North Carolina state resources for personal identity theft protection

Note: These resources are specifically designed to address personal identity theft prevention and incidents of consumer identity theft. Because most state and federal identity theft and consumer protection laws are designed to protect individual consumers, businesses generally do not enjoy the same rights, protections, and potential recourse as consumers. Therefore, while helpful in addressing many issues that you may face as an individual, be aware that consumer identity theft information may not be applicable to an incident of business identity theft or fraud.

North Carolina Identity Theft Victim's Toolkit  (for personal cases)

North Carolina Attorney General: "Steps to Take When Your ID Is Stolen"  (for personal cases)

Learn how to protect your personal credit

Business identity thieves often use the identity information (and credit) of the business owner or company officers to open new accounts, or as guarantors of fraudulent loans and lines of credit. In addition to taking actions to protect your business, it is also important to protect yourself as well. This section provides detailed explanations of important consumer credit protection tools that are available to help protect your personal credit from identity thieves.

Use the links below to learn what these tools are, how they work, and how to use them to help protect your personal credit.

Tools & Resources to Protect Your Personal Credit:

Review, Manage, and Protect Your North Carolina Business Filings

If your business does not regularly review your state business filings, file your annual reports in a timely manner, or enroll in email alerts or other preventative systems that may be offered by your state, you may unknowingly attract the unwanted attention of business identity thieves.

• Review your North Carolina business filings online
  Verify the accuracy of your state business filings and confirm that your filings are up to date

• Review your North Carolina UCC filings online
  Verify the accuracy of your North Carolina UCC filings

An Important Message from Secretary Marshall about Business Identity Theft

Since becoming North Carolina Secretary of State in 1997, I have worked hard to modernize this agency and to continuously improve the quality of the services we offer to our business community customers. Today we remain dedicated to working with business owners not only to provide the best service possible, but to offer the safest and most secure transactions as well.

Something I urge all business owners to do is to routinely check your own business entity information and status with our Department. This is simple to do by going on-line to www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/CSearch.aspx and pulling up your company’s records with us.  Checking this information on a regular basis will allow you to make sure no one has attempted to change your company’s status for malicious or financially criminal reasons. This is one of the best ways I know to thwart business ID theft and it also keeps you aware of any upcoming filing deadlines.

This agency maintains great relations with law enforcement agencies throughout North Carolina and at the federal level. If you ever have any suspicions that your company is the target of someone trying to commit business ID theft, please do not hesitate to contact the North Carolina Secretary of State’s Office immediately.

Sincerely,
Elaine F. Marshall
North Carolina Secretary of State
Co-Chair, NASS Business Identity Theft Task Force

Review and Protect Your Business Credit Reports

Business identity thieves can manipulate or falsify business credit records and then use these to impersonate your business, or as a part of a fraud scheme to target your business. To combat this, you should periodically review your business credit reports and the information that is being reported.

Contact the business credit reporting agencies:

Report and Correct Fraudulent North Carolina Business Filings

In North Carolina, if your state business records have been fraudulently changed or updated, contact the North Carolina Secretary of State Corporations Division to report and correct fraudulent business filings. Contact information and instructions are provided below.

Please note that you should only contact the North Carolina Secretary of State Corporations Division for business identity theft incidents involving fraudulent business records. For such incidents, the Division may also report or escalate to law enforcement as appropriate.

All other types of business identity theft incidents and related fraud should be reported directly to law enforcement. Also review the Business Identity Theft Victim Action List for other important steps to take.

North Carolina Credit Security Freeze

North Carolina enacted its own state law establishing the availability of credit security freezes for its citizens. The three major credit bureaus  (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) have also voluntarily made security freezes available to all North Carolina state citizens. Innovis voluntarily allows consumers in all states to freeze their Innovis credit files.

Eligibility: All consumers 

Credit Security Freeze Fees:  Per credit bureau. To be effective, you should place a freeze at each credit bureau
• No cost for confirmed identity theft victims, or their spouse, to place a freeze (with a copy of police report), or for seniors age 62 or older
• All others pay no fees to place their first freeze, to temporarily lift the freeze, or to remove it entirely
• There is a $3.00 fee for each subsequent freeze
• The freeze will remain in place until you remove it

To Place a Credit Security Freeze in North Carolina:

• Experian security freeze website  

• Equifax security freeze website  

• TransUnion security freeze website  

• Innovis security freeze website  
 

Report Business Identity Theft to North Carolina Law Enforcement

In North Carolina, if your business is a victim of business identity theft, you should report the crime to your local law enforcement agency. In some cases, you may also file a complaint with the Consumer Protection Unit of the North Carolina Office of the Attorney General.

In the case of fraudulent business filings, the North Carolina Secretary of State Corporations Division may also report or escalate to law enforcement as appropriate.

Be certain to also review the Business Identity Theft Victim Action List for other important steps to take.

North Carolina Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General

North Carolina DOJ Office of the Attorney General website

North Carolina Attorney General Consumer Protection website

File a complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General Consumer Protection Unit

North Carolina AG Consumer Protection numbers:

1-877-5-NO-SCAM  (toll free in North Carolina
(919) 716-6000  (outside of North Carolina)
(919) 716-0058  (for Spanish speakers)

State of North Carolina Department of Public Safety

North Carolina Department of Public Safety website