As a treat, you pull your credit report for yourself and you find accounts that do not belong to you. You realize you are a victim of fraud. You ask "Is this a trick?" This is scary to you because you had no idea this was happening. Don't get spooked over your credit! You can handle this. I am here to help coach you through this with some tips.
First, I suggest you obtain a copy of your credit report from Experian, Equifax & Trans Union. Tell them you have been a victim of identity theft and they will immediately put a freeze on your credit reports. This means you cannot get instant approval as the bureaus have to confirm you. This takes longer than instant access. That, however, is a small price to pay when you are trying to protect yourself from more accounts being opened in your name.
Once you have your credit reports, look them over and highlight any accounts that do not belong to you. Go to the police with the credit reports and file a police report. You will have to contact each creditor that does not belong to you and tell them you did not open this report, send them a copy of the police report and follow up weekly to see if they need more information from you to help the investigation. Once they complete the investigation and release you from debt, make sure you obtain a letter from each creditor. Send those letters to each credit bureau and these accounts will be removed from your credit reports.
To stay safe this Halloween, after your work has been done with correcting the fraudulent accounts, I highly suggest you monitor your credit reports @ http://www.myfico.com You will want to keep checking your reports for at least a year.
Please send me any credit questions: Jeanne.Kelly@TheCreditOwl.com