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Identity theft

Identity theft recovery: the first steps, in order

Report it, lock down new credit, then clean up the accounts. Each step is free.

Reviewed by Jake Lawrence on 6 sources2 min read

If someone opened an account, filed a tax return, or ran up charges in your name, the recovery has a known order. The federal government's one-stop site is IdentityTheft.gov, run by the Federal Trade Commission. It builds a personal recovery plan and an Identity Theft Report, which is the document that unlocks most of your rights below.

Today

  1. Call the companies where the fraud happened. Ask for the fraud department, close or freeze the accounts, and change passwords and PINs.
  2. Place a fraud alert with one of the three nationwide credit bureaus. That one must tell the other two. An initial alert lasts one year and makes lenders take reasonable steps to confirm it is you before opening new credit. It also lets you get a free report from each bureau.
  3. Report it at IdentityTheft.gov. You get your Identity Theft Report and a checklist for your situation.

This week

  • Consider a credit freeze at each bureau, which does more than an alert: it keeps new lenders from seeing your file at all until you lift it. See how to freeze your credit.
  • Read all three reports. Mark every account, inquiry and address you do not recognize.
  • Ask the bureaus to block the fraudulent items. Send each bureau your Identity Theft Report, proof of identity, and the items that came from the theft. Once a bureau has those, it must block that information within four business days.

The longer work

  • With an Identity Theft Report you can ask for an extended fraud alert, which lasts seven years.
  • If a collector contacts you about a debt the thief created, tell it in writing that the debt came from identity theft and send a copy of your report; you can also ask it to prove the debt.
  • Review your reports again in a few months. Free reports are available every week at AnnualCreditReport.com.

Where the bureaus are

This site does not list the bureaus' addresses. The CFPB keeps the list of consumer reporting companies with how to reach each one, and IdentityTheft.gov links them in your plan.

Sources

  1. FTC: IdentityTheft.gov, report and recovery planidentitytheft.gov accessed 2026-10-24
  2. FTC: IdentityTheft.gov, the recovery stepsidentitytheft.gov accessed 2026-10-24
  3. CFPB: What do I do if I think I have been a victim of identity theft?consumerfinance.gov accessed 2026-10-24
  4. 15 U.S.C. 1681c-1, fraud alerts and security freezes (Cornell LII)law.cornell.edu accessed 2026-10-24
  5. 15 U.S.C. 1681c-2, block of information resulting from identity theft (Cornell LII)law.cornell.edu accessed 2026-10-24
  6. CFPB: List of consumer reporting companiesconsumerfinance.gov accessed 2026-10-24

How this page was made

This page was drafted with a language model from the sources listed above. Jake Lawrence read it against those sources and signed it on October 24, 2026.

Legal information, not legal advice. Nothing here answers one reader's specific situation; state law can add to every rule above.

Found an error? See Corrections.

Identity theft recovery: the first steps, in order | Credit Help