{"id":67659,"date":"2015-09-05T06:44:55","date_gmt":"2015-09-05T11:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=67659"},"modified":"2015-09-05T06:44:55","modified_gmt":"2015-09-05T11:44:55","slug":"ohio-a-g-gives-identity-theft-unit-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2015\/09\/05\/ohio-a-g-gives-identity-theft-unit-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio A-G gives Identity Theft Unit update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>Ohio Attorney General\u2019s information<\/i><\/p>\n<p>COLUMBUS &#8212; Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced that his office\u2019s Identity Theft Unit received nearly 3,500 complaints and helped identity theft victims clear over $1 million in fraudulent debt during the unit\u2019s first three years of existence, according to complaint information.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIdentity theft continues to be a serious problem for many Ohioans,\u201d Attorney General DeWine said. \u201cVictims can experience lower credit scores, rejection for a loan or a job, or even an arrest for a crime they did not commit. Our goal is to give people the direction and assistance they need to resolve the negative effects of identity theft and move on with their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ohio-A-Gs-Identity-Theft-Chart-9-2015.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-67660\" alt=\"Ohio A-G's Identity Theft Chart 9-2015\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ohio-A-Gs-Identity-Theft-Chart-9-2015.jpg\" width=\"350\" height=\"183\" \/><\/a>In September 2012, Attorney General DeWine announced the creation of the Identity Theft Unit, a division of the Consumer Protection Section.<\/p>\n<p>The unit helps victims correct problems typically associated with identity theft. At a victim\u2019s request, a specialist will work with creditors, collectors, credit reporting agencies, law enforcement, and other organizations on the victim\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n<p>A Trumbull County consumer reported a fraudulent $5,000 online loan taken out in his name. The Identity Theft Unit worked with the online lending company to clear the loan debt and with the credit reporting agencies to ensure the entry was removed from the victim\u2019s credit report.<\/p>\n<p>In another case, a Portage County consumer reported that an unknown person had used his personal information to open online accounts and make over $3,400 in fraudulent charges. The Identity Theft Unit worked with the companies to close all of the accounts and resolve the fraudulent charges.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General DeWine offers the following tips for avoiding and detecting identity theft:<!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check your credit report at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/links.govdelivery.com\/track?type=click&amp;enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTUwOTA0LjQ4NzQ2NjcxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE1MDkwNC40ODc0NjY3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MTgzMzQyJmVtYWlsaWQ9ZWRpdG9yQHRoZXZ3aW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY29tJnVzZXJpZD1lZGl0b3JAdGhldndpbmRlcGVuZGVudC5jb20mZmw9JmV4dHJhPU11bHRpdmFyaWF0ZUlkPSYmJg==&amp;&amp;&amp;101&amp;&amp;&amp;http:\/\/www.AnnualCreditReport.com\">www.AnnualCreditReport.com<\/a>. You are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit reporting agencies. You can pull all three at once, or you can stagger pulling your reports throughout the year.<\/li>\n<li>Monitor \u00a0bank accounts. Look for suspicious activity, and if you find any errors, immediately notify your bank or your credit or debit card provider. (The Fair Credit Billing Act allows consumers to dispute credit card fraud within 60 days of receiving the bill containing the disputed charge.)<\/li>\n<li>Consider placing a security freeze on your credit report. A security freeze essentially puts a lock on your credit so that most third parties can\u2019t access your report. This helps stop imposters from opening credit in one&#8217;s name. Contact each credit-reporting agency to place a freeze.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If someone\u2019s personal information has been compromised in a data breach, place an initial fraud alert on that person\u2019s credit report. Contact one of the three major credit-reporting agencies &#8212; Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion &#8212; to place the alert, which will stay on a credit report for 90 days. The alert is free and will make it more difficult for someone to open credit in one\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>Consumers who believe they have been the victim of identity theft should contact the Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office at 800.282.0515 or <a href=\"http:\/\/links.govdelivery.com\/track?type=click&amp;enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTUwOTA0LjQ4NzQ2NjcxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE1MDkwNC40ODc0NjY3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MTgzMzQyJmVtYWlsaWQ9ZWRpdG9yQHRoZXZ3aW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY29tJnVzZXJpZD1lZGl0b3JAdGhldndpbmRlcGVuZGVudC5jb20mZmw9JmV4dHJhPU11bHRpdmFyaWF0ZUlkPSYmJg==&amp;&amp;&amp;102&amp;&amp;&amp;http:\/\/www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov\">www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ohio Attorney General\u2019s information COLUMBUS &#8212; Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced that his office\u2019s Identity Theft Unit received nearly 3,500 complaints and helped identity theft victims clear over $1 million in fraudulent debt during the unit\u2019s first three years of existence, according to complaint information. \u201cIdentity theft continues to be a serious problem for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 05:49:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}