Often months go by before victims of identity theft discover that their identities have been stolen. Many learn about their stolen identity in a rather shocking manner: when a credit card gets strangely declined at a restaurant, or upon getting bills for items they have never bought, or being contacted by collection agencies and merchants about unfamiliar transactions . There has been cases where completely innocent, unsuspecting victims of identity theft have been arrested for fraud/crimes committed by the identity thieves in their names. Strangely enough, proving that you are the victim of identity theft in itself could sometimes be quite a challenge.

As a result of the media attention that identity theft has been receiving lately, however, there is now an increased awareness about this epidemic than before. Now that most consumers have an increased awareness of this crime, people are now learning about their stolen identity within a relatively shorter time -as compared to the length of time identity theft used to go undetected only a year or two ago.

The best way to quickly discover that your identity has been compromised is to pay close attention to what shows up on your consumer credit reports and on all your financial statements. If an identity thief opens a new credit account using your credentials, it is very likely to be included on your credit report. It is important, therefore, that you request a copy of your credit report from time to time and closely scrutinize it. All consumers are entitled to a free credit report annually.

Some of the signs that your identity has been stolen include:

• You are being denied credit,
• You are getting bills for items you did not purchase,
• You are being contacted by debt collectors or stores about things you did not buy,
• You are being issued new credit cards that you did not ask for,
• Missing bills (due to identity thieves changing your billing address), and
• You are being accused of fraud/crimes that you know nothing about.

If you are lucky, any of the above could have been caused by simply data entry errors or human errors. However, it is in your best interest to be on a look out for any such strange occurrences, investigate promptly, and place a fraud alert on your credit report with all the three national credit reporting agencies, and ask consumer reporting companies and information providers to correct errors in your credit report if you notice any irregularities in your credit report.