Identity Recovery · Checklist · Reviewed July 12, 2026

Identity theft, credit freeze, and recovery check

A first-day recovery sequence for an account, debt, credit inquiry, tax record, benefit claim, or ID used in your name.

Why it matters

Stopping one card is not the same as preventing new accounts or clearing false records. Work in layers: affected accounts, credit files, an identity-theft report, and the agency tied to the misuse.

Official first stop

Start here

Find the right public office for everyday paperwork.

Open: Identity theft recovery steps See more tools like this

First moves

1
Call the fraud department at each company where misuse happened. Ask it to close or freeze the affected account and stop new charges or access.
2
Change passwords, personal identification numbers, recovery email addresses, and security questions from a device you trust. Turn on stronger sign-in protection where available.
3
Place a free one-year fraud alert by contacting one nationwide credit bureau. That bureau must tell the other two.
4
For stronger new-account protection, place a free credit freeze separately with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Save each PIN, password, or confirmation.
5
Get current credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com. Mark every account, inquiry, address, employer, and balance you do not recognize.
6
Report the identity theft at IdentityTheft.gov. Save or print the FTC Identity Theft Report and the recovery plan before leaving if you do not create an account.
7
California allows an identity-theft victim to report the crime to the local police agency where the victim lives or does business. Ask for a copy of the report.
8
Send the FTC report, police report when useful or required, proof of identity, and dispute letters to the companies and credit bureaus named in the recovery plan. Keep copies, tracking, and dates.
9
Use the agency-specific route for tax, EDD, Social Security, medical, child, DMV, criminal, or benefit identity theft. One general report does not update every agency.

Watch for

1
A fraud alert and a credit freeze are different. One bureau can place the alert with all three, but a freeze must be placed and lifted at each bureau.
2
Credit monitoring can warn about changes. It does not block new credit the way a freeze can.
3
A freeze does not stop misuse of an existing bank, card, tax, benefit, phone, utility, or medical account.
4
Use AnnualCreditReport.com for the federally authorized report source. Search ads and lookalike sites can lead to paid products.
5
Do not send full identity documents to an address from an unexpected message. Start from the known company or agency site.
6
Debt collection, court, tax, benefit, and account-dispute deadlines can continue while identity-theft reports are pending.
7
A recovery company that demands payment by gift card, wire, crypto, or payment app may be another scam.

Directory paths

Keep moving through the directory.

Use the nearby shelf when this is the right lane, or jump back to the full directory if the task changed names.

ShelfStart hereFind the right public office for everyday paperwork.DirectoryPaperwork & MoneyReturn to the full tools shelf.Nearby toolScam, identity theft, and fraud reportsChoose a first path for immediate danger, identity misuse, money sent to a scammer, online or investment fraud, or government impersonation.Nearby toolScam payment recovery and report checkUse this in the first hour after a scam payment or account loss. It covers cards, wires, apps, gift cards, and crypto.A-ZFind another California pathUse the directory index when the task has a different name.

Identity theft, credit freeze, and recovery check

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