Knowing when to report identity
theft is a crucial factor in addressing this fraudulent scheme. Many victims
often incur bigger losses due to identity theft because they missed their
chance to report the scam on time. Regularly monitoring your statements and
bills allows you to immediately identify the issue and report identity theft in
good time.
One of the reasons why fraudsters
who commit identity theft go out of their way using various tactics to obtain
your personal and financial information is because they want to evade
suspicion. These fraudsters want to obtain your information without revealing
their true intention against you so they can buy more time. The more time the
fraudster has, the more profits they can generate using your information. To
give an idea when the best time is to report identity theft, see the details
below:
Best Time to Report Identity Theft
●
Regularly checking your credit card statements
allows you to monitor any unauthorized purchases or transactions. These
unauthorized purchases are the key indicators that someone might be using your
credit card information, which means that you are a victim of identity theft.
The best time to report identity theft in this situation is as soon as you
discover the malicious transactions.
●
When you go to a government establishment to
claim your benefits, only to find out that somebody else is already claiming it
for you. This too is another form of identity theft. Somebody else is using
your personal information so they can get money from the government. As soon as
you learn about this incident, you must immediately report the incident to
authorities, so they can find out how else the fraudsters are taking advantage
of your information and put all these malicious activities to stop.
●
Getting invoices or other forms of billing for
items that you didn’t buy or receive. Usually fraudsters who obtain your
information may use your credential to place valuable purchases. They usually
have items delivered to their P.O box in order to evade detection. However, the
billing for this item will still be shipped directly to you since they
are charged under your name. This is a common scheme utilized by fraudster who
commit identity theft. You must report identity theft immediately before your
bills from the unauthorized purchases begin to pile up.
●
Being declined from availing a financial service
despite having a good credit standing. There are many instances when victims of
identity theft, only learned that fraudsters have been illegally using their
identity to obtain a credit card, after their application for a loan or a new
credit line has been declined. To prevent this you may request for a credit
report from the credit bureau on a regular basis. This will reveal any hidden
credit cards or loans that are under your name. The best time to report
identity theft of this kind is as soon as you secure the proof from the credit
bureau.
The details
provided above are the best times when to report identity theft.
