Identity Theft Protection

Identity theft is a crime in which personal or financial information is stolen for the purpose of assuming someone else’s identity to make transactions or purchases without their authorization.

Once the information has been taken, cybercriminals can then ruin a person’s credit history by opening accounts in their name and abandoning the debts. They may also accomplish this by selling the person’s information to others for a similar purpose.

Identity theft is committed in several different ways.

Child Identity Theft

Child identity theft is when a child’s identity is stolen, and then used to apply for lines of credit in the child’s name. Because of how early the identity is stolen, it is not typically discovered until the victim applies for lines of credit of their own.

This form of identity theft is quite common, as there generally is no information associated with the child’s name at the time of it being stolen, posing no obstacles for the perpetrator to use it for their personal gain.

Synthetic Identity Theft

Synthetic identity theft is when an identity thief uses a combination of personal information to create a credit profile that doesn’t exist. This is often done by using a social security number and name combination that has not yet been created in the credit reporting agency’s database and allows them to apply for lines of credit and disappear without a trace.

Because of the nature of this crime, it is increasingly difficult to prevent.

Medical Identity Theft

Medical identity theft is when someone else’s identity is used to receive health care services. This particular type of identity theft is rather dangerous as it can result in either incorrect or mixed data being reported to the credit bureaus, thus later providing medical facilities with incorrect credit report information about a person as they are trying to make critical health care decisions.

The best way to prevent this from happening is by reading your benefits statement and checking for claims or payments that you don’t recognize and reporting them to your insurance company.

Criminal Identity Theft

Criminal identity theft is when a perpetrator provides law enforcement authorities with someone else’s name and address during an arrest or criminal investigation. This can be done in several ways but is most often done by using a fake driver’s license or government-issued identification card.

This type of identity theft is also tough to prevent, and much of the responsibility of the aftermath falls on the shoulders of the victim.

Account Takeover

Account takeover is when an identity thief uses personal data to gain unauthorized access to someone’s financial accounts and then makes changes to the account either through unauthorized purchases, or by changing the login credentials or personal information on the account.

While this is particularly difficult to prevent, the best way to take action against it is by carefully analyzing any emails, letters, or messages from your financial institution. If you see any actions being performed that you did not authorize, contact them immediately.

Though protecting yourself from identity theft can seem complicated due to the various natures in which it is committed, there are several actionable steps you can start taking today to prevent it from happening to you.

Check Your Credit Report

As a consumer, you are allowed to receive one free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies once a year.

The best way to check your credit report regularly throughout the year is by becoming a member of Credknowledgy® and having your credit monitored 24/7, which is something you cannot do on your own. Additionally, Credknowledgy®'s identity fraud insurance gives you peace of mind that you are insured should you become the victim of identity fraud.

When checking your credit report, there are several things you should be looking for.

• Inactive accounts that suddenly show activity.
• Any unauthorized opening of a line of credit.
• Inaccurate personal information.
• Credit inquiries you did not apply for.

If you notice anything in your credit report that is strange, inaccurate, or anything you did not authorize, notify the credit reporting agency who issued your credit report immediately to dispute the error and resolve the issue as quickly as possible. You can easily do this with the push of a button with Credknowledgy®‘s Action Buttons.

Update Your Computer’s Antivirus Software

As identity thieves acquire new technology to commit identity theft crimes, it is critical that you also stay up to date with antivirus software on your computer. With new updates in antivirus software, you can stay better protected from attacks such as malware and keylogger software that hackers use to gain unauthorized access to your personal information.

While it may not seem like a big step, when you consider how much personal data is on your computer, doing this can give you tremendous peace of mind.

Never Use Unsecured Wi-Fi

With more places offering customers free Wi-Fi, it’s tempting for many to conduct business in locations such as local coffee shops and diners. Though it may seem attractive, unsecured, public wi-fi is an identity thief’s dream as they can quickly gain access to the open network and easily steal your personal information.

If you do need to use public wi-fi, try to hold off on logging into private websites while on the network.

Change Passwords Every 90 Days

Yes, we know how much of a hassle this sounds like, but this is possibly one of the best ways to prevent identity thieves from gaining access to bank accounts and email login credentials. When creating a password, use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as special characters.

Additionally, consider making your passwords longer than the minimum character count and use a string of random words that aren’t easy for a hacker to guess.

Freeze Your Credit File

Another way to prevent identity theft from happening to you is by freezing your credit file with all three major credit reporting agencies when you are not actively seeking new lines of credit. Freezing your credit file will restrict access to your credit accounts so that new accounts cannot be opened without first unfreezing your file.

However, if you would rather not go through the time-consuming task of freezing and unfreezing your file, another alternative is by purchasing identity theft insurance and monitoring services to alert you of any unusual activity with your credit, such as Credknowledgy®.

Identity theft can be a tragedy when it happens and can often take years if not more to recover from. Credknowledgy® helps you take actionable steps to stop identity theft from devastating your credit. Sign up with Credknowledgy® today to learn more.

While no product can 100% prevent identity theft from occurring, with the help of Credknowledgy® identity theft insurance and monitoring services, you can be sure that your credit accounts are always being monitored and that you have the added insurance and monitoring of recovery services at your disposal.

Not only will this service watch out for any potential signs of identity theft, it will also alert you if anything does occur, as well as help you deal with the ramifications in the aftermath.

When looking for identity theft insurance and monitoring, there are two types of monitoring services.

Credit Monitoring

Credit monitoring allows you to track activity on your credit reports. If you see any activity that is unusual or that you did not authorize, you can then take actionable steps to resolve the problem before it becomes worse.

Identity Theft Monitoring

Credknowledgy®’s ID monitoring service alerts you whenever your personal information is being used in ways that affect changes to your credit reports, such as change of address requests, orders for new utility services, and payday loan applications.

Identity Recovery

In the event that identity theft occurs, identity recovery services will contact the necessary credit reporting agencies to set up obstacles to prevent further loss from occurring and help you in recovering anything that was lost in the process.

If you are a victim of identity theft, your first step should be to contact the Federal Trade Commission as quickly as possible to alert the necessary authorities of the fraud that took place.

Once the authorities have been contacted, the next step will be to place a fraud alert on all of your credit reports so that any new accounts opened in your name will receive added scrutiny.

Additionally, you might also want to consider adding a credit freeze so that no more credit is used without your authorization.

If you are a victim of identity theft, your first step should be to contact the Federal Trade Commission as quickly as possible to alert the necessary authorities of the fraud that took place.

Once the authorities have been contacted, the next step will be to place a fraud alert on all of your credit reports so that any new accounts opened in your name will receive added scrutiny.

Additionally, you might also want to consider adding a credit freeze so that no more credit is used without your authorization.