Monitoring Your Credit Report

To protect yourself from Identity Theft, the New York City Police Department's Crime Prevention Section suggests you review and monitor your credit report for fraudulent activity.

By law, you may now obtain free copies of your credit report from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies by calling 1-877-322-8228  or  at this link.  If you desire to send in your request by mail, you may download the request form from the site, complete it and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.  You can receive a free report from each of the three national credit reporting companies every 12 months. Please do not contact the companies individually as they are providing free annual credit reports only as outlined above.

Annual Credit Report is the ONLY authorized online source for you to obtain this free credit report under federal law.  Be aware that some other sites claim to offer "free" credit reports, but may charge you for another product if you accept a "free" report.

Additionally, if you choose to order your reports through the website, make sure you are not transmitting personal data on a publicly accessed computer.  Also, your computer should have an up-to-date firewall and virus protection.  Make sure that your operating system and web browser are updated as well.

Identity Theft Laws

Effective November 1, 2006, three new laws went into effect to protect New Yorkers from identity theft.  They are as follows:

• Security Freeze law allows consumers to block access to their credit records.
  
• The Disposal of Personal Records law requires businesses to shed, destroy, or modify personal records no longer in use to ensure that no one could obtain access to them.
  
• The Anti-Phishing Act of 2006 bands the deceptive solicitation of personal information through electronic communication such as e-mail.

If you would like to place a security freeze on your credit information, send a certified or overnight letter which includes your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth to the three major credit bureaus:

Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013

Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

Noted below are sites for surrounding states that provide information about identity theft:

Connecticut

New Jersey

Pennsylvania

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