Identity theft is a huge issue these days. The thieves are resourceful and use a variety of ways to get you information, be it from your garbage, the trash of your doctors, they may work or pretend to work for companies and ask for your personal information by phone, by email. They are everywhere and you should take cautious steps to protect your own information.
However, things happens. When you became a victim of identity theft, you will start to see some weird things happening. Here are some of the things to look out for:
- Unexplained withdrawals from your bank account
- The expected bills or other mails don’t show up in your mail box
- Checks are refused by merchants
- Calls from debt collectors for the debt you don’t own
- Unknown accounts and charges in your credit report
- Medical bills from doctors you don’t go to
- Medical record shows that you reach benefit limit while you don’t go to doctor that much
- IRS notifies you that you have filed more than 1 tax return and income from an employer you don’t work for
- You are arrested for a crime that someone else allegedly committed in your name
If you see any of these signs, you should take immediate steps to report fraud alert to the credit report agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). If things looks really bad, you should also consider to request a credit freeze.