What to Do if Your Identity Is Stolen

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Ever wake up in the morning hoping to deal with a stolen identity? No? Same. But it can happen to anyone—in fact, it's happened to me. And in 2024 alone, 1.1 million other folks had to deal with it too!¹

When identity theft happens, it often involves some lowlife stealing personal details like your Social Security or bank account number to do anything from filing a tax return in your name to going on shopping sprees at Aéropostale (c’mon, if you’re going to steal my identity to buy clothes, do better than Aéropostale!).

And once your identity’s been stolen, getting everything back to the way it was can be intimidating, frustrating and time-consuming. How do you even begin to put things straight?

As someone who's been through it, take it from me: You can get your life back. I’m going to walk with you through some practical steps so you know what to do if your identity is stolen. But first let me tell you what happened to me.

 

My Story

Back in 2013, a debt collector called me about an unpaid $1,734 Verizon bill. The problem? I didn’t have any accounts with Verizon. Thinking it was a scam, I pulled my credit report—and sure enough, there were multiple fraudulent accounts in my name with debt attached.

Some scumbag scammers had used my identity (name, Social Security number and a previous address) to rack up debt. Fortunately, with the help of my identity theft protection service, I took the necessary steps to fix it. Now, I’ll walk you through how to clean up identity theft and reclaim your financial security.

 

How to Know if Someone Stole Your Identity

First things first—having your identity stolen isn’t always something that’s immediately obvious. But there are certain things to look for if you have a sense that this might have happened to you.

Lots of things could be a strong clue that somebody’s gotten ahold of your info and used it to commit fraud. None of the following signs on their own would prove you’re a victim of theft (could just be an error), but if you notice one or more of these, it’s definitely time to check.

• Calls from debt collectors about accounts you didn’t open (or unfamiliar calls and texts to your cell phone) 
• Charges on your debit or credit cards that you don’t recognize
• Medical bills for services you don’t recall or medical denials you weren’t expecting
• Paper bills no longer coming in the mail
• A new account you don’t recognize on your credit report
• A rising credit score even though you haven’t taken on any new debt
• A dipping credit score even though you’re current on all payments
• An unexpected loan denial
• A tax return rejection (because some thief already filed on your behalf to get your refund) or a tax transcript you never requested

If you’ve noticed one or more of these, there are two key steps you should take right now to see whether your identity has been stolen:

1. Check all bank and credit card statements. That’s something you ought to be doing all the time anyway to help prevent identity theft—but especially if you suspect you’ve been a victim of identity theft. Make sure to go over all the statements closely and carefully.
2. Run a free credit report on yourself. You’re entitled to free weekly online credit reports from the three major credit bureaus (it used to be once a year, but now you can get one every week). This is a quick and easy way to spot identity theft.

Hopefully, you’re not going to find anything. But in case you do discover evidence of identity theft, don’t panic! At this point, the next logical step is to figure out how to prove your identity was actually stolen so you can prepare to get your life back and start to recover.

Try 30 days of identity theft protection free from our RamseyTrusted provider.

 

How Can You Prove Someone Stole Your Identity?

Once you spot those mysterious charges or credit card statements coming out of nowhere, the theft will be clear—to you! But that doesn’t necessarily mean the businesses where the fraud occurred will agree. Here’s how to go about proving the theft happened.

Contact Each Business’s Fraud Department

A good first step is to contact each business where someone pretended to be you while opening accounts or making purchases. In particular, connect with their fraud department—sometimes called the Fraud Squad—because that’s their whole job, and most companies will have one.

Share What You Know About the Theft

Next, be sure to let them know the activity they’ve seen in your name is fake. If they ask for proof, mention any other examples you’ve already found where fraud happened in your name. The fraud department will be well aware of how often these things occur. Depending on how quickly your identity thief was moving or how much damage they were doing, the size of their crime might speak for itself as fraud. Either way, most businesses will be eager to help you stop further fraud from happening on their end.

 

What to Do if Your Identity Is Stolen

So, you’re definitely a victim of identity theft. Now what?

First of all, I want to say how much dealing with this sucks. I should know. Thankfully, I had identity theft protection, which helped a lot because the recovery service pitched in with the cleanup and reimbursed me for money I lost.

Speaking of which . . . if you have an identity theft recovery service, now’s the time to get in touch with them. They’ll help you with the steps below.

If you don’t have any protection, this is going to be even suckier. But hey, it’s going to be okay. I'm here to give you some hope for what’s ahead: You can get out of this mess and restore control of your personal information. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Ask for a fraud alert to be placed on your credit account.

If you discover you’ve been a victim of identity theft, contact one of the three main credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) and have them place a fraud alert on your information. Once you’ve contacted one agency, they’ll let the other two know.

Having a fraud alert in place helps if you were involved in a data breach or had your Social Security card, driver’s license or bank account information stolen. If someone tries to apply for a loan or new credit card with your info, the credit bureau will let creditors know they need to do an extra security check to confirm the applicant’s identity.

Placing a fraud alert doesn’t cost you anything, and it can be renewed annually. You can also request an extended fraud alert that lasts up to seven years if you’ve been a confirmed victim of identity theft and filed a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

2. Put a freeze on your credit report with all three credit bureaus.

A freeze on your credit report is different from a fraud alert because it cuts off anyone from getting access to your credit report without your permission. For a credit freeze, you’ll have to contact all three credit bureaus individually, but it’s still free!

Once your credit report is frozen, the credit bureaus can’t release your credit information without your permission to lift the freeze, and you’ll have to do that either over the phone, online or in writing.

And get this—you can put a freeze on your report even if you’re not sure you’ve been a victim of identity theft, so it’s an effective, proactive step to take.  But the main aim of a credit freeze is to make it harder for someone who stole your personal information to take on debt in your name.

3. File a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Your next step is to make sure you notify the Federal Trade Commission of your stolen identity through their online service.

Once you’ve filed your report, you’ll be able to put together your own recovery plan with the FTC’s help and some assistance from your identity theft protection service—if you have it. Just buckle in for a potentially long journey.

You can then track the recovery progress of your personal information. Within their recovery plan, the FTC will help you fill out forms and will provide sample letters when you’re writing to credit bureaus, banks or debt collectors—or anyone else you might’ve forgotten about. Because finding the right words (other than “Help!”) can be tough during a time like this.

Having this official FTC report also helps confirm that your identity was stolen when you’re writing to debt collectors or fraud departments and when you’re filing a police report.

4. File a police report.

Next, you get to channel your inner Jake Peralta and file a police report—since it is a crime to steal someone’s personal identity and use it to commit a fraudulent act. Even if it looks like the thief is operating online or in a different country, you should still contact your local police department to file a report. 

This is important for a few reasons:

• Filing a police report can help support your claim when you’re dealing with any collection calls wanting you to pay accounts that were opened in your name.
• You’re helping the police with any ongoing identity theft cases they might be working on—especially if the thief is operating locally.
• If the thief uses your information to commit another crime (in your name!), the police will have a record of the initial identity theft incident, which can help their investigation.

5. Check your bank and credit card statements and credit reports.

If you haven’t already, take some time to comb through your bank account (debit card activity) and credit card statements, along with your current credit report. 

Remember, you can request free online credit reports weekly from each of the reporting agencies through annualcreditreport.com. Look at these documents and flag anything that pulls the alarm in your head: That wasn’t me! Now’s the time to highlight anything suspicious to help your case.

Then you can dispute any information on your credit report that’s false, incorrect or a result of the identity theft.

If you report a fraudulent charge to your bank or credit union promptly after discovering it (60 days for credit cards and two business days for debit and ATM cards), you’ll only be liable to pay $50 (under federal law). But many banks won’t make you pay anything.²

6. Get any fraudulent account records from debt collectors.

Don’t ignore any letters or calls you may receive from debt collectors following an identity theft. Stay ahead of the game by informing them in writing of your identity being stolen. Yeah, that means you’ll need to find a pen and an actual printer with ink and paper like it’s 2005. You should also give the collectors a copy of your FTC report to back up your claim.

Here’s what you can request when you write to debt collectors:   

• Ask to see any information they might have on you resulting from the identity theft—from copies of application forms and statements listing fraudulent transactions to the telephone number the fraudster used to open the fake account.
• Ask them to stop contacting you with collection notices for debts you don’t owe. Let's face it: No one likes hearing from debt collectors—but especially not when you never touched the debt in the first place!

Remember: You are within your rights to obtain written information about that debt—but you have to put your request in a physical letter to the debt collector. The FTC even provides sample letters for you. And if you’re looking for extra peace of mind, send your letter with a certified mail receipt so you can track when they’ve received it.

By writing to the debt collectors, you’re also ensuring they’re prohibited from reporting to the credit bureaus any fraudulent accounts set up in your name.

7. Contact your bank’s fraud department.

Your bank has a fraud department, so call to tell them what happened. They’ll let you know what steps to take regarding your current bank accounts. They might even advise you to close your accounts and open new ones if it means limiting the damage of the theft.  

8. Contact your utility provider and other account fraud departments.

Fraudsters can use your information to set up anything from medical insurance to utilities in your name. I know—it’s ridiculous.

If any utility providers, credit card companies, loan specialists, debt collectors or insurance companies are sending you bills for amounts you don’t actually owe, you need to reach out to them ASAP and let them know your identity was stolen.

Even if you haven’t received any bogus bills from your providers or credit card companies, go ahead and contact them anyway. Because if one of your accounts was hacked, chances are, the others are also at risk.

Stolen identities can even be used to file tax returns in your name. If you think your information has been used to file a fraudulent tax refund claim, contact the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

9. Close any fake accounts that were created in your name.

Remember how you already combed through your credit report and noted charges that weren’t yours? Now it’s time to clean up and close down any accounts that were opened without your knowledge.

Reach out to those companies’ fraud departments (whether it’s a bank, utility company or insurance provider) and shut down all the accounts falsely opened in your name. Use any FTC reference numbers on your identity theft report to back you up.

10. Report if your personal identification was stolen.

If identification like your Social Security card, driver’s license or passport is stolen, you should contact the relevant agencies immediately so they’re aware of the theft and can start the process of replacing the stolen items:  

• Social Security card: Contact the Social Security Administration online for a replacement. If you suspect your Social Security number has already been used fraudulently, contact the Office of the Inspector General to report it.
• Driver’s license: Contact your local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to report the theft and get a replacement.
• Passport: Contact the U.S. Department of State to report the theft and arrange a replacement.

11. Update your usernames and passwords.

Now it’s time to update those usernames and passwords. Change any passwords linked to accounts that were (or could be) affected by identity theft immediately. If you use the same password for every account you have, it’s time to change them all.

Your passwords should never match or contain your name or date of birth—that just makes them easier to guess! Things like “password0” and “abc123” don’t cut it either. Passphrases are becoming the go-to passwords because they’re harder to guess. Choose a series of words only you would think of (maybe an extremely obscure lyric from a song no one knows you like, like ShesJu5tBeingMil3y_1987?). Or you can go with a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters to keep it complicated and difficult for identity thieves to guess.

This, along with other steps to protect yourself from identity theft (like shredding sensitive documents and not carrying your Social Security card around with you), will help you be more secure in the long run.

 

How Long Does It Take to Recover From Identity Theft?

Unfortunately, there's no scientific way to know for sure how long this will take. The timeline will largely depend on the type of fraud you suffered. For example, if you’ve got a simple case of a stolen credit card without the loss of other sensitive info, it could be as quick as the time it takes to reverse the charges and replace the card. Maybe about a week.

But it can be more complicated—and take a lot longer than a week! Imagine the all-too-common experience of somebody stealing your Social Security number and using it to open fake accounts in your name. You could be looking at many months of talking with creditors and the credit reporting agencies to dispute the charges and prove you’re not responsible for them.

And what about fraudsters running up tax debt in your name, not to mention committing major crimes? It could take years to reverse all the damage to your personal identity.

The hours involved in getting your identity back really are a huge mountain to climb on your own. Good fraud protection will offer recovery and restoration services, including 24/7 help to sort out the mess and reimbursement for stolen funds and lost wages from time spent doing all the steps above.

If it turns out your identity theft “protection” was no more than an email letting you know your identity was stolen, it’s time to get with the experts at Zander Insurance. Since they’re a RamseyTrusted® provider, you know they’ve got your back. They were a huge help when I experienced identity theft.

You can get their Essential or Elite plan so that if this happens to you (or if it happens again), a Certified Recovery Specialist will save you countless hours and all the legwork that’s required to recover from identity theft.