A Lifehack for Identity Theft
Investing in Uncertain Times
APRIL 2ND, 2022 · 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM
We are living in the dawn of uncertainty. War, inflation, debt, uncertain economic future, stock market declines, etc. Even in the midst of such uncertainty, you still have to make decisions regarding retirement, investments, and money in general. So what do you do?
Identity theft is rampant. In fact, it's so common in our society that most people don't even pay attention to it anymore. Stories about major corporations being hacked and millions of consumer files compromised wind up on the back page. Years ago, that was front-page news. As a result, identity thieves are getting smarter, and consumers are paying less attention. That is not a good recipe for consumer safety.
In my capacity as a radio host, I see and hear about stories of identity theft frequently. I have identified two different life hacks that every consumer should adopt in order to protect themselves from identity theft.
Credit Monitoring
The vast majority of identity thefts start with a check of your credit report. Credit monitoring notifies you immediately when someone attempts to access your credit. I call it the first line of defense against identity theft.
What about the life locks of the world that claim to monitor every Joe Smith in the country and every possible identity threat that could exist? Just call me skeptical - until someone can prove me otherwise, I will stick with plain old credit monitoring versus sensational claims from the life locks of the world.
The Golden Rule of Identity Theft
This is probably the most important lifehack of them all. I have often referred to it as the golden rule of identity theft.
“Never give information to anyone who contacts you unless you know they are legit.”
This may sound Captain Obvious to you. However, people are falling prey daily by breaking this one rule. The key to this lifehack is the phrase “anyone who contacts you.” Contact could be any one of the following:
Phone call
Personal visit
Text
When you go through the process of verifying that the contact is legit, look up the telephone number versus using the one in the contact piece. To get information, identity thieves contact people.
Identity theft is a complex problem. With these two life hacks, you should be able to protect yourself the vast majority of the time.