FTC identity-theft prevention: credit freeze versus fraud alert
Resources, agencies and counties · resources
What this source covers
Official explanation of freezes and fraud alerts, including different bureau-contact steps and alert durations.
How to use it
For a freeze, contact each of the three credit bureaus through the official links. For an initial alert, contact one bureau and follow identity-verification instructions.
Limits and questions to verify
Official source navigation reviewed on 2026-10-18. Confirm current agency coverage, accepted form, submission route and the actual notice or event dates. No personal deadline, eligibility, legal violation, remedy, representation or filing-readiness determination is made. A freeze and alert have different effects and do not replace disputing existing fraudulent accounts. No bureau request or identity-theft report is created by the navigator. FTC direct HTTPS returned 404; retained FTC evidence is the web tool extract, whose hash does not certify publisher response bytes.
Source-navigation review 2026-10-18. Retained evidence is identified by format and SHA-256. County tags describe the supported location or referral scope, not verified eligibility, current openings or service availability. Fees, conditions and research limits remain explicit.
Source: FTC Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts [web-extracted text; hash covers extract only] · https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/credit-freezes-and-fraud-alerts
Stored review status: source_profile_reviewed. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Record provenance
Stable record: resource_directory:resources:2041
Source file: data/source-evidence/2026-10-18/coverage-expansion-round4/0497f4dbc638b1361b2625ad597076abdcf6d6e5d9b97b868d5b739b04f71c0c.json
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: 123f03212a16f489133ac7e54b3be23eaba369202330bb2d04ca53c8147ba824
Retained source evidence SHA-256: 0497f4dbc638b1361b2625ad597076abdcf6d6e5d9b97b868d5b739b04f71c0c
Source location: Publisher service description, intake route and geographic scope; FTC identity-theft prevention: credit freeze versus fraud alert privacy complaint appeal help official; statewide source; discovered from https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/credit-freezes-and-fraud-alerts
Source checked: 2026-10-18 (access date, not legal effective date)
Stored source content
What this source covers
Official explanation of freezes and fraud alerts, including different bureau-contact steps and alert durations.
How to use it
For a freeze, contact each of the three credit bureaus through the official links. For an initial alert, contact one bureau and follow identity-verification instructions.
Limits and questions to verify
Official source navigation reviewed on 2026-10-18. Confirm current agency coverage, accepted form, submission route and the actual notice or event dates. No personal deadline, eligibility, legal violation, remedy, representation or filing-readiness determination is made. A freeze and alert have different effects and do not replace disputing existing fraudulent accounts. No bureau request or identity-theft report is created by the navigator. FTC direct HTTPS returned 404; retained FTC evidence is the web tool extract, whose hash does not certify publisher response bytes.
Source-navigation review 2026-10-18. Retained evidence is identified by format and SHA-256. County tags describe the supported location or referral scope, not verified eligibility, current openings or service availability. Fees, conditions and research limits remain explicit.
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