Critical Next Steps to Follow If Your Identity Is Stolen

A cybercriminal stealing your identity is never easy to deal with for any American, whether through a false tax filing or fraudulent medical bills. It’s both emotionally and financially taxing, as you frantically think of what to do next. 

The immediate steps would include things like contacting authorities and seeking relevant reports from organizations like the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), along with filing police reports and adding fraud alerts to your credit reports. But what about after? How can you ensure that it doesn’t happen again? Below, we’ve compiled a list of essential steps, from reviewing your credit reports to getting an identity theft recovery service. These critical measures will help you regain control and protect your personal information moving forward.

1. Report and Close Any Newly Opened Accounts

Once you’ve alerted the proper organizations immediately, it’s time to investigate your accounts, clean up the damage, and add extra security. Start by checking for signs of fraudsters opening new accounts under your name—look for a welcome email or a letter mailed to your address congratulating you on a new credit card or bank account. If so, immediately contact the lending institution and report it as fraudulent.

2. Invest in a Reliable Identity Recovery Service

A reliable identity recovery service can fast-track you in restoring your identity, as it generally includes expert support in managing the process, from liaising with authorities to correcting your credit reports. A reputable platform will provide a qualified identity restoration case manager who’ll do all these for you while you focus on returning to everyday life. 

More importantly, such services also offer reimbursement of eligible expenses, like lost wages and legal fees, and mental health counseling, mitigating at least some of the inevitable financial stress in such situations. 

3. Review and Monitor Your Credit Reports

If fraudsters have applied for credit cards or used your accounts, lenders might report it to credit bureaus. So, review your credit reports thoroughly for fraud-related information, such as a collection account for an outstanding payment or a new credit card you didn’t apply for. 

Additionally, keep monitoring your credit reports for any sign of fraud. Typically, platforms offering identity recovery solutions also include credit monitoring services, which makes the job easier for you—it’s an extra set of eyes continuously monitoring your credit profile for suspicious activities.

4. Secure Your Accounts

You may not be able to stop cybercrime, but you can always go the extra mile to decrease the likelihood of it happening to you. Focus on prioritizing the security of your online accounts; set up multifactor authentication (MFA) for your credit account. This can stop someone from accessing your account, even if they have your username and password. MFA will need you to verify every time you want to log in, but that additional security is imperative to prevent hacking attempts.

Almost every major carrier provides security measures to protect you if your SIM gets swapped or ported. Sign up for these to secure your mobile phone account, as fraudsters can use your mobile phone number to try and get past MFA requests.

5. Consider an All-Around Identity Theft Protection Service

A complete identity theft protection plan would involve everything from credit monitoring to timely security alerts, criminal records monitoring, malware breach alerts, and more. 

Whether you’ve been a victim of identity theft or not, signing up for such a service is always an excellent method of adding extra protection to your personal information and financial data. Such services use software and AI to autonomously monitor not just your credit profile, but also dark web sites, criminal records, data leaks, etc. This way, it will monitor if your information appears in any such area and notify you immediately for prompt action. 

Summing Up

Given how we regularly use credit cards, share personal information online, and indulge in online shopping, it’s only normal that fraudsters leverage this to steal identities for illegal financial activities. That’s why it’s more important than ever to be vigilant. Even with all the protection in place, always monitor your bank accounts and credit reports for anything suspicious, and if you’ve unfortunately fallen victim to identity theft, take the steps we’ve mentioned here to simplify the next steps.