Ways Consumers Can Perform Identity Theft Protection Themselves
We have all seen the commercials for credit monitoring and identity theft protection services, but what can a consumer do on their own? There are several steps you can take to be proactive in your identity theft protection to help prevent yourself from becoming a victim. With thousands of consumers falling victim to identity theft each month, it is becoming more and more apparent that consumers needs to perform identity theft protection steps with or without the assistance of a professional service.
Ways Consumers Can Perform Identity Theft Protection:
- Checking your credit report yearly, or quarterly if you can
- Always safeguarding your social security number, PIN numbers, date of birth, credit card numbers, etc.
- Monitoring your credit card and bank statements for any activity that cannot be explained by your own actions
- Shredding all billing statements, credit card offers, or any other documents you receive that contain any of your personal information (including just your name)
- Creating a security freeze on your credit so that no one can access your credit
- Signing up for identity theft insurance
- Signing up for fraud alerts through the three credit reporting agencies
- Ending junk mail and telemarketing calls
- Signing up for credit monitoring services
Though there are a lot of physical ways you can perform identity theft protection, you have to realize that the majority of this world is technological. A lot of our personal information is out there on the internet and just waiting to be picked up by an identity thief. Since cyber crime is one of the top ways for your identity to be stolen, you need to know how to perform identity theft protection online as well.
Ways Consumers Can Perform Identity Theft Protection Online:
- Using data sweep services (these can be done annually for a small fee)
- Have your computer automatically update security patches and other updates to keep it up-to-date
- Only using a secure online payment agent to place your payments online
- Utilizing anti-virus and anti-spyware software
- Using strong passwords for all of your online accounts
- Minimizing the amount of online spam you receive and creating spam filters
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