“Deter, Detect, Defend.” That’s the Federal Trade Commission’s program designed to educated the public on how to properly protect their identity and what steps to take in the event that they do become victims of identity fraud.  In the Detect portion of the program, there are four steps to take in identifying if you have, in fact, been taken advantage of.  The first is to notify the credit reporting companies (which are required by law to report to the other two companies on your behalf).  The second step is to close any accounts that you think might be made vulnerable or have been compromised and to get the proper documentation that they have in fact been repaired and closed.  The third step in the Federal Trade Commission’s outline is to file a report with, guess who, the Federal Trade Commission.  Filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission means that you will have provided vital information to local and federal law enforcement who are ready and able to track down the identity thieves and put an end to their unlawful ways. The Federal Trade Commission can also become involved in the referencing of your case to the appropriate governmental law enforcement body.  In addition, the Federal Trade Commission can investigate companies for bad and unsafe identity practices.  To fully protect yourself as a victim of identity theft, having filed complaints with both local law enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission is the way to go.  Having the paperwork from both arms of the law mean that you will be privy to certain protections that you might not otherwise be.  This can go miles towards keeping fraudulent information off your credit report as well preventing companies come continually trying to collect fraudulent debts.  In the case of identity fraud, it’s always best to cover your bases.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 11th, 2010 at 3:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.