Three Simple Tips for Preventing Identity Theft Online

If you use the internet, then you are at risk of identity theft. This could see your personal information, such as your name, date of birth, address, and so on, being stolen and used by someone else to impersonate you. Although you can act quickly if you have become a victim of identity theft, the best method against this is to prevent it from occurring in the first place.

Preventing identity theft online can be achieved by taking care when using the internet. If you would like to know more about this, then the three tips mentioned in this post are likely to help. These tips, including using passwords on all devices and limiting what you share on social media, will reduce the risk of online fraud.

Ensure Devices are Password-Protected

Most people will have passwords to unlock their mobile devices, whether that is through facial recognition, finger print, or a numerical passcode. These passwords will prevent other individuals from accessing your personal information that is stored on the device. Without password-protection on mobile devices, your personal and financial data is at risk; this includes banking information and passwords for other accounts.

If you wish to password protect your mobile device, you should navigate to the device’s settings, go to the “Security” or “Lock Screen” option, and choose to set a screen lock. This will allow you to input a password, pattern, or PIN that will be used to unlock your device. You should select a strong password to make it difficult for strangers to crack and access your device.

Similarly, you might use a password manager, like LastPass, for apps and online accounts. Password managers can be accessed on computers and mobile devices, and they will securely store passwords without needing to recall login details from memory. Some password managers will even generate strong passwords if required.

Be Aware of Your Digital Footprint

Your digital footprint is a collection of all your online activities, including your social media accounts and IP addresses. Everything you do on the internet – from checking the weather forecast to making a purchase – leaves a trace that leads back to you, unless you take precautions. This can lead to negative attention from cybercriminals who might target you for identify theft and other online fraud crimes.

There are ways to safeguard your digital footprint. If you do this yourself, you should search for yourself online, contact site administrators to remove material about yourself, set alerts for your online mentions, and use tighter privacy settings when active online. However, you can also use a subscription service, such as DeleteMe, to discover and control your personal information on data brokers and people search sites. If you are unsure whether you require this data broker removal service, you should read the post questioning “Is Abine’s DeleteMe worth it?”

Restrict What You Share on Social Media

Sharing on social media has become the norm nowadays, and some people make a living out of it. What you don’t want is someone else making a living from what you share, particularly if that’s through using your personal information. This is why you might want to limit what you share on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X.

Some of the information you must not share on these profiles includes your address, credit card numbers, driver’s license and other sensitive documents, and so on. You should also ensure your social media accounts can only be viewed by accepted accounts; this can be accomplished through the privacy settings. With this change, you can ensure only people you know follow your profiles and like your posts.

Identify theft is a big risk, especially if you are regularly active online. Using the three tips listed in this post will enable you to protect yourself against the risk of having your identity stolen through the internet.