identify prior to extending credit, victim of id theft, please call ... (they will add your phone number to the credit report). This can stay on your credit report for up to 7 years, unless you write in to cancel prior to that. This will be added into the remarks section on your credit reports / creditors don't have to pay additional to see this.. if they look they will know that you want them to call prior to extending credit and should do so to further protect you! This of course does not protect you further from other types of companies - which in the course of business don't review credit reports. Additional items of important to do: a. Call the Federal Trade Commission - 877-438-4338 or visit their web site: www.ftc.gov to report your fraud case. b. Also request their booklet called: When Bad Things Happen To Your Good Name. c. This book contains an ID Theft Affidavit in the back which you should use. d. Be sure to read through this book, just to make sure to problem solve if there are any other organizations which may be relevant for you to contact. Review your Credit Report: a. Make note of all creditors affected by the fraudulent activity. b. Write back dispute; noting who these creditors are and exactly why you are disputing and what you want done in the matter. c. Forward copy of police report d. Forward copy of id theft affidavit Contacting Creditors / Collection Agencies: a. Contact immediately as soon as you know they have been affected by the fraud. b. Inform them immediately to close account. Change pin number / password protect and tell them you don't want them sharing your information with anyone unless it is law enforcement opt-out and include their affiliates. b. Ask for their address specifically for their: Fraud Department. c. By writing send in your dispute, copy of police report (or file number with contact information to the exact police department involved in the case); and a copy of your id theft affidavit. d. Some creditors will require further steps be taken, including their own id theft affidavit. Be sure to complete and follow up with what they ask or provide. e. Be sure to follow up all leads provided in this matter, ask questions, and research the matter if you know something to be important... finding the person responsible is just as important. Other directions may include: Information also contained in FTC booklet Contact these companies concerning bank fraud: If you're not sure which of the agencies listed below has jurisdiction over your institution, call your bank or visit www.ffiec.gov/enforcement.htm Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation FDIC www.fdic.gov The FDIC supervises state-chartered banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System and insures deposits at banks and savings and loans. 800-934-3342 Division of Compliance and Consumer Affairs 550 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20429 Federal Reserve System (Fed) www.federalreserve.gov The Fed supervises state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. 202-452-3693 Division of Consumer and Community Affairs Mail Stop 801 Federal Reserve Board Washington, DC 20551 National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) www.ncua.gov The NCUA charters and supervises federal credit unions and insures deposits at federal credit unions and many state credit unions. 703-518-6360 Compliance Officer, National Credit Union Administration 1775 Duke Street Alexandria VA, 22314 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) www.occ.treas.gov The OCC charters and supervises national banks. If the word "National" appears in the name of a bank, or the initials "N.A." follow its name, the OCC oversees its operations. 800-613-6743 Customer Assistance Group 1301 McKinney Street, Suite 3710 Houston TX, 77010 Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) www.ots.treas.gov The OTS is the primary regulator of all federal, and many state-chartered, thrift institutions, which include savings banks and savings and loan institutions. 202-906-6000 Office of Thrift Supervision 1700 G Street NW Washington DC, 20552 There is more great information in the FTC provided book, but it is a great start for understanding your rights in these matters.

Helping a friend with a civil case. Looking to site cases for the complaint. 1. Landlord releases private information on a rental application to someone who coerced landlord to give them this info. The person is an individual, not a lawyer. The party requesting the information is involved in another court case with the landlord's tenant in a different state. Information was posted online as the public record, but it is illegal in California for a landlord to pass this information with ss#, bank info etc without the consent of the tenant, unless he has a court order. And that is not the case, as the tenant has not committed any crime, but is an innocent victim of malice and conspiracy. I am looking for court cases to site for listed causes of action such as breach of contract-, Rico-/Extortion-Conspiracy-Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress-Common Law Bad Faith Against Plaintiff

I am retired, 65 years old, live in Sacramento, CA and am the recent victim of Identity theft. To get to my point and question, an individual using my name, social security number and Date of birth contacted at least 2 new banks for the purpose of applying for new financial accounts/credit cards and in the case of one bank he was successful to the point of fraudulent purchases being made. This individual provided a Bronx New York address in both his applications! Red Flag!?! I immediately obtained copies of my credit reports from all 3 of the major bureaus and the evidence of his recent activity with these banks was clearly there. Since then I have been diligently working with both banks providing documentation and working to terminate those fraudulent accounts. Since then I have put a fraud alert on my 3 reports and frozen them as well. I have filed a police report and an Identity theft report. I have enrolled in one of the Identity Theft programs as well. As I have gone through this painful learning process I see the tremendous value of being made aware of (ASAP) any new inquiries from banks to review my credit reports, any new accounts showing up, new addresses that show up etc. The ability of the identity theft programs to check my credit reports on a daily basis and provide alerts of any new activity was the basis for me signing up for these services. I am finally getting to my question for the experts here on how credit reports work, specifically with regards to being frozen and being under a fraud alert. I had assumed that even if a report was frozen and could not be accessed by a bank that any such request to see that report would still be documented with the bank name and contact information. However I have been told by “help” staff with the Identity theft Services I have just recently signed up for that where accounts are frozen those inquiries would not be recorded as normally done, therefore I would see no such alerts. So what is the purpose of having the alert services? Without being able to document and trace where and how those fraudulent attempts come from there would seem there would be little chance to catch those criminals. Can anybody tell me if this is true, are bank requests to see “frozen” credit reports for the purpose of considering a loan or credit application not documented in the credit report as they normally would be? I also plan to write to each of the 3 bureaus with this question. Thank you! Bill Ward

I was recently a victim of identity theft, and I am now pursuing FCRA violations against multiple parties. I can't give specifics for obvious reasons, but I will post my case once there is a final ruling. I hope it will help anyone who has been a true victim of this devastating crime. As of today, my case is headed to a jury trial in federal court based on alleged FCRA violations by multiple parties (for the same fraudulent account/debt). The law is there for a reason, to protect not just identity theft victims, but all consumers from unfair, inaccurate credit reporting, and it needs to be enforced by holding any/all parties accountable for violations. Through the recovery process, I simply relied on the law, because that's really all I had. My recovery was far more complicated than it should have been due to alleged FCRA violations. I went through hell, and I hope my story can be a helpful reference for anyone who is a victim of FCRA violations period. I give credit to all the useful information, forums, and contributors for helping me through the frustrating recovery process.

I am a victim of identity theft, and had filed a report with local police, also the FTC. I requested Experian block a fraudulent account, and provided them with copies of the identity theft reports to support the request. They removed the fraudulent account within a few days of doing this. I had disputed the same fraudulent account with Equifax, and attached identity theft reports as supporting documentation. For 3 weeks after Experian blocked the account, the date reported on this same account was updated 4 times on Equifax. 11/11/2016 I requested Experian remove the fraudulent account due to identity theft 11/17/2016 Experian report showed account was deleted 12/1/2016, on Equifax fraudulent account/debt showed date reported 11/23/2016 12/3/2016, on Equifax fraudulent account/debt showed date reported 11/02/2016 So the date reported went backwards. How does this happen? 12/04/2016, on Equifax fraudulent account/debt showed date reported 12/03/2016 12/07/2016, on Equifax fraudulent account/debt showed date reported 12/06/2016 On 12/5/2016 I filed a complaint with CFPB against the creditor that reported the fraudulent account (which they have never responded to), and 12/7/2016 I called the creditor because I was quite angry at this point. After the account was removed from Experian, my score had gone up 69 points, and it was obviously damaging my Equifax score significantly. I had been denied credit due to this account specifically (denial reason said high utilization/over credit limit, and this account was reported as charge off for more than the credit limit that was reported for the account, I had no other accounts that this was relevant to). When I called this creditor the 1st time, they could not find the account in their system, and told me to call Equifax, so I did. Equifax then told me to call the creditor, so called them again. The creditor finally located the account, and admitted to me that they had received the police/identity theft report (Experian sent to them as a result of account being blocked) on 11/29/2016. So this account was updated 3 times on Equifax after they apparently received the identity theft/police report, and Experian had already blocked it as of 11/17/2016. Aside from all of this, the same creditor had reported conflicting information for the account between EX and EQ (payment dates, number of payments), so they obviously aren't concerned about complying with the law. What I'm trying to figure out is, who is at fault? And how does date reported go backwards in one case, unless it was done manually, then corrected the very next day? It almost looks like this was done intentionally. When the date went backwards, they corrected it on their own the next day, but I had not contacted them about it or bring to their attention. I know there are FCRA violations here, but I'm confused as to who is responsible for what. The police report totaled 73 pages for my case, and this has been a process from hell. I simply expected the creditors/credit bureaus to fulfill their obligations under the law, and that is really all identity theft victims have to rely on when recovering from the chaotic aftermath of this crime. Filing a police report only gives more credibility to a victim's claim, but they can't do much more than that. This is not about a lawsuit and getting paid, its about holding those accountable to the law that is there for these very reasons. Thank you in advance for any suggestions or advice.

Hi my name is billy and i have been a victim of identity theft. im in the process of getting my credit fixed, but im worried the guy will use it again after i get it fixed. what can i do to stop this? i know the person who is using my social as i used to live with him. long story short i went through his stuff while he was at work and found a whole binder full of peoples names addresses and social numbers. i didn't call the cops that day but was going to the next day because i used to smoke and was scared i would get in trouble some how to. the next day i had to go to work but was going to call cops as soon as i got there but when i did he had already took everything and was gone. i did call the cops but they would do nothing just a police report to give to credit bureau's. i know where he lives and works now but i don't know what to do. please i need help thank you!

About a year and half ago my credit monitoring agency alerted me that Comcast Cable had done a credit check on me in Georgia. I was stationed in Georgia about 9 months prior before retiring from the Army, but I had never had Comcast and at this point I had just recently moved to Colorado. I contacted Comcast to find out why they had run my credit and it turned out someone had used my name and SSN to get cable in a trailer park nearby my prior military post. I filed an identity theft report with the FTC and with my local police department and faxed all of these documents, along with proof of address and ID, to the Comcast Fraud Department. Comcast told me that they had closed the account and removed all the charges from it so I would not be responsible for anything. About 2 weeks ago I received another notice from my credit monitoring agency that a collections account for that very same Comcast account showed up on my credit report. A fraud investigator from my credit monitoring agency called Comcast and the debt collector with me to try to help resolve the situation. Comcast sent us around to about 5 different people, each time saying they were transferring us to their fraud department, until we finally got one rep who put us on hold for about 20 minutes while she looked into the account. She came back and said there were notes in the system about me calling in about the identity theft and that the representative put down that they were closing the account and removing the charges, but for some reason it never happened. The account wasn't closed until several months later after failure to pay and had something like $800 in charges on it. She said she had no idea why it was never closed and that I had done everything I needed to do. She then said she was going to make a detailed note and send us to the fraud department (!), because she had no power to reverse such a large charge. The next transfer took us to a slightly confused gentleman working at the FTC's identity theft hotline. He told us that Comcast has been sending a lot of their customers to the FTC and telling them that it was the Comcast Fraud Department. Next we called the debt collector that appeared on my credit report. We informed him that the account was related to identity theft and that we were disputing it. He said that he send the dispute over to their fraud department who would verify it with Comcast. All of these phone conversations were recorded, after informing the relevant parties, by both the Credit Monitoring Agent and me. Several days after I disputed the debt over the phone with the collector I received a collection notice from them for $633.12 for this disputed Comcast account. They don't state the results from my dispute, just the standard boilerplate collection notice. I don't know if this is a violation or not since they are attempting to collect on the account after I've disputed it and before they sent me any kind of notification that the debt is valid. It seems like dealing with Comcast's customer service is a dead end and now I am intending to file suit for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and possibly the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. I have been contacting attorneys to discuss a lawsuit, but so far the ones I've spoken with feel this claim is outside their area of practice, they are too busy to take another client or they felt they were too inexperienced to handle this type of claim. I am still waiting to hear back from some other attorneys in the Denver area that practice consumer law in the Federal District Court there. I am about as far from Denver as you can be while still being in Colorado so taking this to Federal Court pro se would be extremely difficult for me. Instead I've contacted my local small claims court to discuss whether or not I'd be able to bring claims under the FCRA pro se. The court clerk wasn't sure and she directed me to the pro se office, who also had no idea. I informed them both that the law states: § 1681p. Jurisdiction of courts; limitation of actions An action to enforce any liability created under this title may be brought in any appropriate United States district court, without regard to the amount in controversy, or in any other court of competent jurisdiction, not later than the earlier of (1) 2 years after the date of discovery by the plaintiff of the violation that is the basis for such liability; or (2) 5 years after the date on which the violation that is the basis for such liability occurs. However, they weren't sure if the judge would allow it to proceed in this court or not. She suggested I speak with some more attorneys about whether I could bring this to court myself. Of all the attorneys I've asked only one said that it should be no issue bringing it to small claims court. The others said they honestly had no idea about the jurisdiction issue. I am thinking that taking this to the County court pro se might be a better compromise. I've been reviewing the text of the FCRA and the FDCPA as well as the Colorado FDCPA. So far I have identified the following violations of the FCRA: § 623. Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies [15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2] a) Duty of Furnishers of Information to Provide Accurate Information (1) Prohibition (A) Reporting information with actual knowledge of errors. (B) Reporting information after notice and confirmation of errors. (2) Duty to correct and update information (3) Duty to provide notice of dispute. (6) Duties of Furnishers Upon Notice of Identity Theft-Related Information (B) Information alleged to result from identity theft. If a consumer submits an identity theft report to a person who furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency at the address specified by that person for receiving such reports stating that information maintained by such person that purports to relate to the consumer resulted from identity theft, the person may not furnish such information that purports to relate to the consumer to any consumer reporting agency, unless the person subsequently knows or is informed by the consumer that the information is correct. (7) Negative Information (A) Notice to Consumer Required (i) In general. If any financial institution that extends credit and regularly and in the ordinary course of business furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency described in section 603(p) furnishes negative information to such an agency regarding credit extended to a customer, the financial institution shall provide a notice of such furnishing of negative information, in writing, to the customer. I believe that due to their admitted knowledge that the account was opened as a result of identity theft and their decision not to close the account immediately after being notified, then later sending it to the debt collection rises to willful noncompliance as defined by the US Supreme Court in Safeco Ins Co of America v Burr (06-01-2007), where they state: "Willful failure covers a violation committed in reckless disregard of the notice obligation. Where willfulness is a statutory condition ofcivil liability, it is generally taken to cover not only knowing violations of a standard, but reckless ones as well." Even if they did not intend to violate the FCRA and it was just a series of mistakes it was reckless not to close the account immediately and to send it to collections despite being notified it was related to identity theft. Then despite being notified and confirming their mistake they took no actions to correct it. Something that I haven't been able to find a clear answer on is whether each FCRA violation incurs separate statutory damages of up to a maximum of $1,000 or are all violations together a maximum penalty of $1,000? I've found both answers on the internet without any definitive references. My personal reading of the statute makes it sound like you can only get one statutory penalty. I'd love to hear everyone's opinion on this matter and would greatly appreciate any references, suggestions, etc. Thank you all.

We work with a company in the identity protection space that has just launched completely free identity protection. We are looking for people who would be willing to share their identity theft stories with us, and possibly the media, to help others learn how to protect themselves. If you’re interested and willing, we’d like to set up a time to speak with you and listen to your story. Please respond to ariel@43pr.com with your name and phone number as well as a short summary of your identity theft experience. Chosen participants will receive a Starbucks gift card.

I am being sued by a lawyer for a JDB and have a few questions. On the Summary of the Pre-Trial Conference, the Judge marked that I have an additional 21 days to Amend my pleading. (I think he did this because I messed the first one up so bad.) Unfortunately, I sent in a second pleading, a little better than the first but still lacking, (after reading here, greatly lacking), my question is, can I file another pleading to replace the 2nd pleading? I still have til the 28th of Nov before the 21 days are over. Can someone give advice? Thanks, Lost

A lot of people think that identity theft is just credit, in fact it is not. Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America, and it will not stop. A lot of people believe that it can be prevented, and that alone is a fairy tale myth. If you think that the criminal masterminds in Nigeria have been cracked down think again. Identity theft forms in a catalyst in different ways such as medical, criminal/character, drivers license etc. Now you may think, well I have it at my work, "I'm fine." No not so. If you don't work there anymore how fine are you? Do you believe that your 'credit monitoring service' is going to alert you when a gentlemen lets say by the name of Robert buys an escalade in your name? how confident that the quote on quote 'credit monitoring' service that the one you have at your local bank is going to inform you of that, when such a crime happens? There is a big misconception of what people think identity theft protection is and a lot of individuals just go around believing what others tell them. Not even those big name advertisement companies will do the trick either Why? Well look at the countless articles of law suits that had occurred, on top of the history of how some of them didn't even have a monitoring service to begin with. Go to your local bookstore, and for $12.50 or less you can literally pick up a book, a thief's dream and be able to get a copy of ways on how to steal other people's identities, no joke. Here's the thing guys, or should I say "Wake up" to the reality of this. If recently 3 of the bureau's were hacked, and a history of Sony, the dmv, and countless examples, had the tenacity to be compromised, what in the world would make you think you've got it safe and sound by the 'monitoring' service that you have? That is a joke. Your information is not safe. By the time you were born, you were given a 'social' when you went to school, which now a days, children as young as 5 are now becoming compromised and are getting loans taken in their name not knowing about it til later. When you applied for a job, the list goes on, your information is there. You see how amazing the internet is, and how much information you can find out about someone easily now a days? Sometimes I think that the people who open those weird scam emails that say something like "ooh I have millions of USD dollars for you from S Africa and I want to give it to you, wink-wink" I almost want to laugh and say that the person kinda deserved it, for being so damn stupid and selfish in the first place. If you want money, there are ways to get it, get off your behind and work your butt off. There are plenty of resources on how to become rich, but there is no easy way. Easy, sleazy as they say. When it comes to identity theft, shredding your mails, and credit cards won't do it either, what is needed is a thing called 'restoration' The ability to bring your let's just say 'being' back to life. What is it worth to you to spend thousands of dollars, and then having to collect receipts, and then doing all these things, worse yet, if you don't even know that you've been victimized and if you don't catch it in time within the 60 day period, then all that "stuff" that you weren't responsible for in the first place, is now your responsibility, because you weren't aware of it and didn't have the time to catch it. If you want to know more, feel free to email me. Plus its always good to meet new people and friends. I hope this post though, kinda opens up the realization about this ongoing issue. Don't think the service from the banks are that beneficial. Even had a lady admit to me, that their not that sufficient. No, really Sherlock? lol When something happens to your finances, and you catch it, it is the bank's responsibility to reimburse you. As far as credit monitoring or the credit score per se, you are basically paying for something that you can already get at www.annualcreditreport.com < hope that is the correct site, I can always recheck again later. But basically there are resources out there that you are entitled to for free, at least 2x/yr. No, freecreditreport.com is not one of them lolol..... get educated

I have always worried about Identity thieves who had account info for Credit Cards from later failed banks attempting collections or selling "accounts" in the secondary collections markets. Has there ever been instances where this has happened? I am looking into it because with the unregulated mess debt collections are now that this possibly could happen. Scenario #1 Identity theft ring waits and has information of accounts. The bank which the accounts are from has failed. The Id Theft ring forms a collections LLC. They file lawsuits on the accounts they have already. The get answers in 1 of 100 cases they conduct discovery and get even more info and proceed to open accounts in defendants names. at trial they dismiss. Scenario #2 Id theft ring sells account data through an account trading portal such as C********XX as a hypothetical. Then the id theft ring dissolves the LLC. and slinks away Scenario #3 Id theft ring sells the info directly to JDB1, JDB1 groups the accounts in a portfolio of accounts for sale to JDB2, because the JDB1 has bills of sale minus the account numbers it all gets washed because the JDB's have id theft insurance, and OC's destroy records after they sell the accounts there is no way for a defendant to find out. That is what I am worried about. It may have happened to some of us already. How do we fight that. Most banks when they have fraudulent accounts just write it off Maybe because the deductible is high? and then the Id theft rings have the data for the account maybe just the 5 data cells for a spreadsheet.

I have a similar situation. I was served a document for a "PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE", plaitiff is Capital One. The document states that it is mediation and not to bring any witnesses but that I must appear in person on June 19th to avoid default judgement. It says a written motion will not excuse the personal appearance (Do I need one anyway?). It says the purpose is to determine if I admit ll or part of the claim. Count 1 is breech of contract Count 2 Account stated The document I received is addressed to me, at an address where I resided six years ago. the page with the count has my address from four years ago. And the documentation, which is a shell of a bill July 2009 is addressed to the first address and contains the Capitol One Agreement. Beyond that there is a blurry page in maybe 4 font with the arbitration agreement. I am so confused by the entire ordeal...I have not received any notification prior to this from them. The article addressed to me in 2009 was an address where I resided in 2006. ??? Any advice? I did at one point hold this credit card.

Found this site while I was researching for an article, wanted to make everyone aware there *is* help. My name's Jake Stroup, I'm an identity theft risk management consultant living in the midwest. I write for the New York Times online forums, About.com, and consult with insurance professionals about how to protect their clients. If you have an identity theft issue you can feel free to PM me for free advice. I'm big on helping people, and know that the biggest problem facing identity theft victims is the host of so-called "experts" who offer all sorts of useless advice. Also, although this is a credit forum, please keep in mind that identity theft can have a much broader impact in your life. I'll start posting links to my articles once I've lost the "newbie" moniker, but for now try going to about.com, and search the term "identity theft" - you'll find what you want there more than likely. Looking forward to helping out! Success; Jake Stroup Identity Theft Guide About.com

Another question: In the early 90's my father took out a discover card in my name and also falsified my signature on half of my financial aid documents. He also owed the IRS upwards of $20,000. I did not find out about the discover card until the mid 90's and was able to have it removed from my credit report. He has denied that he did this. I thought that my financial aid had been taken care of and nothing is on my credit report. However after my father had a stroke we went through his apt and found several documents, ss info, and personal info of mine. This year my taxes were garnished and after following up there is still debt that I owe the government for financial aid. I have contacted the US Dept of Education to get the original documents and find out what exactly should and do I owe. After calling several agencies and writing letters I have proof that the majority of the fin. aid documents have my name forged in my father's penmenship. I tried to work with finan. aid and the credit agencies to no avail. Now they have atatched a garnishment and will take 80% of anything I make. I have now hired and attourney and accountant, but we are still having problems finding the right people and the right amount. Not to mention trying to file a complaint for a forgery/identity theft that happened over fifteen years ago. My father had a stroke ,has NO assets and still denys everything. He receives his tax rebate checks even though he no longer pays taxes and they wrote the 20,000 off due to disability. Has anyone had any dealings with the US Dept of Education or their creditors or identity theft with a parent? Had anyone filed a complaint against a parent? Any advice would be appreciated!

I sent all my documentation to TU and EX to have fraudulent accounts removed. I included the credit report with all accounts highlighted, a copy of the police report, FTC ID Theft Affidavit and a copy of my DL. This was their response: "We have received the Identity Theft Report / Court Order you recently sent to TU. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept this documentation. However, TU will contact the source of the disputed information to advise them of your dispute. We will ask them to verify the accuracy of the reported information. When the investigation is completed, you will receive the results of the investigation by mail." I am confused. Aren't they required BY LAW to remove the information with the documentation that I provided them?

Firstly let me give thanks to people who create this site, it really helps! Okay i'm trying to make a long story short, if anybody out there can help me I really appreciate. I use to live in Minneapolis MN and moved to Hawaii on April 2004 to get married. My own sister who still live in MN, use my SSN to find a job, because she has a check forgery felony on her record, she did find a job and she file tax exempt, so she never paid any tax for the State of MN. all this time I never knew that shes being using my SSN until 2007 me and my husband moved here in Washington and all this letters from IRS saying that I owe them $25000+ and letters from the State of MN that I owe them money too. And thats how I find out that shes using my SSN and my name. We asked the guy that file our tax for his advice, and he told us that we have two options, either we can turn her in, or pay for the debt. At the time my parents was here with us, my mom was really sick at the time. so when I tell them whats going to happen to my sister, if we file Identity Theft, and my parents almost had a heart attack, and keep asking me for forgiveness but shes going to pay for all the debts she did under my name. So we went back to the guy that file our tax and tell him, that we had a talk with my family and we're going to file the tax and pay for the debt, because she herself tell us that shes going to send us money to pay for all this debts... thats in 2007... up until now she only send us $1000, and we're being paying for the IRS and the MN State this whole time. she worked using my name from 2004 to 2007. And thats why i'm here seekin' for any help I can get. My question is, Can I overturn this matter back and have her pay for what she did? I'm worried the IRS and MN State tax might say that I already file the tax, why I didn't report at the very first time. PLEASE I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP! Appreciate your Help. Thank you and Lord Bless!

Recently I discovered a FRAUDULENT Barclays Bank Delaware MasterCard account on my 3 credit reports. I immediately notified the CRA's and provided them with a Police Report, a notarized Affidavit of Identity Theft (The one put out by the FTC), positive identification and a letter stating the account was not mine and I did not benefit from its use. In addition to the CRA's, I sent a packet with the EXACT same information to Barclays Bank Delaware via Express Mail (they did sign for it!). As of today, May 1, all 3 CRA's are blocking this account. However, now Barclays Bank is calling me incessantly. I am VERY skiddish about talking with them and giving out any more information than was contained in my Police Report or ID Theft Affidavit. I do not trust them as I don't know how this account got opened to begin with (I had a FACT Act block on my reports). My question is this: Am I obligated to speak any further with Barclays Bank? I asked them to contact me in writing so as to keep a good paper trail of this matter. I just want them to stop calling me. They have all the legal documents I mentioned above. I would like advice here as to whether or not I should call them and for what reason. Also, should I provide them any additional personal information? I do not want my personal information further compromised. Any suggestions/advice would be helpful. Thanks! BAMBAMOKC

My ex husband's girlfriend called my car insurance company and cancelled my car insurance! The only security questions they asked her was my name, address, phone number, and email address. A refund was made in my Ex's name and my name to him, for $80. I have a new insurance company now, but my premium is higher because I had a "lapse" in insurance! The cops won't write a report because they say the penal code says that Identity Theft is only when an account is opened in someone else's name, not when an account is messed with! If so, don't you think the penal code needs to be re-interpreted or something? Laws changed?

Ok in a nutshell... got divorced last year. Worked A LOT of hours at work previous to divorce, not home often, on the road. Spouse in charge of bills. Took out lots of little credit cards in my name. Never paid them. Now I am starting to get letters from c/a's. Yes, I never checked my credit report regularly, yes, I allowed this by my ignorance. Yes I trusted my spouse. Didn't know about bills prior to divorce, so they are not stated in papers. But I do know that not one of these has MY true signature. Am I screwed? Do I have to pay these? Is this a case of identity theft since we were married when the "theft" occured? Any sane advice would be so appreciated right now. TIA.

Last year I came back to United States and found out that my personal information was and credit cards were used including new credit cards that I did not even apply. I took all the necessary steps, filed the police report, notify the credit bureaus, filed disputes, sent letters. It has been on huge freaking nightmare. Fortunately, I am almost done with all the fraudulent reportings on my credit report. I have worked very hard on daily basis to get rid of this off my back. One of the creditors sold one of the accounts to some Law Firm. I have sent them all the documents to support the claim that I was not in the Country when the account was opened and that I did not open the account. Apparently, the account was opened over the phone. The Law Firm took me to Arbitration, actually hired the Abritrator as well. I had to hire a lawyer and we sent all the supporting documents to the Arbitrator. Me and my lawyer were very confident that would win the case. Recently, I found out that the Arbitrator ruled in the favor of the Creditor. I am not happy with the decision. I am here to ask you guys what to do next? I cannot be responsible for something I did not do. What are my options. Any sort of advice and help will be highly appreciated. Thanks!!

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but I'm trying to help a friend who is a victim of spousal identity theft... His wife forged his name on a credit card application with a credit line of 10,000.00. He found out about the card when he received a letter in the mail from the collection agency that the debt was turned over to. It was at this time that he questioned his wife and she came clean about forging his name on the application and the spending of 10,000.00. The collection agency is willing to settle with him for 5900.00, but of course, he doesn't have this amount of money. I advised him to first of all, fill out a police report about the identity theft and then file an affidavit with the FTC. Request debt validation and ask for the original contract plus all statements to be sent to him. Once this info is received, dispute the debt as not being his due to his being a victim of identity theft. Was there anything I missed or did I give him bad advice? He is reluctant to file the police report and the report with the FTC because he doesn't want to throw his wife under the bus. My response was that she has thrown you under the bus, the train and put you six feet under... Some advice on what he should do would help...

Hello: I recently suffered over $3,000 worth of unauthorized ATM transactions on my checking account. I'm not sure how, but someone was withdrawing money from my ATM. Upon further research, it appears its possible to clone debit cards these days. Anyway, I contacted Washington Mutual, and reported the transactions, which occurred about 700 miles from where I live. They provided me a provisional credit for the amount in question and conducted their investigation. In the meantime, I had to call them three times to request they provide me a new card/PIN #, which they failed to (WEIRD) They sent me a letter yesterday reversing the provisional credit stating that I GAVE PERMISSION TO THE PERSON WHO USED THE CARD as their reason. Despite the fact this is ridiculous, and not quite sure how they came to this conclusion, I requested in writing they provide me with the documentation they based this decision on (as per the offer in their letter). In the meantime, what courses of action should I take alongside this. I have a feeling this may just be a ploy somewhat connected to the chase buyout since WaMu was going out of business. ANy help is appreciated.

PART 1 of 2 Identity theft victim wins right to sue county clerk over posting of personal data Ohio appeals court reverses dismissal of lawsuit claiming that posting of speeding-ticket image violated privacy laws Jaikumar Vijayan

Looks like someone stole your post too.

This is the letter that I have written that I plan to send to the 3 agencies. Can anyone tell me if there is any important info that I should include that I might have left out? To Whom it May Concern, This letter is to formally certify that I have been a victim of identity theft. I have enclosed a copy of the identity theft police report that I have filed detailing the fraudulent accounts that are listed on my credit report. Upon review of my credit report, you will see the fraudulent accounts as well as many inquiries that have occurred without my consent as a result of the fraud against me. As mentioned, the accounts are listed in this letter as well as in the enclosed police report. It is requested that pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (1681c-2, Subsection 605B) that these fraudulent accounts be blocked from my credit report. I am also aware that it is my right to have the furnisher of this fraudulent information made aware by you that I have been a victim of identity theft and I have filed the appropriate police report as required by law. I understand that you will notify the furnishers of these accounts that a fraud alert has been placed on my credit report and that these accounts are a result of my identity being stolen and that a block has been placed against these accounts. I am also aware that under the FCRA, the block will be placed on these accounts within four days of your receipt of this notice. The accounts that were opened as a result of my identity theft are as follows……… xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx Enclosed, find a copy of the police report that I filed as well as a copy of my valid drivers license and social security card. These forms of my identity should be more than sufficient. Thank you in advance for abiding by the laws governed in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Your prompt attention to this matter is appreciated. Regards, Craiger7204