Have you been a victim of identity theft, or are you afraid to become one? Maybe it’s because you spend majority of your life online. You shop, bank, watch movies, listen to music, doing most everything online. It is said that 50% of identity theft happens via the internet and it’s done mostly thru phishing e-mails scams, but there are a lot of ways you can get phishing protection. You can download free software if you don’t trust your browsers. But many of the latest browsers come with their own phishing protection and they are aware of the threat and come up with solutions to help protect their consumers.

However should you be victimized. Here are 3 steps to point you in the right direction.

1.    You can call any of the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. Do this so they can flag your credit documents, this way creditors are aware of your situation and any credit applied under your name will have to be verified. You can also work with them to work out which entries on your credit files are fraudulent and let creditors know that those entries are disputed. This will help you minimize damage to your credit.

2.    Call local authorities. File a police report and supply all necessary documents and information including disputed accounts. This will help prove you are a victim of identity theft.

3.    And lastly call the FTC, they will not investigate your case but they will help point you in the right direction and you can file a fraud affidavit with them as well.

Now, are you done yet? Of course not, now that you let the authorities know about your situation and you’re on your way to having everything fixed. Now is not the time to sit. You should take steps to ensure that this will not happen again. First ensure that your personal information is safe and secure, tear up any documents you don’t need and throw them in separate trash bins.

Since you do spend time online ensure that your computer has the latest version of your anti-virus software, malware protection programs and that your firewall is turned on. By now you are aware of the dangers of phishing, don’t be a victim of phishing scams, protect yourself and ensure that your browser’s phishing protection is activated or if you’re not sure it may be a good idea to invest in a separate phishing protection software.