How can I determine if I have been a victim of identity theft?

Question

Are there sites on the Internet on which I can find out if an attempt at identity theft has been against me?

Answer 1

If you have activity on bank accounts or credit cards that you don't think you did. Or if your wallet has been stolen and you have transactions after the theft.

Answer 2

An identity theft victim can sometimes lose thousands of dollars and then spend thousands more trying to clear their names. It may even cause you to lose your job or land you into a criminal case. All these may occur just because you fail to protect your confidential information while making an online purchase on some fraudulent website. If you are a frequent online shopper, ensure that the online service that you are using has security protection and the site is secure. You can do this by looking out for the little lock symbol on the Internet Explorer, which is an indication that your information is being encrypted.

You may become an online identity theft victim if you fail to clear your login information on a shared computer. This is especially true if you try to login to your bank account online on a public computer that other users have access to. This kind of information can be easily captured by a computer savvy identity thief who will use them to commit fraudulent crimes. To prevent this, you should clear your history cache on your explorer every time you log off from the back account.

It is also not advisable to store your personal information on your notebook PC. These notebooks present a tantalizing target for thieves. Many people prepare their income tax returns on their computers, forgetting about the sensitive personal financial information that may be left on their hard drives. Always remove this information from your computer upon completion of your tax return to prevent ending up as an identity theft victim.

You can read more about prevention of identity theft at this site:
http://identity-theft.mygeneralknowledge.com/

Answer 3

Most people do not know and it is had to detect. I work with a company that specializes in id theft, so I can tell you, you would have to get credit reports. Check social security and the driver's lic. bureau. You also will need to have a background check. There are 5 area id identity theft. Credit is only %20 of identity theft. Good luck!

Answer 4

You can start by getting your credit report from the 3 major reporting agencies. If you have accounts that you didn't open. Or are you getting bills from places where you don't shop. To help prevent some of these things you can get a shredder and shred all documents that come in the mail or have personal information on them, shred them before you put them in the trash, put nothing in the trash that has information on them such address, phone number, SSN#, credit card info, bank statements, old checks, etc. If this is the case perhaps the credit agencies can direct you to the proper sources to try and address the issue. I hope this helps.

Answer 5

The fastest way is to check the Credit Bureaus and look for records that are not yours.

http://www.ckfraud.org/credit.html

US Governments site
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft//