How to protect your identity
There may not be a surefire way to prevent identity theft, but there are steps you can take to prevent thieves from stealing your identity. For example, you can request a credit fraud alert, protect your social security number, use strong passwords, and check your credit report regularly.
An identity theft protection service can also protect you against unauthorized access and use of your personal information. You may also find that your home insurance policy may include an identity theft protection endorsement.
Where could identity theft gain access to your personal information?
Identity thieves can access your personal information in several ways: some physical, some digital. They can rummage through the mail or trash looking for credit cards or bank statements, fill out a change of address form to forward your mail to them, and steal your wallet or its contents.
They can also phish for information with fake emails or text messages, obtain your information through unsecured websites or public Wi-Fi networks, and steal electronic records exposed due to a data breach.
Is Identity Theft Protection Worth It?
You can protect yourself against identity theft by applying basic security measures, but an identity protection service can offer you some peace of mind, especially if you have an overwhelming amount of accounts in online and financial. Identity protection services do the heavy lifting for you by looking for potential exposure of your personal information and identifying instances where your data may have been used fraudulently. This makes identity theft protection especially useful for people who don’t actively monitor their own credit.
