While the Internet has greatly benefited our day to day
personal or commercial activities, it has created ample scope for scammers and
fraudsters to deceive others for financial or personal gains. Scam or fraud is
a criminal offense and is punishable under different Legal Acts. Therefore,
most national governments have designated a handful of agencies for dealing
with the offenders, controlling and stopping them in their tracks. When you are
scammed by identity theft, you must report a scam to proper authorities and
agencies.
- IDENTITY FRAUD
One of the most common contemporary scam is Identity Theft.
By adopting fraudulent means, the scammers obtain your personal information
such as name, social security number, credit or debit card information, PIN
number, password and then make purchases, withdraw funds or take out loans in
your name. To report a scam on this score, you should collect evidence, such as
Credit Card statement showing purchases, not made by you, collection notices
for debts, not availed by you, statements from credit card companies, related
to an account which you did not open and mistakes marked on your credit report,
received from the credit card companies; Experian, Equifax and Transunion.
- Report to Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Report a scam related to identity theft; to FTC, which refers your case to investigating
agencies and helps you to create an Identity Theft affidavit that is required
to be filed along with the police report. In order to report a scam to the FTC;
you need to take any of the following steps
● Submit your complaint, online through
www.consumer.ftc.gov or feature-0014-identity-theft
● Submit your report by calling to
number 1-866-653-4261
● Send the report through mail,
addressing to Consumer Response Center, Federal Trade Commission; 600
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC; 20580
Report to Police
File your First Information Report
(FIR) to your local police, along with the identity theft affidavit, obtained
from the FTC. Obtain a copy of the police report and report number for keeping
track of the progress of the report.
Report to Credit Reporting Agencies
The 3 credit companies have their own
fraud wings for dealing with specific cases, related to credit fraud. You can
report a scam in the following manners
● Experian: Call
to Number 888-397-3742 or 888-EXPERIAN
● Equifax: Call
to Number 800- 525-7289
● TransUnion:
Call to Number 800-680-7289
Social Security Administration
You can call to number 800-269-0271 to report a scam and to
get new social Security number and card.
Other Agencies
For getting your address changed, call your local Post Office
of the Postal Information Service. For IRS related scam, call 1-800-829-0433.
Call your financial institutions where the fraudulent account has been opened.
Call the concerned companies if the scam is related to make international
purchases or long distance phone calls.
When you have the slightest suspicion that your personal
identity has been stolen and used for any fraudulent means, you must take
prompt action to report a scam. The earliest it is reported, the lesser will be
your financial loss. Adopt the same course of action if you find other, fallen
victim to Identity Theft.
