People who learn that a scammer has opened an account in their name, or drained a bank balance, can report it in one place and get a step-by-step plan at no cost. The Federal Trade Commission runs the site, IdentityTheft.gov, and says reporters get a free personal recovery plan with next steps. The same site lets victims print letters that are already filled in.

The plan is built for the hours after the damage is found, when most people do not know who to call first. It does not recover stolen money on its own, but it puts the order of the work on paper.

What the free recovery plan includes

The FTC’s identity theft page describes the plan as a personal list of steps that walks a victim through the cleanup. It also offers updates to the plan and a way to track progress as each step gets done. The agency says the advice covers more than 30 types of identity theft, plus guidance for data breaches.

That range matters because a stolen card number and a stolen Social Security number lead to very different repairs. The site, IdentityTheft.gov, describes itself as step-by-step advice to limit the damage, report the theft and fix credit, and the plan follows from what a victim reports there.

The site is in English. A Spanish version, RobodeIdentidad.gov, is available, and the FTC says people who need another language can call 877-438-4338 and press 3, with interpreters on the line from 9:00am to 5:00pm Eastern time.

The FTC lists three warning signs to look for. They are bills that stop arriving, or charges and bills nobody recognizes; withdrawals from a bank account the owner did not make; and accounts on a credit report that the owner does not recognize.

A person who sees any of those can start at the FTC site right away. The agency does not set a required order for the steps, but it says to report the theft there to get the recovery plan, then protect the credit file.

Anyone on Social Security, a pension or SNAP who sees a missing deposit or an odd withdrawal has reason to check the account the same day, since a fixed income leaves little room for a drained balance. For those readers the first job is the report at IdentityTheft.gov, and the next is the credit file.

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The pre-filled letters are the time saver

The FTC says the site lets people print pre-filled letters and forms to send to credit bureaus, businesses and debt collectors. For a victim juggling several companies at once, that cuts the paperwork down.

The three audiences named by the FTC are credit bureaus, businesses and debt collectors. Letters to each can be printed from the site rather than written from scratch, which spares a victim from drafting three or four separate notices after the plan is generated.

Which letters apply depends on what the thief did. A victim who finds an unfamiliar collection notice has a debt collector to answer. A victim who finds a new account on a credit report has a bureau and a business to notify.

Freeze, fraud alert or both

The recovery plan points toward the two credit tools the FTC explains in a separate article. A credit freeze, the agency says, means nobody can open a new credit account in the victim’s name, including the victim, until the freeze is lifted. It must be placed with each of the three bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The FTC says freezes are free to place and free to lift.

A fraud alert is lighter. It asks lenders to check with the person before opening new credit, and the lenders can still see the credit report. The FTC says an alert is free, and that a person asks one bureau, which must tell the other two. An initial alert lasts one year and can be renewed.

After a confirmed identity theft, there is a stronger version. The FTC says an extended fraud alert lasts seven years, and it requires an identity theft report filed at IdentityTheft.gov or a police report. An extended alert also takes the person off unsolicited credit and insurance offer lists for five years unless they ask otherwise.

Victims who want to see exactly what was opened can pull their reports at no charge. The FTC says the only site authorized to fill the free orders is AnnualCreditReport.com, or 1-877-322-8228 by phone. The three bureaus have permanently extended a program that lets people check each report weekly for free.

The FTC adds that a person can get an additional free report when an inaccurate entry is caused by fraud. Mistakes on a report can be a sign of identity theft, the agency says, so every account a person does not recognize deserves a closer look.

One warning from the same agency: AnnualCreditReport.com and the bureaus will not email anyone asking for a Social Security number or account number. A message that does is another scam, and the FTC says not to click links in it.

The FTC’s identity theft page makes a related point: the IRS, banks and employers do not contact people out of the blue to ask for a Social Security number, and the agency advises asking why any organization needs the number before handing it over.

The first move is the report. The FTC’s plan, the letters and the credit tools all start from the information entered there, and the extended fraud alert depends on having that report in hand. The FTC’s pages set no filing deadline, and the credit freeze and the first fraud alert both cost nothing.

The open question for most victims is the order. The FTC’s page sets no required sequence, so the plan generated at the site is where the order gets settled for each person.

Already hit by a scam, where does the first hour go?

The hours right after a scam are when the most money can still be saved, and also when people lose track of which bank, bureau or agency they already called. A missed call or a lost reference number can slow a dispute for weeks.

The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit is a 76-page guide that puts the first-hour recovery plan on paper, along with a fraud evidence and report log for writing down who was told what and when. Part 2 walks through the first hour step by step, and Part 3 explains what each report does.

Get the Senior Fraud Defense Kit with an IdentityTheft.gov report log →

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.