I never realized that identity theft was real until I became a victim. It happened twelve years ago and am still dealing with it until now. I was nine years old when everything happened. I wasn’t very much aware of it before. I don’t even know how my identity stolen. I was too young to remember not to know how it all happened. As a matter of fact, I don’t really know that it has happened until I was old enough to apply for my driver’s license.
When I was old enough to get my own license that was when I realized that somebody has already applied for a driver’s license under my name. I told my mom about it and we started tracing and checking my credit reports. We were aghast with what we discovered. My credit reports shows that I have four credit cards under my name, five vehicles and two houses, one in New York and the other in the some suburb area of Pennsylvania.
I own these things even before I was old enough to apply for them myself. Worse, all these were not yet paid. They were charged and credited but the person who procured these did not feel that they were financially obliged to pay them. I was a victim of identity theft and it was very painful what it did to my identity. Now, I educate other people on how identity theft can impact their identity and what they can do to protect themselves.
Immediately, I started fixing my wrought identity. I had to clear my name because if not, I will not be able to apply for credit nor get a nice paying job. I may not even have the chance to apply for a student loan when I get to college because of my low credit score.
Here are some other things that I did to clear my name:
1. I called the identity theft and cyber crime department of our local FBI. It was almost hard to get through them but with enough patience, I was able to reach them. I filed a complaint in their department and solicited some help on what I can still do and who I can still contact to help me clear my name.
2. I went to the nearest police department and reported the crime. You have to file an identity theft case and get a copy of the police report because you will still use them when you contact your creditors. They will get your fingerprints and picture. From my experience, when they ran a check on my file, they realized that I had two arrest warrants under my name. I had them reviewed the warrant and when I cleared my name, they removed it from my file.
3. I reviewed and constantly monitored my credit history. This is probably one of the best measure that would safeguard your identity. Every new account and charge that will be incurred under my name will be reflected in this document. I would know easily if somebody else has been charging my account with their own purchases.