Identity Theft Check

If you have reason to believe that you have been a victim of identity fraud concerning credit or debit cards, or online banking, or any cheques, you should report your concerns to the financial institution that is honouring that debt for you by extending you credit or cashing your cheques (or whatever).

State your case clearly and give as many details as possible. Every financial institution has some sort of hotline for this kind of thing, just check the back of your statements or online for details.

Wherever possible it should be the account holder who makes contact with the financial institution. Once you have reported the matter it becomes the responsibility of the institution to run its own investigation to ascertain the extent and nature of the fraud.

Where deemed appropriate, the institution will contact the police, logging the criminal activity with these correct authorities and allowing matters to proceed to formal police investigations and/or any arrests

This process only applies to plastic card, cheque and internet banking fraud and was introduced just last year in 2007, in an effort to minimise the red tape and difficulty for consumers to report their suspicions reduce and thereby streamline the commencement of appropriate action by the authorities..

If the suspected fraud does not involve your credit or debit cards, or cheques or online banking, you should still report your concerns to the relevant financial institution and then depending on how they advise you, you may have to go to your local police station to report the crime.