Many people have requested an article on what are the signs of identity theft so you can be aware if someone already has your identity. To be completely honest it is next to impossible to know where someone has your identity ready to steal it unless you have located a breach in security on your computer, home or officle files, etc. Most of the time an identity is stolen by either old-school dumpster diving or through elaborate phishing techniques online most commonly during bank account login’s and emails.

The first thing you want to do if you feel you may be a victim of identity theft is to quickly sign up for an identity theft prevention service. These services for the most part will scan many places where identity’s are sold as well as give you a free credit report within days to look at. A few services I recommend that give the free credit reports as a bonus with their services are TrustedID, Experian, and Lifelock. Once you have signed up for one of these services you have already added another layer of protection which should ease some of your stress. While you are waiting a few days to get the credit report from the three major credit reporting agencies sent to you there are a few others things you will want to check to make sure your identity hasn’t been stolen. Below is a short list of things that seem like common sense and no brainers but will give you a red flag that someone has stolen your identity.

• You receive a denial letter for a credit card you never applied for.
• Getting calls from bill and debt collectors for things you never purchased.
• Charges showing up on credit card and bank statements for things you never puchased.
• Small charges to your bank account with weird names or numbers, this can be a sign of a criminal checking the account to make sure it is valid or the criminal may be using a method where they take out very small amounts from many users to create thousands of profit.
• You were denied credit or given a less favorable credit option when you are certain you have good credit.

These are just a few of the things you need to look at as signs your identity may be stolen. Now within a few days of ordering one of the services above you will receive your free credit reports from each of the credit reporting agencies, you will usually get them all on the same day. Once you receive the report it is pretty self-explanatory as it will show every place that has granted you credit as well as places that have done a check of your credit. This will give you a good idea as most people don’t have more than a dozen places that have checked their credit and if a name is on there that you do not know then you need to do further investigating. The great thing about having one of the identity theft services is that they all have 24/7 hot-lines to call and get advice from their experts where they can do many checks to see right then whether someone may have stolen your identity and they will also help you get it back. There are thousands of identities stolen every single day in the United States from your average citizen to high profile businessmen, no one is exempt from identity theft. You can protect yourself today by enrolling in one of the recommended services and using some common sense protection techniques because in the end only you can protect yourself from identity theft. If you are a victim of identity theft I would get all of my financial files together, enroll in one of the identity theft protection services, contact the local police, and contact the FTC as this can help you recover your money lost if there is a possibility of recovery.