Do this now

If you even suspect— because of a random email or a debit card arriving in the mail— that your identity has been used by someone to collect unemployment benefits, immediately take these important steps:

1. Read and freeze your credit report. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com to get your free credit report fromeach bureau and easily freeze your credit. Freezing your credit prevents anyone fromopening new credit or bank accounts, unless you lift the freeze with your PIN.

Check your report for a bank inquiry, where perhaps a scammer has opened an account in your name or even taken out an SBAloan. Contact that bank and make sure no account is open.

2. Report suspected identity theft fraud to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or www.Tips.FBI.gov. And file a police report with your local police.

3. Make every effort to report suspected identity theft online to your state unemployment bureauwebsite. Don’twait for a callback that might never come, but use the online fraud reporting tool.

Important: You must keep track of your efforts to report suspected identity theft. Take a picture of the computer screen to save a screen shot of your online ID theft reports. That will give you some proof when you are asked to pay taxes on money you didn’t get.

The most vulnerable to this scam are seniors, whomay have been targeted (since ID theft includes date of birth) because they are less likely to check online financial resources.

But when 1099-Gforms arrive in the mail by Jan. 31, the amount owed in taxes will be significant. After all, those early benefit checkswere large with the additional $600/ week in federal unemployment benefits.

The noticeswere generated by real payments to someone using your name and Social Security number, which leads to your mailing address on IRS forms. So it will be your problem to prove the fraud.

Beneath the tip of this fraud icebergwill be amassive personal finance crisis in January. And that’s the SavageTruth.