7 Protection Tips to Avoid Identity Theft

Check out our 7 tips to avoid identity theft, phishing attacks and secure your personal information

Question: Would you trust a stranger with your bank account number, email account password or telephone number?

Answer: Most of the time it happens without you even noticing.

Look at what happened to Michelle Brown and how long it took her to recover from her identity theft. A woman called Heddi Ille stole her name and social security number. Heddi used Michelle’s identity for a year. A year passed before she was caught.

In that time Michelle ended up $50,000 in debt thanks to Heddi. Michelle had a history of paying her bills on time. Despite Michelle’s protestations that she wasn’t running up bills, it made no difference. When Heddi was eventually caught she was arrested for ‘stolen property’ and 'not identity theft.’

These are 3 of the most common methods for stealing personal information:

Pharming: When you enter the URL of an online banking site, you can be redirected to a fraudulent site, which looks identical to your bank. But the site records and steals your financial details.

Keystroke Logging: Your keystrokes can be recorded by cyber criminals and used to steal your credit card details.

Phishing: These are clever, sophisticated emails which request your confidential details and online banking information – to scam you. Your bank would never ask for this information.

7 Tips to Prevent Identity Theft

1. Backup and secure your personal and financial documents. You can easily backup your files to the cloud from your security/backup software or backup your documents and files to an external hard drive. 
2. To avoid phishing attacks, don't click on spam emails and links you don't completely trust. 
3. Protect your computer, mobile device, tablet and ensure that the security software you use is up-to-date 
4. Don't log in your bank account, email or any sensitive account through free public Wi-Fi. 
5. Create strong passwords and update them frequently. Never use the same password in more than 1 site, different passwords adds another layer of protection against cyber criminals. 
6. Be aware of what you share and think twice before sharing something. 
7. Check your credit card statements each month and contact your credit card company immediately in case of lost or stolen credit card. 

Internet security software with Identity Protection keeps your passwords in one place, and discovers phishing and identity threats before they cost you, money and time.

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If you bank, shop online, or have a social media account - be careful! As simple and convenient as it can be, shopping and banking online without a software security suite poses serious risks to your security.