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What to do if you've been the victim of identity theft

ID theft victim: what you should do

Search: More on protection against identity theft

- Check your credit hasn't been tampered with
- Tips on avoiding identity theft

There have been a number of reports of local and national government departments and agencies, financial services companies, banks and retailers losing sensitive personal information affecting thousands or even millions of people.

Accidents, failed deliveries, thefts, hackers and untrustworthy insiders regularly expose data ranging from names, addresses and dates of birth to bank and credit card account details to the risk of abuse. Armed with this, criminals could impersonate innocent people, clear their accounts and run up debts in their names.

The big question for all of us who might be affected is what we can do if we fear that we are among the latest batch of data breach victims.

The following tips provide a decent plan of action.

• Check your bank, credit card and other account statements regularly for unexpected and unusual transactions. If you notice anything out of the ordinary and believe the account has been compromised, contact the relevant organisation and notify them of the issue.

• Change all the passwords and PINs that could relate to the data that has been lost. If a fraudster could have got hold of the names and dates of birth of your children, for example, you should not use these as passwords.

• Check your credit report. This is the history of your credit accounts, such as cards, loans and mortgages, plus your repayment history, details of recent applications and court judgments for non-payment of debts.

If you spot any applications you haven't made, any accounts you didn't open or any debts you haven't run up, contact the relevant organisations immediately and explain the circumstances. You can check your Experian credit report for free with a 30-day trial now.

• Watch out for hoax calls, letters or e-mails. Criminals may take advantage of your distress in the wake of a data breach to extract further information - for example, they may ask for more details about your situation and claim these are needed so that you can receive compensation.

Always double-check by telephoning the organisation they claim to represent on a number you already have or find on the internet or in the phone book.

• If the data breach has given away your e-mail address, you may want to change it - it could be vulnerable to crooks sending spy programs that will extract data from your hard disk or copy your keystrokes and send the information to a criminal.

• Keep checking your credit report regularly. Some savvy fraudsters hold on to stolen personal information for many months before using it, either because they have stolen so much that they haven't yet got round to it or to lull you into a false sense of security.

• Make it hard for the criminals to rip you off. The credit reference agency that holds your credit report can issue alerts every time there is a significant change to it, such as a new application for credit.

If your address has been used in a fraud, you can also contact CIFAS, the UK's fraud prevention service and request a Proactive Registration - a warning flag which is placed against your address. CIFAS members, including banks, credit card issuers, mail order companies and telecommunications providers, will see this flag and make extra checks to ensure your application is genuine.

• If you spot anything that indicates your identity has been stolen, contact Experian's Victims of Fraud team, a specialist service that will give you advice and help to resolve any problems.

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