Filing A Police Report As An ID Theft Victim - Do You or Don't You?
Now, are there instances where you don't have to file a police report? The answer to that depends totally upon you. But it would be highly recommend that any time your social security number or even your credit card is compromised, you file a police report. It really can't hurt. Because you just never know when I.D. Theft will rear it's ugly head to let you know you've been victimized.
For instance, let's say your credit card company notifies you today that your card number was compromised. You then receive an affidavit in the mail to contest the charges and subsequently receive a credit. But several months later, another issue pops up, and before you know it a collection agency is now calling you. Even worst, let's say you get pulled over for a routine motor vehicle stop and a warrant comes back for your arrest because a criminal used your ID to commit a crime. These possibilities may present themselves as extreme, but are very realistic. That's why it's always good to cover yourself with a police report. Then you can always go back to the party of inquiry and inform them that you did what was required of you when you initially recognized the problem.
Just think, with filing a police report you not only cover yourself for a future calamity, you are also providing law enforcement another statistic to show how pervasive the problem of Identity Theft really is. Because believe it or not, as much as the media week after week discusses the problem of ID Fraud, many victims never even report their cases to law enforcement. Reason being is that they simply don't want to inconvenience themselves, because they just don't have the time, or they feel their situation may be too frivolous to report to law enforcement.
Let's address both of these issues now. Many folks have an impression that they must come to police headquarters in person to file a police report. So the act of filing a report is perceived to be an inconvenience. In some instances, such as in the bigger cities, that may be required. But realize this. The Police are at your disposal 24 hours a day 7 days a week. So a report can be made when it's convenient for you. Yet in most suburban and rural towns, if you call the police department, they will usually send a patrol officer to your residence to take that report. And it takes all but 10 - 20 minutes at most.
Lastly, no one should have any misconception that Identity Theft is frivolous. Whichever way you look upon it, ID Theft is a crime. And in as much as your credit card may have been compromised for only $500 (using a hypothetical example), you never know who the suspect(s) is behind the scenes committing these acts, and how much fraud they have committed to date. Chances are, your situation is only the tip of the iceberg.
Related Tags: identity theft, identity theft protection, id theft, identity theft insurance, protecting my identity
Bruno Pavlicek is an expert Identity Theft consultant and President of Qualitative Intelligence Services, LLC., a licensed risk consulting and investigative firm. To learn more about how to protect yourself or your company from Identity Theft, visit the ID Theft Solutions webpage and the Identity Theft Center webpage at the following site - - http://www.Qi2Services.com/
© All Rights Reserved. This article may be freely distributed as long as it remains unaltered inclusive of the active links and the copyright notice. No alteration is allowed without express written permission from the author.
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