How Do You Know if Identity Theft

Learn what identity theft is, how to protect yourself against it, and how to know if someone stole your identity.

• What Is Identity Theft?
• How To Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft
• How To Know if Someone Stole Your Identity
• Monitoring Services, Recovery Services, and Identity Theft Insurance

What Is Identity Theft?

Identity theft is when someone uses your personal or fiscal data without your permission.

They might steal your name and address, credit card, or banking concern account numbers, Social Security number, or medical insurance account numbers. And they could use them to

• buy things with your credit cards
• get new credit cards in your name
• open a phone, electricity, or gas account in your name
• steal your tax refund
• employ your health insurance to get medical care
• pretend to be you lot if they are arrested

How To Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft

Taking steps to protect your personal data tin help you lot avoid identity theft. Here's what you can practise to stay ahead of identity thieves.

Protect documents that have personal information

Keep your financial records, Social Security and Medicare cards, and any other documents that have personal information in a safe place. When yous determine to get rid of those documents, shred them before y'all throw them away. If yous don't accept a shredder, look for a local shred day, or apply a marking to block out business relationship numbers.

If you get statements with personal data in the post, take your mail out of the mailbox as soon as you can.

Ask questions before giving out your Social Security number

Some organizations need your Social Security number to place yous. Those organizations include the IRS, your bank, and your employer. Organizations like these that do need your Social Security number won't call, e-mail, or text yous to ask for it.

Other organizations that might ask you for your Social Security number might not really demand information technology. Those organizations include a medical provider, a company, or your child'due south school. Ask these questions before you give them your Social Security number:

• Why do you lot need it?
• How will you protect it?
• Can you use a unlike identifier?
• Tin yous use just the last 4 digits of my Social Security number?

Protect your information from scammers online and on your telephone

If you're logging in to an online account, utilise a potent password.

Add multi-gene authentication for accounts that offering information technology. Multi-factor hallmark offers extra security by requiring two or more than credentials to log in to your business relationship. The additional credentials y'all demand to log in to your account fall into two categories: something y'all have — similar a passcode you get via text message or an authentication app, or something you are — similar a browse of your fingerprint, your retina, or your face. Multi-factor authentication makes information technology harder for scammers to log in to your accounts if they practice become your username and password.

Practise non give your personal information to someone who calls, emails, or texts you. It could be a scammer trying to steal your information.

How To Know if Someone Stole Your Identity

In improver to taking steps to protect your information, information technology pays to know how to tell if someone stole your identity. At that place are things you tin exercise yourself to detect identity theft. There also are companies that sell credit and identity monitoring services.

What you can exercise to detect identity theft

Hither's what you lot can do to spot identity theft:

• Rails what bills you lot owe and when they're due. If you stop getting a nib, that could exist a sign that someone changed your billing address.
• Review your bills.Charges for things y'all didn't buy could be a sign of identity theft. So could a new bill yous didn't await.
• Bank check your banking company business relationship argument.Withdrawals you lot didn't make could be a sign of identity theft.
• Get and review your credit reports. Accounts in your name that y'all don't recognize could exist a sign of identity theft. Hither's how you can become your gratis credit reports.

If you discover that someone is misusing your personal data, visit IdentityTheft.gov to report and recover from identity theft.

Monitoring Services, Recovery Services, and Identity Theft Insurance

Many companies sell identity theft protection services that may include credit monitoring, identity monitoring, identity recovery services, and identity theft insurance. These services also might be offered past your

• bank or credit matrimony
• credit card provider
• employer's benefits program
• insurance company

Credit monitoring services

Credit monitoring services browse activeness that shows upward on your credit reports. They might monitor activity at one, 2, or all three of the major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Credit monitoring services volition usually alert you lot when

• a company checks your credit history
• a new loan or credit card account appears on your credit reports
• a creditor or debt collector says your payment is late
• public records show that you filed for bankruptcy
• someone files a lawsuit against you lot
• your credit limit changes
• your personal information, like your name, address, or phone number, changes

Credit monitoring services will not alert yous when

• someone withdraws money from your bank account
• someone uses your Social Security number to file a tax return and collect your refund

If you lot're considering using a credit monitoring service, here are some questions you lot can ask them:

• How often practise you check credit reports for changes?
• Which of the three credit bureaus do yous monitor?
• Is in that location a limit to how oft I tin can review my credit reports?
• Will I exist charged each time I review my credit reports?
• Are other services included, like admission to my credit score?

Identity monitoring services

Companies that offering identity monitoring services bank check databases that collect unlike types of information to meet if they contain new or inaccurate data nigh you. Those could be a sign that someone is using your personal information. These services can find uses of your personal information that won't show up on your credit study.

Identity monitoring services may tell you when your information shows upward in

• a change of address request
• court or abort records
• orders for new utility, cable, or wireless services
• an awarding for a payday loan
• a request to cash a check
• on social media
• on websites that identity thieves utilise to trade stolen data

Most identity monitoring services will not alert you if someone uses your data to

• file a tax render and collect your refund
• get Medicare benefits
• get Medicaid benefits
• get welfare benefits
• claim Social Security benefits
• claim unemployment benefits

Identity recovery services

Companies that sell credit and identity monitoring services likewise may offer identity recovery services to assist you prepare any damage caused by identity theft. These services may be included or toll extra. Some of the services they offer may be things you can exercise on your ain for picayune or no toll.

Identity recovery services typically requite you access to counselors or case managers who volition help you lot recover your identity. They may

• assist you write letters to creditors and debt collectors
• place a freeze on your credit written report to foreclose an identity thief from opening new accounts in your proper noun
• guide you through documents you have to review

Some services volition represent you in dealing with creditors or other institutions if you formally grant them authority to act on your behalf.

Identity theft insurance

Companies that sell monitoring services also may offer identity theft insurance. These services may be included or cost extra.

Identity theft insurance may encompass

• out-of-pocket expenses directly associated with reclaiming your identity, like
  • the price of copying documents
  • postage stamp costs for sending documents
  • costs for getting documents notarized
• wages you lot lost
• legal fees you paid

Identity theft insurance generally won't reimburse you for money stolen or financial loss resulting from the theft. Nearly policies won't pay if your loss is covered past your homeowner's or renter's insurance. If you lot're considering getting identity theft insurance, enquire virtually the deductible and observe out what's covered and what isn't.

Find out how to recognize the signs of medical identity theft, tax identity theft, and child identity theft.

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Source: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-identity-theft