How to Keep Your Money Safe by Protecting Your Personal Info
By John Boitnott In the past couple of years, identity theft has been on the rise. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there were over 1.4 million reports of identity theft in the United States in 2020, nearly doubling from around 650,000 in 2019. According to an AARP report, about 42 million Americans were victim to identity fraud in 2021, costing people $52 billion in losses.
This trend can, in part, be attributed to our growing reliance on digital technology and the explosion of data that exists on the internet. So much of our lives now take place online, including our work, shopping and social media, all of which can expose our personal information. The more information that is available about you on the internet, the more likely you are to fall victim to a hacker or identity thief.
This is why we recommend a few products in this article, like DeleteMe, that help keep you and your personal, private information safe online.
The Dangers of Identity Theft
Victims of identity theft wake up one day to find their lives upended, and may spend years mitigating the financial and legal troubles that identify fraud has brought upon their lives.
Identity theft can cause a range of consequences, many of which can be long-lasting and financially damaging.
Financial Losses
Financial loss is one of the most commonly thought of consequences of identity fraud, and for good reason. Identity thieves often use your personal information to make unauthorized purchases, withdraw funds from your bank accounts, or open new credit accounts in your name. This can lead to significant financial losses that can be difficult to recover.
Credit and Tax Problems
Fraudulent activities carried out by identity thieves can also negatively impact your credit score, making it more difficult for you to obtain loans or credit cards in the future. You could also face issues with the IRS or other tax authorities, such as delayed refunds or being held responsible for unpaid taxes.
Legal Issues
In some cases, the criminal activities of identity thieves can even lead to legal issues for the victim, such as arrest warrants or legal proceedings in their name.
The experience of having your identity stolen can be stressful and emotionally and financially draining. To protect yourself from fraud, it’s important to be aware of the methods identity thieves use and how they obtain and exploit your personal information for their own gain.
Your Online Personal Information Puts You at Risk
Hackers have become experts at exploiting potential targets by using their personal information against them. While advancements in security measures and technology have been made to protect against fraud, cybercriminals continue to adapt and find new ways to exploit vulnerabilities.
One of the most effective techniques at these hackers’ disposal is spear phishing. Spear phishing is a targeted form of phishing in which the attacker uses available online information about a person to customize a fraudulent message. The use of personal information increases the messages’ credibility and is more effective than general phishing attempts, as the personalized content may make it more difficult for the target to recognize the hackers’ deception. The frequency of identity theft is only expected to increase in the coming years, as we continue to rely on digital technology, and expand our use of social media.
The Role of Data Brokers
Data brokers are companies that collect, aggregate, and sell personal information about individuals from various sources, such as public records, social media profiles, online browsing activities, and purchase histories. The information they collect includes names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, birth dates, and other sensitive data. After gathering and organizing this information, data brokers sell this sensitive information to any interested party, including fraudsters.
Many people are not fully aware of the extent to which their personal information is being collected, aggregated, and sold. This lack of awareness has contributed to the rise of data brokers, as consumers may inadvertently provide them with personal information by using online services or sharing details on social media.
As the internet has become an integral part of daily life, the amount of data generated by users has also grown exponentially. The widespread availability of personal information through data brokers means identity thieves can easily access your personal information and use it to concoct elaborate spear phishing attempts. The more these thieves know about you, the more likely they are to craft a message that tricks you into taking the bait.
Identity thieves can also exploit your personal information by impersonating you and gathering more information about you by contacting financial institutions, government agencies, or other organizations. They can then sell this information back to data brokers or use it in their own schemes.
Finally, data brokers themselves can become targets of cybercriminals. If a data broker experiences a data breach, the personal information of millions of people can be exposed, making it accessible to identity thieves.
To mitigate the risks associated with data brokers and identity theft, it is essential to take steps to protect your personal information. This may include limiting the information you share online, using privacy settings on social media, opting out of data broker websites, and using services like DeleteMe to help remove your information from these sources.
How to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft
If you want to keep your money safe, you need to keep your online identity safe. The best way to do this is to remove your personal information from the internet and reduce your online exposure. This makes it more difficult for criminals to gather the data they need to impersonate you or access your accounts.
Here are seven ways to remove your personal information from the internet and protect against identity theft.
- Review your privacy settings on social media platforms and other websites. Adjust the settings to limit the visibility of your personal information to only people you trust.
- Remove unnecessary personal information from your social media profiles, such as your full birth date, address, or phone number.
- Delete old, unused accounts on websites or services you no longer use, as they may still contain your personal information.
- Use a search engine to look for your name and other personal details to identify websites that may have your information. If you find any, contact the website’s administrator and request removal of your data.
- Opt-out of data broker websites and people-search services, which aggregate and sell personal information. Many of these services provide an opt-out process, although it can be time-consuming.
- Be cautious about sharing personal information online in the future. Only provide it when necessary and to trusted entities.
- Consider hiring an online protection service like DeleteMe. DeleteMe does most of the heavy lifting for you and goes the extra mile to make sure your personal information is not exposed online.
How tools like DeleteMe can help
DeleteMe is a subscription-based service that aims to help users protect their privacy by removing their personal information from data broker websites and people-search services. Using DeleteMe can simplify the process of removing your personal information from data broker websites, offering expertise, ongoing monitoring, and comprehensive coverage, all while saving you from the hassle of removing your information yourself.
Manually locating and removing your personal information from multiple data broker websites can be a time-consuming and tedious process. DeleteMe’s privacy experts handle this task on your behalf, allowing you to save time and effort.
DeleteMe’s team has extensive experience and knowledge in dealing with data brokers and the removal process. They are familiar with the specific requirements and procedures for submitting opt-out requests, which can vary across different data broker websites. DeleteMe’s privacy experts maintain an extensive list of data broker websites they target for removal. This ensures that your personal information is removed from a wide range of sources, which can be difficult to achieve when attempting the process on your own.
DeleteMe also provides ongoing monitoring and removal throughout your subscription period, ensuring that your information is removed as soon as it reappears.
How Does DeleteMe Work?
First, users sign up for a DeleteMe subscription, which typically covers a one-year period. Once subscribed, DeleteMe’s privacy experts work to remove the user’s personal information from various data broker websites. They do this by identifying the user’s information on these sites, submitting opt-out requests on the user’s behalf, and monitoring for any reappearance of the user’s data.
Users receive regular updates from DeleteMe on the status of their information removal, detailing which websites have removed the user’s data and any pending removals.
DeleteMe provides ongoing monitoring and removal of the user’s personal information throughout the subscription period. This ensures that if the user’s information reappears on any data broker sites, the DeleteMe team will work to remove it again.
Whether you choose to hire professionals or decide to do it alone, it is important that you take steps to remove your personal information from the internet. With identity theft on the rise and the sophistication of attacks improving, there is no time like the present to take control of your online information to protect you and your money from identity theft.
