Identity Theft/Financial Fraud Cases: If my identity was stolen as part of the criminal activity in my particular case, how can I contact the credit bureaus and what information should I be aware of?
A. If your identity was stolen (i.e., if any of your personal information was used by the suspect – social security number, date of birth, credit card numbers, etc as part of the commission of the crime), then you will need to contact the three credit bureaus to request copies of your credit reports. Once you receive your reports, you will need to determine if there are any charges or accounts for which you are not responsible (accounts that you have not personally opened). Because you are a victim in your particular case, you should be entitled to receive one free credit report per year. Also, you should ask that each of the three credit bureaus place a “fraud alert” on each of your existing accounts to ensure that no one other than you can open a new account in your name. Additionally, you may wish to call the credit card companies in which you have active credit cards and ask them if they will allow you to place a PIN Number on each of your existing accounts. This way, no one but yo
