Your Social Security number is one of the most sensitive pieces of personal information you own. Too bad yours (and mine and every other Americans’) has likely been leaked and sold on the Dark Web.
Before you panic, there are a few steps you can take right now to protect yourself and your identity.
It sure is. Your Social Security number is the key to the castle. It’s the unique identifier that connects your financial, government and personal records.
▶️ With your SSN, criminals can open credit card accounts, apply for loans, hijack your tax refunds, use your government benefits or even apply for jobs. Yikes.
To safeguard your Social Security number, use the government’s free Self Lock feature. This tool prevents your SSN from being used for unauthorized employment verifications. You’ll need an E‑Verify account to do this online.
You can also request a block by calling the Social Security Administration at 1‑800‑772‑1213. Expect to wait on hold for a long time.
How do you know if your SSN is in someone else’s hands? Let me count the ways …
“Call me for a good time.” That simple message prompted more creepy calls and texts than you can believe. A woman contacted me after someone posted that message — alongside her cellphone number — on a porn site.
Protect yourself: Medical identity theft victims often don’t realize something is wrong until it’s too late. I recommend you store hard copies of medical records and documents with personal identification information in a safe or lockbox.
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When you think of identity theft victims, you might picture someone older. But the reality is, the targets are getting younger.
🔒 They’ll thank you later: Identity theft for kids under 19 is skyrocketing. Parents, create and lock or freeze your children’s credit ASAP so thieves can’t use their info for loans or credit cards. When they’re older, you can help them unfreeze it.
Faces identity theft before they turn 18. And age verification might make the problem much worse. Think about it: To get access to social media, your kid uploads their name, face, and a document or two. One breach and a criminal has it all.
It happens every year. We need to file our taxes, and scammers come out to steal from us. Here’s what you need to know right now.
Every year, the IRS releases a list of scams to watch out for. These are the biggest ones for this year:
Newsflash: Your data is constantly being collected and sold. “Gee, thanks, Kim. I know,” you might be thinking. “What do I do about it?” Lucky for you, I spend a lot of time trying to answer that exact question.
If you’re tired of spam calls, unwanted emails and that nasty feeling of always being tracked, keep reading. I’ve got a simple way to take a massive chunk out of this data collection mess, thanks to our sponsor, Incogni.
Major slip-up: A company TikTok, Uber and X hired to verify user identities left admin credentials exposed online for over a year. They process photos of faces and driver’s licenses, a boon for criminals. Yup, a free meal ticket for identity theft. Remember, when you give info to a company, you’re giving it to their vendors, too.
What are the odds? A San Diego woman found out she had three felonies during a routine background check that relies on people-search databases. The charges, dating back to 2014, included burglary, identity theft and possession of a controlled substance. Turns out, she’s innocent. The real culprit shares her exact name and birthday.
Protect your docs: Medical identity theft is scary, and victims often don’t realize something is wrong until it’s too late. Store hard copies of medical records and documents with personal identification information in a safe or lockbox.
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
📞 Stay skeptical: In Maine, a man lost $9,000 to a fake-cop scam. The crook used caller ID spoofing to make the call look real, then scared the guy with a story about identity theft. The giveaway: Real cops don’t ask for bitcoin.
It’s my job to help people with their digital problems, and it’s sad how often that means assisting folks to sort out a scam. Or even being the one to break the news to them.
Sorry, that new girlfriend isn’t into you. She just wants your money. It happens more often than you’d think — to men and women alike.
I’ve warned you about all the scummy sites that collect your personal details for years. I’ll never forget, not too long ago, when my son Ian asked about a house I lived at in my 20s. I couldn’t remember where it was.
Picture this: You’re out at a local brewery with pals enjoying a cold pint when a friendly stranger starts making conversation. He seems nice enough and asks about fantasy football. You excitedly pull out your phone and unlock it to show him your draft strategies, and voilà, he sees you enter your PIN.
Spoofing social media accounts is one of the most common ways scammers try to trick victims. In this attack, cybercriminals will steal posts and pictures to create fake profiles to fool you. If you don’t know how to spot fake accounts, you could lose a ton of money to scams.
Is your computer running at a snail’s pace? Before you drop a chunk of cash on a new one, clear out some space from the hard drive. Tap or click here to remove the clutter that’s slowing you down.
Sometimes, the problem runs deeper than that. Your computer might not even turn on, or it’s performing erratically. That’s when you may need to reach out for help.
Keeping yourself safe from creeps and hackers is a big job, but certain habits make it easier.
Here’s a simple one: Stop giving your phone number to every place that asks for it. Read this tip about the best ways to hide your phone number and email address for help.
Identity theft is no joke. The FTC reports 441,482 cases of credit card fraud in the U.S. last year alone.
All told, the Commission received 1.1 million total identity theft complaints.
Scammers use every trick imaginable to get you to hand over personal details or banking information. A common favorite is to impersonate a government agency or law enforcement officials. Tap or click here to learn how hackers use this trick.
