How identity theft recovery works
Recovering from identity theft follows a checklist, and federal law supplies most of the tools. Credit freezes are free at all three bureaus. An FTC identity theft report from IdentityTheft.gov stands in for a police report for most purposes. And FCRA §605B, one of the most useful protections and one of the least used, requires credit bureaus to block fraudulent information from your report within 4 business days of receiving your identity theft report.
Start by locking things down, today and for free. Freeze your credit at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Place a one-year fraud alert with any one bureau, which must tell the other two. File your FTC identity theft report, change your passwords, and turn on two-factor authentication for every account that matters.
Next, send each bureau the §605B block letter with your identity theft report and proof of identity. The bureau then has four business days to block the fraudulent items, so they stop counting against your score.
Then close the accounts. Write to the fraud department of each creditor that opened an account in your name, and answer any collector with a not-my-debt identity theft letter. A collector who gets your identity theft report has to tell the creditor, and a written dispute sent within the validation period stops collection until the collector verifies the debt.
After that, the work is keeping it from happening again: move up to the 7-year extended fraud alert, get an IRS Identity Protection PIN, and leave the freeze on for good, lifting it only when you apply for credit.
Do I need a police report?
Usually the FTC report is enough, since it is meant to stand in for one. File a police report as well if you know who the thief is, an account was opened locally, a creditor insists on one, or money was physically stolen. The toolkit explains how.
Will this cost me money?
The protections themselves are free by law: freezes, alerts, blocks, the FTC report, and the IRS PIN. You don’t need to pay a monthly “identity protection” fee for what the law already gives you. This toolkit shows you how to do all of it yourself.
Identity Theft Recovery Kit provides self-help document templates and general information. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Kits For That is not a law firm. Procedures and protections were verified as of July 2026 and can change, so check the current rules at IdentityTheft.gov. If your losses are large or the criminal activity is ongoing, involve law enforcement and consider talking to an attorney.