Tips for Preventing Identity Theft

Many Americans – around 63% to be exact – have been fooled by online scams at some point in their lives with a majority falling prey, to social media account takeovers (54%) and data breaches (49%). Its concerning how cyber crooks are getting more crafty by the day; they now resort to impersonating known companies or individuals to build trust and manipulate unsuspecting victims.

The main goals of these internet scammers are to obtain information and money from people online; they often target financial institutions as they are among the most commonly impersonated businesses online. PayPal and Bank of America are ranked in the 10 most frequently impersonated companies in phishing attacks conducted online. Regrettably not everyone has a grasp of best practices for online security even those who believe they are knowledgeable, about technology.

Here are some helpful tips to keep yourself safe;

1.  Add a level of security to your accounts by utilizing multi factor authentication, which is more secure, than using text message verification alone.
2. Use a password manager to manage your passwords and create ones and remember to update them frequently for better security.
3. You may want to think about putting a freeze on your credit to stop any access to it and get in touch with the credit agencies one, by one to freeze or unfreeze your credit whenever necessary.
4. Log in to https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/get-an-identity-protection-pin and create a pin to add an extra level of security so that fraudsters can't file taxes under your social. 
5. Remember to stick to the basics – steer clear of clicking on links and attachments or connecting to unsecured public WiFi to protect your personal information from potential risks.