According to the FBI, identity theft is when someone uses your identity, your personal information pass it off as their own, committing fraud and usually to gain financially. The most common case of identity fraud involved the use of credit card, this is when someone makes use of a credit card, whether an individuals or a company’s card, to make purchases in stores or online. Everyone is a potential victim, it can be a single individual or an entire database of personal information and without credit protection identity theft is inevitable.

Credit identity theft is a type of identity crime where a person uses your credit for his own fraudulent purposes and when this happens, you are the one who gets the brunt of the illegal activity. If you do not protect yourself, you will find yourself in the middle of a messy financial problem.  So you should protect your identity more so if you’re fond of using credit cards, with credit protection identity theft can easily be stopped. You can halt activities of identity theft if you have protected yourself well.

Now, even if we have done our duty and gotten credit protection identity theft can still happen if a company or business we transact with did not protect their database of personal client information. These thieves can also gain access to our personal information from company databases if that company did not invest in an identity protection program. So you should be aware of companies that do not secure their databases.

Identity theft does not only include credit card frauds but it can include stolen social security numbers, stolen bank checks, and the use of another individual’s documents for acts of espionage and terrorism as well as immigration purposes.  Now, with cooperation from the individuals or the consumers and the industry it can be easier to stop identity theft. If we invest in credit protection identity theft can be stopped once and for all.

Found some discrepancies in your credit card statement or your credit report and suspect you’ve been victimized by identity thieves, who should you call? You should know your identity theft hotline. You can also call your bank, your credit card company and the store where you have a credit line, this should be done in order to minimize your liability. It is easier to get out of the problem when you called and reported the possibility of identity theft.

Depending on your situation, you can report identity theft to the following agencies:

The Federal Trade Commission

If you are having a difficult time connecting to the institution involved in your case, you can call the FTC instead.

The Commission is mandated by the Identity Theft & Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 to accept and process complaints filed by identity theft victims, they are also responsible in directing your complaints to the appropriate industry including the major credit and police agencies. Take note of the FTC identity theft hotline 1-877-IDTHEFT (or 1-877-438-4338). You can also go their website and fill up the complaint form.

The Social Security Administration

The SSA does not usually provide assistance to identity theft victims, but they do have a system in place that can help you solve your dilemma. You can call them at their hotline 800-269-0271, although this is not an identity theft hotline, but you can contact SSA at that number or you can use their website to file a complaint.

In case you are a victim of SSN theft you can change your number, if you fall under the criteria of SSA’s victims of fraud, you can learn more about this at their website. But even if you are given a new SSN and the theft is reported to the proper authorities, it is not a guarantee that your all your problems will be solved, as it does not guarantee a fresh credit rating, credit records from your two SSNs can be combined by different Bureaus, plus even if you are given a fresh start, having no record can also mean a hard time trying to gain credit.

The Three Major Credit Bureaus

These three major credit bureaus Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, are responsible for your credit rating as such you can get periodic credit reports from them and in cases of identity theft you can call their identity theft hotlines.

Remember to report any inconsistencies or discrepancies in your credit records at once to the proper agencies, always keep their identity theft hotline accessible to you. Reporting your concerns at the earliest possible time will help minimize the damage and make life easier for you in the long run.