The Identity Theft Report

One of the first tasks a victim of identity theft must tackle is to create an Identity Theft Report. This report documents the theft and assists with the process of proving your innocence and correcting the fraudulent information attributed to you as a result of the theft. The information presented below will assist you with the creation of your Identity Theft Report. 

An identity theft report may have two parts: 

Part One is a copy of a theft report filed with a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency, like your local police department, your State Attorney General, the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. There is no federal law requiring a federal agency to take a report about identity theft; however, some state laws require local police departments to take reports. When you file a report, provide as much information as you can about the crime, including anything you know about the dates of the identity theft, the fraudulent accounts opened, and the alleged identity thief. Note that any individual knowingly submitting false information could subject themselves to criminal prosecution for perjury. 

Part Two of an identity theft report is dependant on the policies of the credit reporting company and the information provider (the business that sent the information to the credit reporting company). That means that they may ask you to provide information or documentation beyond what was included in the law enforcement report to fully verify your identity and the details of your case. They must make their request to you within either 15 days of receiving your law enforcement report (Part One), or, if you placed an extended fraud alert on your credit report, the date you submit your request to the credit reporting agency for information blocking. The credit reporting company and information provider then have 15 additional days to work with you to make sure your identity theft report contains everything they need. They are entitled to take 5 days to review any information you give them. For example, if you give them information 11 days after they request it, they do not have to make a final decision until 16 days after they asked you for that information. If you fail to provide information within the 15-day deadline, they can reject your identity theft report as incomplete and you will have to resubmit the report with the correct information. 

You may find that many federal and state agencies, and some local police departments, offer only “automated” reports (a report that does not require a face-to-face meeting with a law enforcement officer). Automated reports may be submitted online, by telephone, or by mail. If you have a choice, do not use an automated report. Why? It’s more difficult for the credit reporting company or information provider to verify the information. Unless you are asking a credit reporting company to place an extended fraud alert on your credit report, you probably will have to provide additional information or documentation when you use an automated report.