Last Updated on December 1, 2020
2. Complain to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
What to do if you have been hacked? Before filing a complaint with the police, you must file an identity theft complaint with the FTC. Here, you will find all the additional resources that will help you to follow all the investigation steps. In addition, you will have a personal plan to recover everything taken from you without your consent. This entity also offers you an identity theft statement so that you can use it to request an extended fraud alert at the national credit bureaus and to complete the police report.
3. Contact and Alert National Credit Agencies
There are currently three national credit agencies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. And they all have access to their credit reports. That way, if you think you have been scammed — and there are several signs you have been scammed, like receiving extraordinary offers from unknown companies, having been awarded a big prize, among other types of email scams — you must immediately contact and alert all of these credit bureaus.
4. Freeze Your Bank Credit Immediately
How to protect yourself if you got scammed? In addition to canceling all bank cards, you must immediately freeze your bank credit so that fraudulent accounts are not created in your name. A credit freeze prevents anyone from viewing your credit report (including creditors), which prevents the acquisition of new credits or bank loans with your personal information. Therefore, you must request the Experian credit freeze through the respective contact channels, as well as the credit freeze in the other two national credit agencies. Only then will you be able to protect your reputation and good name with the main financial agencies.
5. Request a Credit Report Fraud Alert
There is an extremely valuable option that can help you a lot in case you have been scammed online, and that is related to fraud alerts in credit reports. You can define two types of fraud alerts in your credit report: an initial fraud alert and an extended fraud alert. -An Initial Fraud Alert: It stays on your credit reports for 90 days, and, in the end, you can renew it as many times as you want.
