Contact your bank and credit card companies and cancel any cards. Even if not all your accounts have been affected notify the companies so they can monitor your accounts to ensure thieves do not access them.

Contact a credit checking agency such as Callcredit, Equifax or Experian and follow their suggested steps to resolve the situation and prevent it happening again.

Contact CIFAS, The UK's Fraud Prevention Service. if your identity documents have been stolen or you have reason to believe that your identity is at risk, and register for Protective Registration. As a result of doing so, additional verification checks will be carried out to ensure that any further applications are genuine. This will help to protect you from further impersonation attempts.

Contact the appropriate creditors, banks, phone companies and utility companies and close fraudulent accounts. You may be liable for only £50 of the fraudulent charges, but different issuers have different policies. Most creditors promptly issue replacement cards with new account numbers.

Keep a record of all communications. Send all letters by registered mail and keep copies. If you think your case may lead to a lawsuit, track how much time you have spent dealing with the problem.

Contact your local police station and report it. Ask for a crime number to help convince creditors that someone else has opened an account in your name.

Contact Crimestoppers. Crimestoppers has been operating its 0800 555 111 phone number in the UK since 1988, allowing people to phone in anonymously with information about criminals or crimes which is then passed on to the police.