Missing tax documents Published May 2, 2007 By 020407 VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Vandenberg Tax Office reported that documents being collected for shredding may have contained privacy act protected information went missing April 9. The boxes contained draft tax forms and other source materials that were used or created in the process of helping customers during the current tax season. The documents are temporarily collected and normally destroyed, but in this case the documents turned up missing before they could be shredded. The documents may have contained Privacy Act protected information such as social security numbers, names, addresses, birthdates and account numbers. The Tax Office is working to notify individuals who may be affected. There is no suspicion of foul play at this time; however, law enforcement officials have not been able to rule out that someone may have took the boxes in order to commit identity theft or other fraud. Officials are investigating to determine if the materials were taken by janitors or others. Although the tax program has helped customers with about 1400 returns this year, only about 600 were done at the Tax Office. Only customers whose returns were completed at the Vandenberg Tax Office are affected. Those customers will be notified directly. The notification will include information on the possible compromise and how they can protect their identity and credit. The customers are also being asked to notify the Tax Office if any indications of identity theft or fraud occur so that a second notice can be sent out to all affected customers. Tax center customers with questions regarding this issue are welcome to call the tax office at 606-3650 or the legal assistance office at 605-6200. Information from the Federal Trade Commission on protecting yourself from identity theft is included below. The key to combating identity theft is early detection and prevention. The Federal Trade Commission advises consumers to stay alert for signs of identity theft, such as the following: (1) accounts you didn't open and debts on your accounts that you can't explain; (2) fraudulent or inaccurate information on your credit reports, including accounts and personal information, like your Social Security number, address(es), name or initials, and employers; (3) failing to receive bills or other mail, at which point you should follow up with creditors because a missing bill could mean an identity thief has taken over your account and changed your billing address to cover his tracks; (4) receiving credit cards that you didn't apply for; (5) being denied credit, or being offered less favorable credit terms, like a high interest rate, for no apparent reason; and (6) getting calls or letters from debt collectors or businesses about merchandise or services you didn't buy. More information is available on the FTC's identity theft website, located at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/detect.html. Additionally, individuals can place a 90-day fraud alert on your credit report. While a fraud alert may cause delays in obtaining new credit, it will cause creditors to contact you before opening any new accounts or making any changes to your existing accounts. Once the fraud alert has been posted, you are entitled to free copies of your credit reports. Review these reports for inquiries from companies you haven't contacted or accounts you didn't open. The alert can be renewed after 90 days.It is only necessary to contact one of the three credit bureaus to place an alert, and that company is then required to contact the other two. The three credit bureaus are Equifax (800-525-6285, www.equifax.com), Experian (888-397-3742, www.experian.com) and TransUnion (800-680-7289, www.transunion.com). If you find fraudulent activity, immediately contact the financial institution to close the fraudulent account(s) or suspend any account that has been tampered with. After you have notified the company, be sure to file a police report.