flopflop

Seriously I have had my "identity stolen" It isn't fun.


You have already flagged your accounts which is good. You also spoke with the police, but make sure you actually file a report with them. It will come in handy if something ever happens where they try to use your, or your families info. Trust me on this, get a report filed regarding this ASAP.

The most important thing you can do is get a credit check from each of the three major credit bereaus every month for each person in your family. This will monitor anything being done in your name. If you see suspsicious items showing up on credit reports you will know much sooner, and you can begin fighting it right away. Thats also where the police report comes in handy, as it acts as the legal reference for when your identity was stolen.

Most of the time in these cases the damage to you will be greater than the rewards the "bad guys" get. They can get credit cards in your name spend on them and max them out before you even know that it happened. Most people don't find out for about a year and by then there are penalty charges interest and they are trying to take you to court or garnish your wages. Monitoring your credit report will allow you to see anything within thirty days, which is a great advantage when it comes to fighting it.

Make sure you get reports from all three of the major credit bereuas.


Although if someone stole the laptop they were probably only after the computer, and there is a good chance they will just erase everything anyways, but you cannot afford the luxory of hoping that is the case.


Another good thing you can do after you file a police report, get aTAX ID number (like they give to business) and begin to use that instead of your social security number. This protects you in the future as you can alwasy get rid of a TAX ID number, but it also helps you to know what are legitimate marks on your own Social Security Number's credit history.