One Of Your Greatest Assets: Your Identity!

One Of Your Greatest Assets: Your Identity!

Have You Got Your Back Covered?

The 2017 Identity Fraud Study, found that $16 billion was stolen from 15.4 million U.S. consumers in 2016, compared with $15.3 billion and 13.1 million victims a year earlier.

Nearly 36.6 million data records were compromised in India last year, a 14 per cent rise as compared to 2015.

What is Identity Theft?

Identity theft is the deliberate use of someone else's identity, usually as a method to gain a financial advantage or obtain credit and other benefits in the other person's name, and perhaps to the other person's disadvantage or loss. Thieves try to find such information as full name, maiden name, address, date of birth, social security number, passwords, phone number, e-mail, and credit card numbers & use them to obtain illegal financial gains.  

BELOW ARE SOME OF THE MOST COMMON TYPES ACCORDING TO IDENTITY THEFT STATISTICS.

• Social Security Identity Theft.
• Financial Identity Theft.
• Driver's License Identity Theft.
• Criminal Identity Theft.
• Medical Identity Theft.
• Insurance Identity Theft.
• Synthetic Identity Theft.
• Tax Identity Theft.

HOW DO THEY DO IT?

1. Stealing personal information from computers using breaches in browser security or malware such as Trojan horse keystroke logging programs or other forms of spyware
2. Hacking computer networks, systems and databases to obtain personal data, often in large quantities.
3. Exploiting breaches that result in the publication or more limited disclosure of personal information such as names, addresses, Social Security number or credit card numbers.

HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOURSELF?

Consider these tips to help keep your personal information safe and secure and protect you from identity theft:

Create Strong Passwords and Update them frequently. ...

Be Aware of What You Share. ...

Keep Sensitive Personal and Financial Documents Secure. ...

Protect Your Mobile Device. ...

Check Your Credit Report.

WHAT IS THE MOST COMMON TYPES OF IDENTITY THEFT?

1. Synthetic identity theft:

A variation of identity theft which has recently become more common is synthetic identity theft, in which identities are completely or partially fabricated. Synthetic identity theft is more difficult to track as it doesn't show on either person's credit report directly.

2. Financial identity theft:

The most common type is financial identity theft, where someone wants to gain economic benefits in someone else's name. This includes getting credits, loans, goods and services, claiming to be someone else.

HOW ELSE CAN YOU PROTCT YOURSELF?

1.ProtectMyID, an online identity theft protection service, a trusted credit-reporting company, though is not cheap though, as it costs $16 per month for regular monitoring.

2. LifeLock Ultimate Plus is the most comprehensive identity theft protection plan you can choose. This is a sweet $30 a month,

3. PrivacyMaxx Family Identity Theft Protection Plan for ONE, TWO, or THREE FULL YEARS of coverage for their entire family, (Coverage for you and your immediate family (spouse or domestic partner) children at the same address up to age 25), including a Proactive Monitoring System that will alert you to potential issues before an ID theft occurs, a fully-managed Family Identity Recovery and 12-month post-monitoring service, and a "generous $25,000 Service Guarantee"...all for a one-time payment as low as $69!

Hope you got yourself covered. OR isn't it time to go safe?