The least helpful actions in the case of identity theft seem to be either doing nothing at all and hoping everything will get back to normal by itself or panicking mindlessly.
Explanation:
Identity theft is a crime that has become utterly widespread nowadays (millions of people become victims yearly). Precisely speaking, it is a situation in which somebody illegally obtains other person’s personal information and uses it for their benefit, usually an economic one. As for tragic results, when identity thieves get someone’s personal data, they are able to do various unpleasant things with this person’s bank accounts, such as taking out money, using private health insurance, shopping, open a new account, and so on. In some severe cases, thieves can even use someone’s name for misleading the police while being arrested.
Many things can be done either to protect a person’s identity from being stolen and to recover after it has all the same happened. The primary thing to do, attempting to prevent identity theft is to use personal information carefully and thoughtfully. However, the thieves are getting smarter and trickier nowadays, so it is also crucial to know what to do in case this crime happens. One of the most significant steps is to realize that identity was stolen. There are many signals, such as reports about some services that a person did not use or, for example, notifications from the IRS about several tax returns or some questionable income.
All in all, the main actions to take are to check credit reports, to freeze a credit card or at least put a fraud alert on it, to contact a credit card company or bank, etc. As for protecting an identity, the minimal steps are to use strong and various passwords and logins for different accounts and to think thoroughly before any actions connected with money.