Identity Theft Victims Complaint and Affidavit: Form 14039

First came businesses like Target, Home Depot, and Ebay.  Next were the financial institutions like JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs.  And finally healthcare organizations, including Anthem and Healthcare.gov.  No sector of the economy has been left unaffected by recent data hacks. In 2014 alone, a total of 930,526,448 records were breached according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

In the face of all this hacking, one important step you can take to protect yourself from fraud is to report identity theft incidents. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has developed an Identity Theft Victim’s Complaint and Affidavit IRS Form 14039. The form takes just ten minutes to complete, and you can do it online here.  The FTC identity theft affidavit can help you deal with credit reporting companies, debt collectors, and businesses that gave credit or opened new accounts in your name. Moreover you can use the FTC affidavit to place an extended fraud alert on your credit report.

While consumers are constantly reminded to change their usernames and update passwords, the fact remains that your sensitive information may at some point be compromised.  The important thing is to remain vigilant of your various accounts, use password managers that help you to remember more complicated and varied passwords, update your software, and where possible use a two-step verification system for added security. And if you do find out that your personal information has been compromised, report it immediately using Form 14039.

 


 

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