📋 How to Recover From Identity Theft and Fraud (AARP Article)

[SpringIsHereVA]

FROM THE ARTICLE:

How to Recover After Your Identity Has Been Stolen.

Identity fraud can upend your life. Here’s how to clean up the mess.

By Ken Budd, AARP.

Reviewed by Amy Nofziger, AARP’s director of fraud victim support, AARP Fraud Watch Network​.

Published May 02, 2025.

Jessica Roy’s years-long identity fraud nightmare began with a stolen wallet. The theft occurred in a San Francisco bar in 2018, and Roy — then a reporter with the Los Angeles Times, now a financial columnist with the San Francisco Chronicle — took quick action. She disputed charges the next morning (the thieves had used her debit card), cancelled her debit and credit cards, and reported her stolen wallet to local police. Soon after, she obtained a new driver’s license and updated autopay for her bills.

She thought the matter was closed. Then Bank of America and Wells Fargo mailed her approval notices for accounts she hadn’t opened. The thieves had applied for accounts with Macy’s, PayPal, and Walmart, she learned from a site where she tracked her credit score. She received email notifications that her passwords had been changed.

USE LINK BELOW TO READ THE ARTICLE: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/recovering-from-identity-theft-fraud/

[SpringIsHereVA]

This is one thing that concerns me & hope it NEVER happens to me.

Thank you AARP for publishing this article.

Take care,

Nicole  👵  (Friends & Family Forum)

[SpringIsHereVA]

➡️[*** This is SO IMPORTANT and is NOT usually discussed in articles about this awful crime.

From The Article (about possible suicide).

9. Protect your mental health.

According to the ITRC’s October 2024 “Consumer & Business Impact Report,” 12 percent of identity theft victims said they had contemplated suicide. “Victims of identity theft will feel overwhelmed at times by the psychological pain of loss, helplessness, anger, isolation, betrayal, rage, and even embarrassment,” the Georgia Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division warns.

As you recover from identity theft, focus not just on your financial well-being but also on your emotional well-being. Don’t neglect healthy habits (such as exercise), and consider seeing a mental health professional if you feel anxious or depressed. AARP has free, confidential online Fraud Victim Support Groups led by trained facilitators.