• Be stingy about giving out your personal information to others.
• Shred all documents with personal information on them.
• Check your financial information regularly.
• Ask periodically for a copy of your credit report.
• Maintain careful records of your banking and financial accounts.

Process to Follow If You Become a Victim of Identity Theft

• Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report the situation at 1-877-438-4338
  OR
• Write a letter to Consumer Response Center, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC  20580
• Contact local office of the Postal Inspection Service if you suspect that an identity thief has used the mail inappropriately involving your identity
• Contact the Social Security Administration if you suspect your Social Security Number is being fraudulently used (800-269-0271)
• Call the Internal Revenue Service if you suspect improper use of identification information in connection with tax violations (800-829-0433)
• Call the Fraud units of the three principal credit reporting companies
  • Equifax (800-525-6285)
  • Experian (888-397-3742)
  • Trans Union (800-680-7289)
• Contact all creditors where your data has been fraudulently used
• Contact all financial institutions
• Contact the major check verification companies if checks were stolen or bank accounts set up by an identify thief