Your identity is a target. If someone is already using it, the clock is running — skip to the emergency section below. If you’re here proactively, start with prevention and work down.

If Your Identity Has Been Stolen

  1. Place a Credit Freeze at all three major credit bureaus (see below)
  2. Review your credit reports at annualcreditreport.com — free and federally mandated
  3. Contact your bank and credit card issuers — report fraud and request new account numbers
  4. File an Identity Theft Report with the FTC at identitytheft.gov — generates a personal recovery plan
  5. File a police report — required by some creditors and financial institutions
  6. Change passwords on all financial accounts and email immediately
  7. Enable 2-Factor Authentication on all accounts
  8. Alert friends and family — the criminal may have access to your email and social accounts and will use them to target people who trust you

Credit Report Actions

Fraud Alert vs. Credit Freeze

Fraud Alert Credit Freeze
What it does Tells creditors to verify your identity before opening accounts Blocks new credit accounts entirely
Strength Moderate — creditors can still proceed Strongest available protection
Duration 1 year (or 7 years with Identity Theft Report) Until you lift it
Cost Free Free
Bureaus required Contact ONE — they notify the others Must set at ALL THREE separately
Affects credit score No No
Affects existing accounts No No

Fraud Alert

Contact any ONE bureau — they’re required to notify the others.

Credit Freeze (Strongest Protection)

A credit freeze prevents new credit accounts from being opened in your name. Must be placed at ALL THREE bureaus separately. To lift temporarily: contact the bureau for the creditor you’re applying through and specify a time window.

Free to place and lift. Does not affect your credit score. Does not affect existing accounts.

Creating an Identity Theft Report

  1. Go to identitytheft.gov
  2. Complete the guided form — describe what happened
  3. The FTC generates a personal recovery plan with steps specific to your situation
  4. Download your Identity Theft Report — an official FTC document accepted by creditors, banks, and agencies

The report gives you rights to:

This is the most useful tool in an active identity theft situation. Use it first.

IRS Identity Theft

Tax identity theft is its own category. Someone files a tax return using your Social Security number and collects your refund. You find out when your legitimate return gets rejected.

Signs:

Response:

  1. File an IRS Identity Theft Affidavit: Form 14039 (available at irs.gov)
  2. Continue to file your legitimate return — paper if necessary
  3. Get an IP PIN (Identity Protection PIN) from the IRS — a 6-digit number required to file your taxes that only you know

Path: irs.gov/identity-theft-central

The IP PIN is one of the most underused protections available. If your SSN has ever been in a breach, get one. You don’t have to be a victim first.

Children as Identity Theft Victims

Children’s clean credit histories make them prime targets. No existing debt, no accounts, no one checking. Theft can go undetected for years — until the child applies for their first credit card or apartment as a young adult and discovers the damage.

Check if your child has a credit file:

Proactive prevention:

Physical World Prevention

The breach doesn’t have to happen online. Physical access to your information is just as dangerous.

Digital Prevention

Credit Monitoring

Free monitoring catches problems. Paid monitoring catches them faster.

Key Resources

If you haven’t already: place a credit freeze at all three bureaus today. It costs nothing. It blocks the most common form of identity fraud. Lift it temporarily when you apply for credit. Then check haveibeenpwned.com — if your email shows up in a breach, go change that password and every other account where you reused it.