How to protect yourself and what to do if your identity has been stolen.
The Merrillville Police Detective Bureau is charged with the investigation of identity theft, forgery, credit card fraud, embezzlement.  Protect your information at all times and ensure that any businesses that obtains your information in the course of doing business is questioned by you as to how they are going to protect or destroy that information once they have finished with it. If you find that you have been victimized, refer to the information supplied on this site. Follow the steps outlined and keep a personal file on each incident to aid in clearing up your credit. 

Identity Theft
If someone has used your personal identifying information, such as your social security number, date of birth and name, to open lines of credit or to obtain services, you will first need to contact all 3 major credit reporting bureaus to place a "Fraud Alert" on your credit report. When you call the following toll-free numbers, this will notify businesses that you may be the victim of fraud. Request a copy of your credit report to review. Contact the following bureaus:

Trans Union - 1-800-680-7289
Experian - 1-800-397-3742
Equifax - 1-800-525-6285

Review all of the information on your credit report and circle or highlight any fraudulent items. Next contact the police agency in the city where your information was fraudulently used. The Merrillville Police Department requires documentation or evidence showing that the crime occurred within the Town of Merrillville. Examples of evidence would be a copy of your credit report listing the fraudulent accounts, collection notice or other documents that identify where the crime occurred.

If you live in Merrillville and the crime occurred in another jurisdiction, and that agency requests that you make a report with the Merrillville Police first, the Merrillville Police will complete a courtesy report and assist the other police agency as needed. Once you determine someone in Merrillville is using your information, contact Merrillville Dispatch
219-766-3531 and request an Identity Theft report. Please note that officers will not respond to your location if you do not have any documentation available or if you live outside of Merrillville.

If you find someone is using your social security number ONLY for employment, contact the Social Security Administration 800-269-0271. If you find someone used your information on the internet, contact the FBI at their web-site to complete an Internet Fraud Complaint. Their web-site can be found at: ifccfbi.gov Fraudulent Checks

If your stolen/lost checks are being used in Merrillville by someone forging your signature, you need to first contact your bank to close your account. You will also need to complete an Affidavit of Forgery at your bank for any forged check that has cleared. In many cases, the forged checks will be handled primarily by your bank. Your bank will credit your account once you complete the Affidavit of Forgery. They will send a copy of your Affidavit, along with the original check, back to the business that accepted the check. It is now the responsibility of that business to file the police report since they lost either cash or merchandise.
If you are a merchant that has received a forged check that was returned to you from the bank, Merrillville Police requires that you are able to present the original check, with the Affidavit completed by the account holder, as well as the employee who completed the transaction with the suspect. All of these elements are required before officers will respond to your location.  Merchants, please note that if there is a confirmed forgery in progress, with the suspect still at your location, immediately call 9-1-1. In this case, no Affidavit is required.

Credit Card Fraud
Merrillville Police will only take a report if the physical plastic card has been stolen.
If only the credit card number has been compromised and you still have possession of the plastic card, immediately notify your bank or credit card issuer to cancel the card. You will also need to complete a dispute form for any unauthorized charges. The credit card company may issue you a "temporary credit" and send a "charge-back" to the business that accepted the card number, without seeing the physical card. The business will now suffer the loss and they will need to complete the police report, if they so desire.
If you discover that your card number has been used on the internet, follow the preceding instructions and then complete an Internet Fraud Complaint with the FBI at: ifccfbi.gov
If you have an incident of "skimming" where you still have possession of your debit card but someone captured your card information and used it to make a cash withdrawal at an ATM, immediately contact your bank.

Internet Fraud
The majority of Internet Fraud is handled by the FBI. This includes fraudulent credit card use, E-bay or other online auction purchases, as well as online applications fraudulently completed in Identity Theft.Complete an Internet Fraud Complaint report at ifccfbi.gov in order to report the crime and to obtain a reference or complaint number. Print the report or write down the complaint number for your files. The FBI will then notify the appropriate police agency once they determine where the crime originated from.