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How Do I Help Protect Myself from Identity Theft?

Identity theft occurs when someone has access to your personal information and then uses it to open lines of credit or receive insurance, housing, or employment in your name. Identity thieves who have access to your personal information may open up new loans and accumulate debt in your name and leave those debts unpaid.

Be sure to look for signs of fraud or identity theft by reviewing your credit reports regularly. Check for changes to your credit reports, including hard inquiries. Hard inquiries show up on your credit reports when lenders or creditors review your credit report because you have applied for a loan, credit or service, such as a credit card, mortgage or auto loan. If you get a notification about new hard inquiries and you haven't applied for any credit recently, it's an early sign that someone is using your personal information to try to get credit. That’s one way to help detect when fraudulent activity occurs so you can address it.

It's also a good idea to use other protective measures, such as security freezes and fraud alerts, to help protect yourself from identity theft. Also, contacting authorities and companies where the fraud has taken place to explain that you were a victim of identity theft is another step you can take if you’ve been a victim of identity theft.