Identity Theft: Protect Accounts and Credit History
Inventory the affected accounts, secure passwords and access, then monitor your credit file closely.
In this article
Identity theft starts with small details: a statement that never arrives, a welcome call from an unknown provider. You fight it on four fronts at once. First the inventory: review every account and list the unknown transactions with dates and amounts. Then securing: rebuild your passwords starting with the email account, which allows every reset, turn on two-factor authentication everywhere, notify the institutions and replace the cards. Then the alerts: a fraud alert at both credit bureaus, forcing identity verification before any account opening, a report to the anti-fraud centre, and a police complaint whose event number becomes the key to the file. Last, the documentation, which pays off in the following months: a chronological binder, with dated calls and kept letters, lets you close with one letter a fraudulent account that resurfaces in collections. This article organizes the four fronts hour by hour, then the monitoring over the months that follow.
Inventory the accounts and transactions
The first hour after discovering identity theft largely determines what follows. The inventory covers every financial account, not only the one where the fraud appeared: bank accounts, cards, lines of credit, investment accounts, and services that store payment information. Note each unrecognized transaction with its date and amount. That list will serve in every later step. Contact the institutions immediately to block compromised access. Under the account agreements, how quickly you report can affect how the file is handled.
Take back control of access
Identity theft often runs through the email account, which controls the password reset for everything else. That makes it the first thing to secure. Change the password, turn on two-factor authentication and check for automatic forwarding rules the fraudster may have added, a common technique for intercepting notices. Then change the passwords on your financial accounts, each different from the others. Check your devices as well: unknown open sessions, recently installed applications, phone numbers associated with the accounts.
Place alerts in the right places
Both credit bureaus accept a fraud alert, which requires lenders to verify identity before granting credit. They also accept a credit freeze, more restrictive and more protective, which blocks the opening of new accounts. The freeze lifts temporarily when you apply for credit yourself. Add a report to the anti-fraud centre, a police report with its file number, and a check on any compromised official identification: driver's licence, health card, passport. Each has its own replacement procedure, to start separately.
Keep a complete file
The restoration stretches over months, and the file is what makes it possible. Note every call with the date, the representative's name and the file number obtained. Keep every email and letter. This documentation shows your diligence, a condition of several contractual protections, and lets you answer creditors who surface later claiming debts contracted in your name. Check your credit file every three months over the following year to catch accounts opened by the fraudster that have not yet appeared. Two dates matter more than the rest: the day you discovered the fraud and the day you reported it to each institution. They decide how the account agreements treat your liability, and they are the first thing anyone reviewing the case will ask for. Put them at the top of the first page rather than burying them in the chronology.
Quebec scenario
The first signal is tiny: a card statement that never arrives. The second is bigger: a phone provider calls to welcome him, but this call-centre agent in Val-d'Or never contacted them. Someone is living a second administrative life in his name. He responds on four fronts at once. First the inventory: that same evening he reviews every account and lists the unknown transactions with dates and amounts. The missing statement turns out to come from a fraudulent address change at the issuer, the keystone of the scheme. Next, securing: he rebuilds his passwords starting with the email account, which allows every reset, turns on two-factor authentication everywhere, notifies the institutions, replaces the cards and watches the accounts. Then the alerts: a fraud alert at both credit bureaus, requiring identity verification before any new account opening, a report to the national anti-fraud centre, and a police complaint, whose event number becomes the key to the file. Last, the documentation, which brings order to the chaos. He keeps a chronological binder, notes every call with the date, the representative's name and the file number, and keeps every letter. That proof helps months later, when the fraudulent phone account resurfaces in collections. One letter citing the complaint number is enough to close it. After six months of vigilance, his files are clean. He keeps the binder.
Checklist
- Review every account the same day
- List the unknown transactions with dates
- Rebuild the passwords, email first
- Enable two-factor authentication everywhere
- Notify the institutions and replace the cards
- Place the fraud alert at both bureaus
- Report to the anti-fraud centre and police
- Note the complaint's event number
- Keep the chronological binder for the following months
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