Many articles on the web make it seem like when you get your identity stolen, repairing the damage is as easy as 12-step checklist. It’s not.
The average victim of identity theft will spend 200 hours attempting to fix the destruction caused by a cyber criminal or hacker.
Restoring Your Finances, Credit and Personal Losses Is an Agonizing Process
When you first discover that your identity has been stolen, contacting the police is only the beginning of what you have to deal with. Oftentimes the local police will tell you that they can’t help much — and then you’ll find out how difficult this process really is.
Identity theft victims are also solely responsible for doing the following:
- Filing an identity theft claim with the Federal Trade Commission
- Reporting all incidents of fraud with each financial institution you bank with
- Freezing your accounts – or having to close and reopen them
- Notifying creditors and shutting down your credit cards
- Contacting credit agencies and placing a fraud alert on your credit report
- Calling the Social Security fraud hotline to notify them of the incident
- Getting a new ID with a new driver’s license number
- Working with the FBI and other government authorities investigating your case
These are just the first steps you need to take after your identity is stolen. The list can go on and on and it often takes several months, if not years, months for victims to fully repair their identity on their own.
Identity Theft Results In Hidden Costs Many Don’t Think About
In 2014, roughly two-thirds of identity theft victims reported a direct financial loss, with those affected experiencing an average loss of $7,761.
In addition to the immediate financial loss caused by identity theft, victims also incur other expenses and costs. Many who’ve had their identity stolen end up having to hire an attorney to investigate their case, resulting in some pretty steep legal fees.
While trying to restore their financial accounts, victims can also be slapped with late charges on all sorts of bills — phone, utilities, mortgage payment, credit cards— and experience penalties on their credit report, which can decrease your eligibility for lower-interest loans and rates.
Identity Thieves Steal More Than Your Money
In a report filed two years ago from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, an estimated 36% of victims reported moderate or severe emotional distress due to having their identity stolen.
Survey participants also reported that identity theft led them to experience significant distress and problems at work, school and in their personal relationships.
Identity theft victims often say that they’ve:
- Lost countless hours of sleep
- Been interrupted endlessly at work dealing with creditors, banks and law enforcement
- Become paranoid that someone’s watching them every time they make a transaction or log onto a computer
- Had more relationship issues following the incident
Being an identity theft victim has also affected their family.
Imagine having to take care of your children — feed them, pay for their clothes and supplies, buy gas to drive them to school — without having any money in the bank for days on end. These are the true realities many victims of identity theft must face immediately after the fact.
Let Your Worst Nightmare Become Our Problem To Solve
For nearly all identity theft victims, repairing their losses is time-consuming and stressful.
Oftentimes, you don’t know who to call, what to report, which form to fill out and how to get a real person on the phone — not just another annoying automated message that doesn’t help at all.
Don’t spend 200-plus hours trying to get your life back to normal.
It takes an expert to get banks, creditors and law enforcement to respond quickly and effectively.
LibertyID’s comprehensive Identity Restoration and Recovery Services will save you from having to deal with being the victim of identity crimes or cyber hacks on your own.
We have restored, replaced and resolved the identities of more than 60,000 people. Our success rate is 100%. The average Liberty ID customer only spends 1.5 hours on the phone with us. They are not interrupted at work and they sleep well at night because they know we are going to do all the work for them.
Go to bed tonight knowing you never have to worry about identity theft again.
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