Identity Theft: Protect Accounts and Credit History
Inventory the affected accounts, secure passwords and access, then monitor your credit file closely.
Published 2026-07-21
Identity theft announces itself in details — a statement that never arrives, a welcome call from an unknown provider — and is fought on four fronts run together. The inventory first: every account reviewed, unknown transactions listed with dates and amounts. Securing next: passwords rebuilt starting with the email account, the key to every reset, two-factor authentication everywhere, institutions notified, cards replaced. The alerts after: a fraud alert at both credit bureaus, forcing identity verification before any account opening, a report to the anti-fraud centre, a police complaint whose event number becomes the file's cornerstone. The documentation last, the weapon of the following months: a chronological binder — dated calls, kept letters — that extinguishes with one letter the fraudulent account resurfacing in collections. This article organizes the four fronts hour by hour, then the surveillance of the months that follow.
Inventory the accounts and transactions
The first hour after discovering identity theft largely determines what follows. The inventory covers every financial account, not only the one where the fraud appeared: bank accounts, cards, lines of credit, investment accounts, and the services that store payment information. Each unrecognized transaction is noted with its date and amount, that list then serving every subsequent step. Institutions are contacted immediately to block compromised access, prompt reporting conditioning how the file is handled under the account agreements.
Take back control of access
Identity theft often runs through the email account, which commands the password reset for everything else: it is therefore the first thing to secure. The password gets changed, two-factor authentication enabled, and any automatic forwarding rules added by the fraudster checked, a common technique for intercepting notices. Financial account passwords follow, each distinct from the others. Devices get checked as well: unknown open sessions, recently installed applications, phone numbers associated with the accounts.
Place alerts in the right places
Both credit agencies accept a fraud alert, which requires lenders to verify identity before granting credit, and a credit freeze, more restrictive and more protective, which blocks the opening of new accounts. The freeze lifts temporarily when you apply for credit yourself. Add a report to the anti-fraud centre, a police report with its file number, and a check on compromised official identification: driver's licence, health card, passport, each with its own replacement procedure to start separately.
Keep a complete file
The restoration stretches over months, and the file is what makes it possible. Every call is noted with the date, the representative's name and the file number obtained. Every email and letter is kept. That documentation serves to demonstrate diligence, a condition of several contractual protections, and to answer creditors who will surface later claiming debts contracted in your name. Checking the credit file every three months over the following year catches accounts opened by the fraudster that have not yet appeared. Two dates matter more than the rest of the file: the day you discovered the fraud, and the day you reported it to each institution. Those two dates decide how the account agreements treat your liability, and they are the first thing anyone reviewing the case will ask for, so they belong at the top of the first page rather than buried in the chronology.
Quebec scenario: compare before confirming
The first signal is minuscule: a card statement that never arrives. The second is less so: a welcome call from a phone provider a call-centre agent in Val-d'Or never contacted. Someone is living a second administrative life in his name, and the response gets organized on four fronts at once. The inventory first: every account reviewed that same evening, unknown transactions listed with dates and amounts, the missing statement explained by a fraudulent address change at the issuer — the scheme's keystone. Securing next: passwords rebuilt starting with the email account, the key to every reset; two-factor authentication enabled everywhere; the institutions notified, cards replaced, accounts watched. The alerts last, placed with the relevant bodies: a fraud alert at both credit bureaus, requiring identity verification before any new account opening; a report to the national anti-fraud centre; and a police complaint, whose event number becomes the file's cornerstone. The documentation, precisely, turns chaos into method: a chronological binder, every call dated with name and file number, every letter kept — proof that will serve months later when the fraudulent phone account resurfaces in collections, extinguished with one letter thanks to the complaint number. Six months of vigilance later, the files are clean. The binder remains: someone else's second life, he notes, died for lack of proof — his own being signed on every page.
Checklist
- Review every account the same day
- List the unknown transactions with dates
- Rebuild the passwords, email first
- Enable two-factor authentication everywhere
- Notify the institutions and replace the cards
- Place the fraud alert at both bureaus
- Report to the anti-fraud centre and police
- Note the complaint's event number
- Keep the chronological binder for the following months
Frequently asked questions
What are the first moves after identity theft?
Inventory and securing, run in parallel: every account reviewed, unknown transactions listed, then passwords rebuilt starting with the email account — the key to every reset — two-factor authentication everywhere, institutions notified and cards replaced.
Which alerts should be placed, and where?
The fraud alert at both credit bureaus, which forces identity verification before any new account opening; the report to the anti-fraud centre; and the police complaint, whose event number becomes the file's centrepiece — demanded by creditors to erase the fraudulent accounts.
Why document every step?
Because the aftershocks resurface months later: a fraudulent account sold into collections dies with one letter when the complaint number and chronology exist, and reopens as a nightmare when nothing was kept. The chronological binder — dated calls and letters — is the tool that ends the crisis.