Identity Theft Protection
Identity theft is one of the most common causes of anxiety in our digital age. In 2023 alone, almost 24 million Americans had their identities stolen, totaling $16.4 billion in damages. Nearly a quarter of US residents have experienced identity theft at some point in their lives. I can only assume from anecdotal evidence that this doesn't include simpler forms of the crime that most people don't think of as "identity theft," like having a credit card number stolen. Thankfully, protecting yourself from most common avenues of identity theft is surprisingly easy. The following checklist can help.
Reactive Measures
If you suspect you've already been the victim of identity theft, these are the critical steps you can take to help mitigate the damage and speed along the process to recovery.
Report it at IdentityTheft.gov. This free website from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will help create a personalized response plan based on your unique situation.
Report it at the Internet Crime Complaint Center as well. This free website will forward your complaint to the relevant authorities with proper jurisdiction to investigate and respond accordingly.
Contact the impacted services. For example, in the case of a stolen credit card, you should contact your bank to get the charges reversed and have the old card cancelled and a new one issued. They will inform if you if they need any additional steps such as a police statement.
Monitor your accounts. Depending on what information was stolen, you may wish to monitor the impacted accounts (including credit reports) for any suspicious activity for the next several months at least. Check for any currently authorized devices and revoke any unfamiliar devices (this is not available on all accounts but is common on many online accounts such as email, streaming, messenger apps, and more). Check out our guide to Securing Your Accounts for some tips on this.
Read the rest of this page. The next section is entitled "Essential Preventative Measures," but many of these steps are also applicable after you've been compromised, such as freezing your credit, changing your passwords, and watching out for phishing attempts.
Essential Preventative Measures
It's much easier to prevent identity theft than to react to it. Make sure to do the following to greatly reduce your odds of falling victim to identity theft.
Freeze your credit. This will stop anyone from opening new accounts without your knowledge or consent.
Secure your accounts with good passwords and two-factor authentication. These two steps will make your online accounts - like bank accounts, email, or social media - nearly impossible to hack.
Be wary of phishing attempts and suspicious links.
Optional But Strongly Recommended
Use payment masking services. These will make it significantly harder for your credit or debit card information to get stolen when transacting online. (If you are unable/unwilling to do this, use credit cards instead of debit cards for online transactions. This way, if your card gets stolen, you'll still have money safely in your bank account to pay your bills while you disput the charges.)
Plant your flag on websites that could be used to impersonate you, such as unemployment websites where an impersonator could pretend to be you and file for unemployment.
Consider removing your online data. This will make it harder for cybercriminals to find the answers to identity verification questions, such as "what street are you associated with?" or "which of the following cars have you ever owned or leased?"
Start using an ad-blocker in your browser to block malicious ads that might turn out to be scams.
Note: the advice on these pages will not stop a dedicated and well-resourced attacker, but it will make you a difficult enough target that most attackers will simply move on to an easier payday. If you have a significantly large amount of wealth and assets, you may need additional protections. I recommend talking to your lawyer and doing additional research in this case.