Identity Theft Police Report

An identity theft police report also called an identity theft report has many benefits in all areas of personal identity theft management. Although identity theft affects many areas of one’s life, credit identity theft or using someone’s personal information to access credit cash or merchandise is the most common risk of identity theft facing most people.

As you may know, credit reporting agencies collect, analyze and sell personal and credit information to companies which are willing to pay for accurate and complete information for making credit decisions. Therefore, high reliance is placed on the credibility of the purchased information to minimize business losses and credit reporting agencies have the best intention and interest for doing all they can to make sure the information they sell is accurate and complete. Therefore, when disagreements arise between consumers whose information has been falsely used in all credit matters and the entities which sold, purchased and used such information, such discrepancies must be properly investigated and corrected as necessary.

One of the best steps consumers can take to formally document their identity theft cases as part of their identity theft action plan is file an identity theft police report. An identity theft report entitles consumers to certain legal rights when it is provided to all major credit reporting agencies or to companies which may be adversely affected when consumer information is misused. For example, an identity theft police report can be used to permanently block fraudulent information which resulted from identity theft to appear on credit reports and ensure that fraudulent debts do not appear on credit reports. Also, identity theft police reports can prevent a company or their agents such as collection agencies from continuing to collect debts which were created due to identity theft.

Most importantly, an identity theft report is required to place an extended fraud alert on credit reports. Although consumers can place initial fraud alerts on their credit reports even if they suspect they are facing or might face identity theft, an extended fraud alert is placed when a person has suffered identity theft and requires an identity theft police report. In addition, a police report is also needed to get copies of the original application which was completed and submitted by the identity thief as well as all relevant transaction information from companies which used the fraudulent information to create the accounts.

Most often, a report is not needed to refute charges on existing accounts which can be resolved by working directly with the companies. Usually, an identity theft report is necessary when a new account has been opened under another person’s name without authorization or when fraudulent charges have been reported to the consumer credit reporting agencies in order take advantage of the available legal protection under the laws.

For an identity theft report to be effective, it must include complete and specific details about the identity theft case. It is also a good idea to complain and report the identity theft case to the government such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and include the identity theft complaint in the police report.

In order to request and receive information pertaining to identity theft cases from companies and all associated entities, requests must be made in writing accompanied by all supporting documentation including the police identity theft report.

Read other identity theft victim articles after reading about identity theft police report.