That's a good question. When you start to research on how to get this done you'll get different answers on where to go, what to do and how do I get this done and so forth. Asking your bank or your credit union for tips on how to fix identity theft and they will send you to their website or hand you a brochure and that's pretty much it. Across the board financial institutions will tell you to check out a copy of your credit report, shred your documents that have your personal information on them, check your credit card statements and so on.
After being in the information security business for over a decade, one of the problems that I see is that about 90% of the information that is given to the public is regarding Financial Identity Theft. This area of ID theft only encompasses only about 27% of the total amount of the thefts that occur. There is federal legislation out there that requires banks and financial institutions to protect, by law, client and employee information. If someone uses your credit card without your permission, that is not identity theft...It is Fraud. All you have to do is call the credit card company or your bank and report that someone fraudulently used your card and they (the bank) will credit your account the amount of money that was used, IF you report the fraud in a timely matter. Any fraudulent amount over two billing cycles and you're responsible.
Same thing with checks, if you did not write them and the signature doesn't match, well that's a somewhat easy fix. So overall the banks do help out with the financial end but not in the big overall picture.
Would you know how to fix identity theft if someone used your Medical information? This is one of the fastest growing areas of ID theft that is being exploited and it is on the rise nearly 5% every year. Medical records are some of the hardest pieces of data to get changed because most people don't just have one provider. There are exceptions but most people change doctors several times in their life so their records could be all over the country. There is just not one centralized medical records facility. This is where you need experts to come in and do some of the work for you. Because if you do not know how to fix identity theft in this arena of medical information you're in for some long days.
I, personally check my records every time I go to see my doctor to make sure that there are no discrepancies. So that is one way to ward off any theft of medical records is to stay on top of your own personal records.
In the end, there are a lot of things that we all need expert help in if we ever experience this crime. If you are not protected in all 6 areas of Identity theft, and would like to experience piece of mind of being protected by people who know how to fix identity theft, go to my website and pick up my free report.
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