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The Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced that an electronic data file with the personal information of approximately 26.5 million veterans - primarily those discharged from the military after 1975 - was stolen from an employee's home. Names, birth dates and Social Security numbers were included in the file, which the employee had taken home without authorization. v
Statement
from the Department of Veterans Affairs v
VA’s
Notification to Veterans Since personal information of this nature can be used to perpetrate identity theft, the VA has advised veterans to place a fraud alert on their credit file through one of the three major credit services (who will alert the other two): Equifax
(www.equifax.com) Experian
(www.experian.com) TransUnion
(www.transunion.com) - Carefully monitor your credit report as well as bank and credit card statements. The law requires the major nationwide consumer reporting companies to give you a free copy of your credit report each year if you ask for it. - If you detect suspicious or unusual activity, do the following: 1. Contact the fraud department of one of the three major credit bureaus: 2. Close any accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. 3. File a report with your local police department or the police department in the community where the identity theft took place. 4. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission through one of the three methods below:
- For more information, go to www.firstgov.gov, or call (800) FED-INFO (333-4636). Additional information on identity theft can be found at: Federal Trade Commission’s “Resources on ID Theft” U.S. Department of Justice’s “ Identity Theft Resource Center” New Hampshire Attorney General’s "Identity Theft Protection Kit" |
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