Identity theft is an increasingly common online threat, with thousands of cases reported annually. Hackers swipe the personal data of unsuspecting victims and use this information for fraudulent activities like tax and banking fraud.
There are various ways to protect yourself from identity theft, including:
- Using strong passwords and storing them securely
- Enabling two-factor authentication to add an extra layer of protection to your accounts
- Using antivirus software to protect your devices from malware and other insidious threats
- Using a VPN to encrypt your internet traffic and protect your sensitive data from prying eyes
One of our favorite tools to help prevent identity theft is Surfshark. This outstanding VPN will encrypt your data with military-grade encryption, greatly increasing your data security. This way, identity thieves can’t decipher your personal information.
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Continue reading for more tips on how to protect yourself from identity theft, such as deleting your data from the internet with Incogni.
Identity theft involves cybercriminals using stolen personal data, like Social Security numbers or credit card details, to impersonate victims and commit fraud in their names. This is an increasingly common type of cybercrime, with 1.1 million cases reported to the US Federal Trade Commission in 2022.
If you’re looking for a one-stop solution against identity theft, I highly recommend subscribing to Surfshark One. Surfshark One offers tons of great anti-identity-theft features, including a VPN, antivirus, alternate ID feature, and real-time data breach alerts.
With identity theft on the rise, it’s essential to safeguard yourself from this threat. In this article, I’ll provide some actionable tips on how to protect your identity online. I’ll also discuss different types of identity theft and their signs.
What is Identity Theft?
Identity theft is a type of fraud that involves criminals stealing your personal data, such as your name, birth date, and Social Security number, to impersonate you.
Criminals then use this fake identity to apply for credit cards or loans in your name, access your financial accounts, or otherwise enrich themselves at your expense. They might also try to access medical services using your identity or steal your tax return.
The identity theft issue has become very common. In today’s world, we hand over our data to all kinds of online platforms to access their services. Unfortunately, platforms like airline websites and social media sites can and have experienced data breaches.
Protecting yourself against identity theft starts with knowing how criminals exploit your data and what the warning signs are for compromised data. Below, I’ll discuss some of the most common types of identity theft.
Types of Identity Theft and Their Signs
Below, we’ll discuss some common types of identity theft and the warning signs of each type of fraud.
Credit card identity fraud
Credit card identity fraud involves a criminal or someone with a bad credit score stealing your personal data to apply for a credit card in your name. In 2022, there were over 440,000 reported cases of credit card fraud in the US alone.
Signs of credit card fraud: You may see unexpected changes in your credit scores or find an account you don’t recognize on your credit report. You may also receive correspondence from debt collectors or get a court judgment against you.
Tax fraud
Tax identity fraud involves a criminal filing a tax refund in your name or otherwise impersonating you to get tax benefits. To accomplish this, criminals will steal your Social Security number, government ID, or W-2 form.
Signs of tax fraud: You’ll be informed you can’t file a return since one has already been filed with your SSN even if you didn’t file anything.
Medical identity fraud
Criminals can obtain your medical history and information to access medical services and goods using your identity. For instance, they could request a drug prescription in your name.
Signs of medical identity fraud: You’ll find treatments or products on your insurance statement or report that you don’t recognize.
Criminal identity theft
You might think to yourself: Isn’t all identity theft criminal? It is, but this explicitly refers to impersonating someone else to avoid being punished for a crime. For instance, someone who stole your ID might use your identity to get out of a traffic fine at your expense.
Signs of criminal identity theft: You’ll receive a legal warrant or get arrested for something you didn’t do.
Synthetic identity theft
Synthetic identity theft is where criminals make up a person who doesn’t exist by mixing personal data from different people. This type of fraud often goes unnoticed for a long time.
Criminals often use an SSN belonging to a child to sound fewer alarm bells. Once they’ve successfully constructed a fake identity, they can use it for all sorts of activities, such as applying for loans and credit cards.
Many criminals will adopt a more long-term strategy: they’ll pay off their cards like responsible citizens for years, causing their limits to go up. When they’ve built up their credit to the max, they’ll then max out their cards and disappear.
Signs of synthetic identity theft: Warning signs often present themselves years after the crime. You’ll find out when something is wrong the first time your child applies for a loan and they get denied because the identity fraudsters ruined their credit score.
Account takeover
An account takeover can happen any time your account details are compromised. In this type of fraud, criminals will take control of your financial accounts, such as accounts you use for banking and investing.
Once they have access to your account, they’ll drain it of any and all funds. The fraudsters might also change your login credentials to lock you out and bide themselves some time, if necessary.
Signs of an account takeover: You’ll find financial activity coming from your accounts that you don’t recognize.
How to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft
So, how can you protect your identity when using the internet? While there’s no one guaranteed way to prevent identity theft, there are steps you can take to protect your data and make identity theft less likely.
Recommended methods to protect yourself from identity theft and fraud include the following time-tested precautions:
1. Secure your accounts with strong passwords
Use complex, impossible-to-guess passwords, and make sure you don’t repeat your passwords. This way, in case of a data breach, criminals will only have access to one account rather than all of your accounts.
Of course, keeping track of all these complex passwords can be challenging. You might even be tempted to store your passwords in your browser (which you should never do!). Instead, I recommend using a password manager.
A good password manager will help you generate as many complex passwords as you need and store them in a secure digital vault. You only need to remember your master password and nothing else.
My favorite password manager is 1Password because of its military-grade end-to-end encryption. Not even 1Password employees can access your passwords. 1Password can also generate secure passwords of up to 100 characters, and it works with Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS.
You can learn more about the features and performance of this password manager by reading our 1Password review.
2. Enable two-factor authentication on your accounts
Two-factor authentication (2FA) keeps your accounts secure even if your password is breached. 2FA involves using an authentication app or a code sent through text message before you can log into an account or make changes to your bank account. This adds an extra layer of security.
I recommend enabling 2FA on all your accounts, especially your bank and other financial accounts. My favorite password manager, 1Password, has an integrated two-factor authentication feature.
3. Handle sensitive information carefully
Always handle your devices and your sensitive information carefully. Here are some action steps you can take:
- Delete all your information from a device before selling it.
- If you share your computer with others, log out of your accounts before turning off the device.
- Never share personal or financial information with third parties.
- Limit the personal information you share on platforms like Facebook.
- Avoid posting your location or the places you visit on social media.
Remember:
Your bank or health service provider will never call you and ask for personal information such as your Social Security or credit card number. If you receive calls from people asking you for this data, immediately notify your service provider.
4. Delete your personal data from the internet
I strongly recommend trying to erase yourself from the internet if you’re worried about identity theft. Of course, you don’t need to delete everything, but getting rid of publicly visible personal data is a good idea.
I understand this process can be tedious, to say the least. Just deleting old Facebook posts going back to the 2010s can take hours.
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5. Install antivirus software
Hackers often rely on malware, such as keyloggers and remote access trojans, to steal victims’ personal info. What’s scary is that malware hides in plain sight. The email attachment you opened, the web page you visited, or the software you downloaded could all be infected.
Use an antivirus app to keep your device free of infected files and programs. Antivirus software scans all the files on your device for suspicious or risky files and then automatically deletes them.
I recommend going with a reliable and proven antivirus. Surfshark One offers one such antivirus app, and it comes with additional features like a VPN, real-time data breach alerts, and an alternate ID feature.
Surfshark Antivirus is one of our top five antivirus programs. Find out why in our extensive Surfshark Antivirus review.
6. Monitor your financial and medical statements
Keep a close eye on your medical and bank statements to spot unauthorized transactions and medical claims. You should also periodically check your credit reports and credit card statements so you can find unauthorized loans that have been requested in your name.
You can request a free credit report from Annual Credit Report. Note that free credit reports don’t include credit scores, which are also important to check regularly. However, some credit card companies allow you to check your credit score free of charge.
Important:
Report suspicious transactions to your bank or medical service provider to prevent criminals from further exploiting your data.
7. Keep an eye out for emails, alerts, and notifications
Your bank, credit card company, medical service provider, or insurance company will contact you via email or text if they detect suspicious activity on your account. Therefore, it’s important to keep an eye out for important notifications.
Enable alerts for suspicious transactions and reports within your financial and medical app accounts.
8. Subscribe to an identity theft monitoring service
Identity theft monitoring tools scan the internet to check if your personal and financial information has been compromised. Monitoring services offer varying tiers of protection, with credit reports and Social Security number monitoring usually included in basic protection.
For advanced protection, I recommend premium identity theft protection services like Norton Lifelock. This identity theft protection service offers all the benefits of basic protection, plus real-time human assistance and identity theft insurance.
Read our in-depth LifeLock review to find out more about the advantages of this service.
9. Use card tokenization
Most leading credit card companies allow you to tokenize your credit card numbers. When you use tokenization, your credit card number is replaced with an alternate 16-digit sequence. This means websites and service providers don’t get your card details. If your 16-digit number gets leaked, hackers won’t be able to use it to charge your card.
Ask your credit card provider about tokenization and activate it for your card to avoid identity theft.
10. Protect your online activity
One of the easiest ways to prevent identity theft is by using a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN encrypts all of the information you send across the internet, protecting it from the prying eyes of hackers.
My top recommendation for protecting my identity is Surfshark. This VPN offers outstanding military-grade encryption to protect your data and make identity theft much less likely. It also abides by a strict no-logs policy, meaning not even Surfshark itself can see your data or what you do online.
Surfshark even offers an Alternative ID feature that gives you a fake identity to protect your real one. You can use Alternative ID for websites you’ll only use once or sites you don’t trust with your data.
11. Exercise offline protection
With so much of our lives taking place online, you might forget about offline protection, but it’s not wise to do so. Criminals can still obtain your personally identifiable information by stealing your wallet or your official documents, for instance.
I strongly recommend you limit the personal documents you carry with you to what’s necessary. For instance, there’s no reason to carry your Social Security card or Medicare card with you if you’re just going out to the store or for a night out.
Lastly, be sure to pick up your mail promptly after delivery and use a secure mailbox. This will ensure your mail and personal data won’t get intercepted by criminals who want to go through your mail.
12. Secure your devices
Do you ever consider that if your phone gets stolen, your biggest loss won’t be your phone? Losing the tons of data stored on your device might prove much more costly.
Most of us store everything on our phones, from private pictures to conversations, banking portals, and passwords. If your device is unprotected, a criminal can easily get a hold of your personal data to commit identity fraud or drain your account.
Always protect all of your devices with a strong password.
There’s also a great tip I’d like to share with Android users: you can hide your financial apps and encrypt them with a PIN. Doing this offers an extra layer of protection in case your device gets stolen.
You can do the same by going to Settings > Display > Home Screen > Hide apps. From here, you can choose which apps to hide.
13. Don’t overshare on social media
These days, we share tons of personal data on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social media. Unfortunately, identity thieves can steal and use this information to build a profile about you. With enough info from different sources, they may be able to steal your identity.
This is why you should be conservative when sharing your data on social media. Refrain from posting your full name, address, birthday, and other sensitive information. Never share your credit card details, banking info, and medical information, either.
If you’ve posted personal information in the past, make sure to delete your data using a trusted privacy tool like Incogni. With its 30-day money-back guarantee, you can test the service to see if it works for you — and if it doesn’t, you get all your money back, no questions asked.
I also strongly recommend changing your privacy settings on Facebook and other platforms. This way, you can control who can access your data.
How Do Criminals Get Your Info?
There are many ways criminals can access your personal information. I’ll explain some of the most common methods below:
- Mail Theft: Thieves take unopened mail from your mailbox to obtain personal information.
- Dumpster Diving: Criminals comb through the bags and cans you set out for garbage collection, taking anything that contains your personal information.
- Shoulder Surfing: Just as it sounds, criminals can obtain confidential information by looking over your shoulder while you enter data into your computer, phone, or other devices in a public place.
- Phishing: Criminals can trick you into divulging confidential information by you entering your data into a fake form or clicking a link that infects your device with malware.
- Hacking: Hackers often set up fake public Wi-Fi networks in coffee shops, airports, or train stations and steal the data of anyone who connects to them.
- Data Breaches: A data breach can expose sensitive information like your Social Security number, bank account or credit card numbers, personal health data, passwords, and email accounts.
- Wallet Theft: Your wallet usually contains your credit cards, driver’s licenses, and other government IDs. Criminals are known to steal wallets to obtain this information, not just the money inside them.
How to Report Identity Theft
If you suspect you’ve been a victim of identity theft, you must report the case to the relevant authorities. Reporting the crime might not always stop identity theft, but it’s a good way to mitigate damage and might help the authorities find the criminals.
Below, I’ll explain how to report identity theft in the US and the European Union (EU).
Reporting identity theft in the United States
If you’re a victim of identity fraud in America, here’s how to report it:
- Contact one of the three major credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian) and put a free, one-year fraud alert on your account. Usually, the agency you contact will notify the other two agencies on your behalf. A fraud alert entitles you to free credit reports from all three agencies. If you identify any accounts you didn’t open on your credit report, contact the companies and close those accounts immediately.
- Report the theft to the Federal Trade Commission via its Identity Theft website. The website will guide you on creating a recovery plan and will issue an Identity Theft Report. Your financial institution and other organizations may ask you to show this report as proof of your claim.
- File a police report. Reporting identity theft to the police is crucial, especially if you’re a victim of criminal identity theft. You may need to show proof of filing a police report to third parties to support your claim.
- Respond to debt collectors within 30 days if you’re contacted over unpaid monies incurred by cybercriminals in your name. Dispute the debt, and tell them you’ve been a victim of identity theft. Second, contact the company they are trying to collect the debt for. The FTC’s identity theft website contains sample letters you can file with debt collectors, credit bureaus, and companies.
Reporting identity theft in the European Union
If you’re a European citizen, the process of reporting identity theft may differ depending on where you live. Each country has its own procedures for handling identity theft.
Start by visiting Europol’s website for reporting cybercrime online. Once there, click on your country from the list of options for further instructions.
Reporting identity theft elsewhere
Identity theft happens everywhere. If you live somewhere other than the United States, the European Union, or the United Kingdom, report the crime to your local police department. They will provide more information on the next steps to take.
Final Thoughts: How to Protect Yourself From Online Identity Theft
Identity theft is growing at an alarming rate and can cause considerable loss to unsuspecting individuals. Whether we’re talking about credit card fraud, tax fraud, criminal identity theft, or account takeovers, identity theft can have devastating consequences.
There is no one best way to protect your identity. You’ll need to take multiple steps to protect yourself from identity theft. Here are some important steps to take:
- Use strong passwords to protect your accounts
- Enable two-factor authentication on all your accounts, especially on financial accounts
- Install reliable antivirus software to protect yourself from identity-stealing malware
- Use a VPN to protect your online data while browsing
Like with anything else, you’ll need the right tools if you’re set on preventing identity theft. Surfshark is one of the best in the business for keeping your data locked away from identity thieves. It offers a VPN to encrypt your online activities, an antivirus app to rid your device of spyware, and Alternative ID and real-time data breach reports.
Moreover, Surfshark is one of the cheapest VPNs around at only $ per month. You can try it out by taking advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee. Use our link below to get a 82% discount!
Check out the articles below to learn how to protect yourself from other cyber threats:
- What is Phishing? Be Wary of Fake Emails and Other Scams
- What are Deepfakes? How to Identify and Prevent Fake Videos
- What is WhatsApp Fraud and How Do You Prevent It?
- How to Recognize and Prevent CEO Fraud
- What is Sextortion? How to Prevent Online Blackmailing
- What is Help Desk Fraud and How to Identify Such Scams?
Do you still have questions about identity theft? Here are some of the most common questions we often get asked.
Locking down your identity is crucial to preventing identity theft. Here are some tips to protect your identity online:
- Use a good VPN service to encrypt your internet traffic.
- Be careful with the personal information you share online.
- Use an identity theft monitoring service to check if your personal information has been leaked online.
- Create strong passwords for all your accounts and enable two-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access.
There are a few telltale signs that may indicate your identity has been stolen. Some of the most worrying signs are:
- Unauthorized transactions on your financial and medical statements.
- Finding tax returns filed with your social security number.
- Getting emails addressed to other people.
If you’re the victim of identity theft, you’ll need to act fast to prevent further damage. Depending on the kind of identity fraud you’re a victim of, take the following steps:
- Block your financial accounts and credit cards.
- Freeze your credit lines and credit cards.
- Change the passwords for your email, social media, and other accounts.
- Inform your medical service provider or insurance company of the identity theft.
- Report the identity theft to the police or other designated organizations in your nation.
If you’re a victim of identity theft in the United States, you should immediately report it to:
- One of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion): You’ll want to put a fraud alert on your account immediately. You only need to contact one agency. They will automatically notify the other two.
- The Federal Trade Commission’s Identity Fraud website: The site will walk you through the steps to take, which vary depending on the type of identity fraud you’ve experienced.
- Your local police department: While they usually won’t conduct an investigation, you may need proof of filing a police report to show third parties.
If you receive an IRS notice in the mail that says someone else filed a tax return using your social security number, follow the instructions in the letter. If the letter notes an employer, contact that employer directly, notifying them that someone stole your identity.
You should also complete an IRS Identity Theft Affidavit (Form 14039), available on the IRS website. The IRS also maintains an identity theft hotline at (800) 908-4490.
There are companies out there who make it their business to monitor websites and databases to detect identity fraud of all types. Some of the biggest names include Lifelock, Identity Guard, and Aura. Each of these services offers different levels of protection.
