Monday, September 5, 2011

"IDENTITY THEFT, 2011".

(Excerpts from the new book, LEGAL CONSUMER TIPS AND SECRETS, by Attorney Charles Jerome Ware).

Identity theft is now one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States.  In recent reports, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that over 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year [from Chapter 5: "Avoiding Identity Theft and Identity Fraud," by Charles Jerome Ware, former Special Counsel to the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)].

If you are a victim of identity theft, take the following 5 steps immediately:

(1)  Place a "fraud alert" on your credit reports and, of course, order and review them.

(2)  Close the accounts you know, or have good reason to believe, have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.

(3)  File an identity theft complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

(4)  File an identity theft report with your local police or law enforcement agency in the community location where the identity theft occurred.

(5)  Keep a detailed record of your efforts and the responses you receive from your identity theft complaints, including copies of all correspondence related to them.

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