Identity Theft victim's rights to information about false debts and accounts. Both California and federal law give an identity theft victim the right to challenge any false ("fraudulent") debt or false account opened by a thief using the victim's information. The victim is also entitled to all the paperwork related to any false debt or false account. This paperwork might include an application form, statements, charge slips, and /or other business records.

Steps to take first. If you are a California identity theft victim, you should first make a police report, place an immediate security freeze on your credit reports, order copies of your credit reports from the three major credit reporting companies, and ask those companies to correct each item of false information found on your credit reports. See Identity Theft Steps for more information.

Call creditors and debt collectors. After that, you will need to call and then write each creditor or debt collector who has contacted you about a false debt, or who is listed beside a false debt or account on one of your credit reports. In your call, tell them you are an identity theft victim and will be writing them for copies of the documents related to a fraudulent debt shown on your account. Ask them whether they have their own fraud affidavit you should fill out, or whether you can send them the government's standardized affidavit of identity theft, available at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/pdf/affidavit.pdf

Sample identity theft debt notification letter. Send each of these creditors and debt collectors a separate letter. The letter will explain that you are a victim of identity theft, the debt shown on your account (or the account itself) is not yours, and you are asking them to remove the debt from their records and send you copies of all paperwork related to the false debt and/or account. You will need to attach a copy of your police report and a copy of your affidavit of identity theft. We have prepared a sample letter you can fill out and use to challenge a fraudulent debt and get the related paperwork for it:

You can open or download it from either of these links:

• MS Word formatted Identity Theft Debt Notification Letter (you can replace the blanks with your own info)
• Adobe Acrobat PDF formatted Identity Theft Debt Notification Letter (handwrite or type info into blanks)

You will need to send a separate letter to each creditor and debt collector, identifying the false debt or account by its date and account or identification number. You can't just fill out a single letter and use the same one for all the false debts, because each debt will have different identifying information.

Photocopy the Letter and Mail it to the Creditor and/or Debt Collector for the Debt or Account. When you have filled in the letter:

1. Photocopy it and put your copy in a place where you won't lose it
2. Mail the original letter to the creditor and/ or the debt collector for the fraudulent debt or account. Be sure to include your affidavit and a photocopy of your police report.
3. You can mail the letter "Certified / Return Receipt Requested," but you don't have to. This costs more for postage, but gives you proof that you mailed it.
4. If the creditor or debt collector does not give you the information asked for in your letter and/or contacts you again, if you are a California resident you can call The Law Firm of Shewry & Van Dyke, LLP for a free, courteous, and understanding consultation at (888) 910-3328 [toll-free]. We can help you.

If you do receive the information you requested, you should review it and send each creditor and debt collector a follow up letter.

We can be reached by telephone Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We are glad to provide you with a telephone consultation at no charge. But please remember that for us to become your attorneys, we must first have a written attorney-client agreement signed by both of us. We look forward to helping you.