What's the best defense against identity theft?

[HaveGun]

When I was married, thanks to my ex-wife's horrible handling of finances, my FICO score never got above 650 or so in twenty years. Never had a single issue with identity theft or fraud.

Now that I've been divorced a few years and managing my finances like an adult, my score is in the upper 700's. Oddly enough, I've had a couple of instances of identity theft the past couple of years. I guess my identity is now finally worth stealing, lol.

I signed up for Norton identity protection and my boss at work said it was useless. He should know since he is a former FBI cyber security expert. I guess it is since I had my identity stolen and used to file for Arizona unemployment and nary a peep out of them. I canceled it.

I'll ask him this week what I should do, but thought some folks here might have had some insight on what works.

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[TTSX]

Lifelock. And whatever you buy against home title theft. Make sure you extend your life with extendovite and give your dog D-I-N-O-V-I-T-E

 

[HaveGun]

Lifelock. And whatever you buy against home title theft. Make sure you extend your life with extendovite and give your dog D-I-N-O-V-I-T-E

Somebody has been listening to too much conservative talk radio, lol...

 

[arakboss]

When I was married, thanks to my ex-wife's horrible handling of finances, my FICO score never got above 650 or so in twenty years. Never had a single issue with identity theft or fraud.

Now that I've been divorced a few years and managing my finances like an adult, my score is in the upper 700's. Oddly enough, I've had a couple of instances of identity theft the past couple of years. I guess my identity is now finally worth stealing, lol.

I signed up for Norton identity protection and my boss at work said it was useless. He should know since he is a former FBI cyber security expert. I guess it is since I had my identity stolen and used to file for Arizona unemployment and nary a peep out of them. I canceled it.

I'll ask him this week what I should do, but thought some folks here might have had some insight on what works.

Contact credit bureaus and have your credit reports frozen.

What To Know About Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts

Credit freezes and fraud alerts can protect you from identity theft or prevent further misuse of your personal information if it was stolen.

www.consumer.ftc.gov

 

[arakboss]

Lifelock. And whatever you buy against home title theft. Make sure you extend your life with extendovite and give your dog D-I-N-O-V-I-T-E

I have been taking dinovite and I still itch, stink and my scalp is still shedding my precious hairs.

 

[Tarawa86]

I have a credit score above 800. I just regularly check my credit report for new accounts, etc. I did freeze my credit reports at one point, as arakboss mentioned above, when I suspected someone was trying to use my ID.

 

[HaveGun]

Placed a credit freeze on all of my accounts. Just in case. Don't need any more debt, anyways.

 

[arakboss]

You can always unfreeze them if necessary. Freezing credit could be a good way to prevent impulse credit decisions.

 

[HaveGun]

Not really an issue with me. I'm fine with my current vehicle for the next couple of years and don't foresee me buying another home or property for another few years. I've got a couple of credit cards I'm happy with and am just focusing on paying them off.

When my dad passes in a few years, I'll have to make some serious changes when I inherit his estate and property in Idaho. Might build a new home there with cash, or buy a new piece of land and build.

 

[HikerKat]

What arakboss said.

When you need to allow a bank or other to access your credit reports, just go online and temporarily unfreeze them for however long you want. When the time period that you chose is up, your credit reports will automatically refreeze. All of this, including the setup can be done online. It's as easy as putting a vacation hold on your mail.

The Lifelock scam is advertised as a cure. After the fact. Identity has already been stolen. Damage done. I think you get the picture.
If you freeze your credit reports with at least the big three (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian), you have taken control of your own identity and are now practicing prevention. No cure is needed because the damage will never happen.

Works the same with cancer research. Finding a cure for cancer is the wrong way to approach it.
Prevention is the key.

 

[Vendor Hidden]

www.MyIDCover.com - IDShield - It monitors all that matters including your drivers license, social security including employment and professional credentials and your medical file info - the identity theft that can kill you. Licensed private investigators are assigned to you who, with legal Powers of Attorneys, do the heavy lifting to bring you to Pre loss restoration.

https://ls-info.com/res/6870/1541

 

[Rick4570]

Become Someone Else.........

 

[DemonNova]

www.MyIDCover.com - IDShield - It monitors all that matters including your drivers license, social security including employment and professional credentials and your medical file info - the identity theft that can kill you. Licensed private investigators are assigned to you who, with legal Powers of Attorneys, do the heavy lifting to bring you to Pre loss restoration.

https://ls-info.com/res/6870/1541

You guys are scaring the hell outa me! I'm retired, sold the home, no credit cards and so no balances, just get a sizable monthly SS check. I have all my personal funds locked away in the home in secret places. Should I be worried about ID theft or any kind of theft? Thanks. You guys open a few (Thousand eyes I'll bet!)

 

[arakboss]

You guys are scaring the hell outa me! I'm retired, sold the home, no credit cards and so no balances, just get a sizable monthly SS check. I have all my personal funds locked away in the home in secret places. Should I be worried about ID theft or any kind of theft? Thanks. You guys open a few (Thousand eyes I'll bet!)

If meth heads are digging through your garbage or russians are digging through your internet useage then yes

Edit: just wait until AI is doing all the digging, compiling etc. Nobody will be safe. Then when it seems going dark is your only option, they will have done away with cash. Better practice up on the old bartering skills.

 

[Vendor Hidden]

You guys are scaring the hell outa me! I'm retired, sold the home, no credit cards and so no balances, just get a sizable monthly SS check. I have all my personal funds locked away in the home in secret places. Should I be worried about ID theft or any kind of theft? Thanks. You guys open a few (Thousand eyes I'll bet!)

You go to the Doctor? Even if you live in the backwoods, no internet, no financial accounts, your info is out there. Remember those walls of file cabinets in the doctors office that no longer exist? Obamacare forced the medical community to digitize our files.(A thief can get $300 for a medical info file vs 50 cents for your credit file - where do you think they are fishing?) Our info is out there so it's not a matter of "if" but "when"

 

[DemonNova]

You go to the Doctor? Even if you live in the backwoods, no internet, no financial accounts, your info is out there. Remember those walls of file cabinets in the doctors office that no longer exist? Obamacare forced the medical community to digitize our files.(A thief can get $300 for a medical info file vs 50 cents for your credit file - where do you think they are fishing?) Our info is out there so it's not a matter of "if" but "when"

Interesting! I have basically nothing in the med files except for being an amputee (and I can gurantee you, I had no credit cards back then!. In the last 18 months I got cancer but the VA took care of that. I guess maybe I should worry a little bit but, I've kinda dropped out of society live in an exceptionally small town (maybe 10,000) I know the F'n internet doesn't care. They'll find you but, would they waste their time on me?

 

[bikemutt]

Now that poor folks regularly scavenge through put-out recycle bins around here, we cross-shred anything with personally identifiable information on it. When I pass along magazines, even to friends, I snip off the name and address first, never know who else may end up with them. Sad that a person has to assume the worst.

I've been notified in the past by the likes of Home Depot, Target, even PeaceHealth, that they were hacked and portions of my identity stolen. Luckily, none of them resulted in identity theft.

Our homeowners includes some assistance with recovering from identity theft, its only a few bucks and probably worth it if, and when, the day comes.

 

[Grandpagus1]

Placed a credit freeze on all of my accounts. Just in case. Don't need any more debt, anyways.

AMEN TO THIS. I asked for a 7 year freeze, and it works very well.
Be prepared for a couple of call per year asking if you are in some far away place
to know that the program is working.
Unfreezing is not difficult, so all you have been given is almost golden.
Hope your day goes well and much of the heavy smoke goes away soon.
Tom in Lebanon. TKH

 

[Grandpagus1]

When I was married, thanks to my ex-wife's horrible handling of finances, my FICO score never got above 650 or so in twenty years. Never had a single issue with identity theft or fraud.

Now that I've been divorced a few years and managing my finances like an adult, my score is in the upper 700's. Oddly enough, I've had a couple of instances of identity theft the past couple of years. I guess my identity is now finally worth stealing, lol.

I signed up for Norton identity protection and my boss at work said it was useless. He should know since he is a former FBI cyber security expert. I guess it is since I had my identity stolen and used to file for Arizona unemployment and nary a peep out of them. I canceled it.

I'll ask him this week what I should do, but thought some folks here might have had some insight on what works.

I forgot to include in a response a while ago.
BUY a good paper shredder! DO it to all pieces of paper that have your name on them.It helps a lot!

 

[MaxwellEdison]

1. As mentioned, freeze your credit reports with the Big 3 credit bureaus.

2. Use strong passwords for EVERYTHING you do on the Internet. Passwords like "Yjx72*R3k?uf!T" are ideal and can be easily managed with a password manager on mobile and desktop platforms.

3.Use a free credit monitoring app like Credit Karma. Every week it takes me all of 2 minutes to log into Credit Karma to ensure there are no "surprises" with my credit. And over the years, Credit Karma has become more and more useful with the data they provide. (It's safe, too. They use bank-level encryption.)

4.Check your FICO credit score once per month. If you have a credit card, many of those will provide this for free these days. If your credit score takes an unexpected plunge, that could very well mean you have a problem.

5.While subscription credit monitoring services/identity theft monitoring services are not completely useless, most of the services and info they provide can be obtained for free elsewhere. And if you've locked your credit with the bureaus it should - theoretically anyway - be very difficult for another person to obtain credit in your name. (A friend of mine was recently notified by the SBA that someone tried to take out a pandemic small business loan in her name. That effort was blocked only because her credit file had been frozen at the Big 3 bureaus.)

6. Practice good "identity hygiene". Shred all paperwork with personally identifiable information. Never give out your SS# or other valuable info over the phone unless you were the person who initiated the call (and providing that info passes the "sniff test"). When you get emails, text messages or phone calls saying "There's a problem with your XXXX account", assume it's a phishing attempt...because it probably is. Basically, you need to exercise a great deal of common sense. Many people don't.

7. Set up "alerts" on all credit cards. If someone charges so much as 1 cent on my credit cards, I immediately get a text message telling me. A few years ago someone bought $300 worth of shoes at the Lloyd Center Footlocker using my Discover Card number. I was notified immediately and called that Footlocker within 60 seconds to tell them "That was a fraudulent transaction." They detained the thief (a young woman) and she was arrested. Apparently she was with other people who took off when they quickly figured out something was up. (After calling Footlocker I also immediately deactivated the card on the Discover app.) I was lucky in that I sprung into action quickly, and the manager at this Footlocker was himself very willing to help. Not all businesses will be so cooperative.

8. No matter what you do, remain vigilant. No one is ever 100% safe from identity theft. If you think you may have an issue get on top of it immediately. Criminals can do a great amount of damage in a very short amount of time. Also, if you do encounter a problem check your homeowners or renters insurance policy. Mine provides identity theft insurance & help. I didn't ask for it and it doesn't cost extra. It's just a newer benefit my policy provides.