Tis the Season: Protect Yourself from Identity Theft!

Protect Yourself from Identity Theft: Everything You Need to Know

Identity theft is a common crime in which most of us will likely experience or have already experienced in the past. According to the FTC, since Covid-19 those cases have increased as much as 50%. With the increased cost of living expenses, I don't expect that number to decrease any time soon.

What is Identity Theft?

How Do You Protect Yourself from Identity Theft?

What to Do if You Are a Victim of Identity Theft?

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What is Identity Theft?

Identity theft occurs when one individual steals another person's identification or personal information to commit fraud.

This can be done by:

• Stealing social security numbers

• Stealing bank account information

• Stealing credit card information

• Stealing tax information

• Stealing mail that contains sensitive information

Often times identity theft is a key component of more intricate crimes such as tax fraud, bank fraud or check deception.

How Do You Protect Yourself from Identity Theft?

We live in the information age and what was once sensitive information is now public record. The best way to protect yourself is to be aware that everyone has vulnerability and while you may use due diligence in protecting your information, there are third parties who may have access to your information.

This can be done by:

1. Monitor your credit report. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com to get free weekly reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

2. Password-protect your devices. Not locking your phone is equivalent to leaving your home with the door wide open. If lost or stolen, your private data stored on your device will be easily assessable.

3. Watch out for phishing attempts. Avoid clicking on suspicious links in your DMs, emails and text messages.

4. Never give out personal information over the phone. No legitimate organization will call you to ask you for your personal information. Always ask for the callers credentials, hang up and you call the phone number listed on corporation's website or your financial statements and allow them to route you to necessary personnel.

5. The IRS will never call you!! The latest fraud attempt is to leave the victim an urgent message with threats of possible jail time. They tried me and I let them know exactly what time it was...Needless to say, the calls stopped 😉

What to Do if You're a Victim of Identity Theft?

I understand that many of you may already have experience with identity theft and I want to empower you to get out ahead of it. The damages caused by identity theft can feel like a nightmare and the consequences can ruin your financial reputation. It can be expensive to recover from identity theft so here's what you need to know:

1. Review your credit report for inaccuracies.

2. File and identity report with the Federal Trade Commission and local authorities.

3. Reach out to your creditors to explain the situation.

4. Place a fraud alert or security freeze.

5. Dispute all inaccurate information that you find in your credit report. Fraud claims will be removed if the credit bureau confirms your claim so it's important that you complete the previous steps in order to get back to normal.