Stop Identity Theft - Step 2

To stop identity theft - close tampered and fraudulent account

Credit accounts

• Credit accounts include:
• all accounts with banks
• credit card companies
• other lenders
• phone companies
• utilities
• ISPs
• and other service providers.

If you’re closing existing accounts and opening new ones, use new Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) and passwords.

If there are fraudulent charges or debits, ask the company about the following forms for disputing those transactions:

For new unauthorized accounts, ask if the company accepts the ID Theft Affidavit. Available at:
www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/affidavit.pdf

If they don’t, ask the representative to send you the company’s fraud dispute forms.

If your ATM card has been lost, stolen or otherwise compromised, cancel the card as soon as you can. Get a new card with a new PIN.

Checks

• If your checks have been stolen or misused, close the account and ask your bank to notify the appropriate check verification service.
• While no federal law limits your losses if someone steals your checks and forges your signature, state laws may protect you.
• Most states hold the bank responsible for losses from a forged check, but they also require you to take reasonable care of your account
• You may be held responsible for the forgery if you fail to notify the bank in a timely way that a check was lost or stolen. Contact your state banking or consumer protection agency for more information.
• You also should contact these major check verification companies. Ask that retailers who use their databases do not accept your checks.

TeleCheck - 1-800-710-9898 or 927-0188
Certegy, Inc. - 1-800-437-5120
International Check Services - 1-800-631-9656

Call SCAN (1-800-262-7771) to find out if the identity thief has been passing bad checks in your name.

This is just the second step to stop identity theft.

Stop Identity Theft - step 3 ...

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