If your wallet, purse or any document containing your personal information is stolen
If you suspect that your personal information has been stolen by an unauthorized individual, you should:
- If the stolen information includes account numbers associated with banks, brokerage firms or other financial institutions (e.g., savings accounts, credit cards, loan accounts, ...), contact the institution immediately, tell them that your personal information has been exposed, and request that the accounts be either closed or placed on a watch list.
- If the information includes any passwords to systems, those passwords should be changed immediately.
- If any piece of information was exposed that could be used to open financial accounts (e.g., your Social Security Number, date of birth, place of birth, mother's maiden name, bank account numbers, credit card numbers), contact your credit card company or any of the three major credit bureaus and sign up for their credit monitoring service, a fee-based service that will automatically notify you whenever your credit record is accessed. Here are the websites for the three major credit bureaus:
- If your information was stolen on campus, contact Princeton University's Department of Public Safety.
- If your information was stolen off-campus, contact the appropriate law enforcement authority.
- The Federal Trade Commission has a wealth of information regarding identity theft:
