How To Protect Your Family From Identity Theft

Have you ever wondered how to protect yourself and your family from identity theft? While it’s not the most fun topic to think about, the reality is this kind of thing happens every day, and it’s important to be prepared.

In this article, we’ll outline everything you need to know to prevent it from occurring and provide tips for if it happens to you. With this guide, we hope you can stay safe and know how to act to protect your family. Let’s dive in!

What is Identity Theft?

Identity theft is when someone uses your personal information (e.g., Social Security Number) to achieve fraudulent activities, such as opening bank accounts, credit cards, or other money-grabbing schemes.

The four main types of identity theft are:

• Medical: Someone using your identity to get free medical care
• Criminal: Someone using your identity to avoid criminal charges
• Financial: Someone trying to gain access to money by pretending to be you
• Child identity theft: Someone using a child’s identity to procure something

It’s also important to remember that seniors are more likely to be the subject of identity theft because they usually are less tech-savvy. If you have older parents, you should talk to them about having access to their credit card statements or financial accounts so you can ensure nothing untoward is happening.

With this in mind, let’s focus on how you can know someone has stolen your identity.

How to Know Someone Has Stolen Your Identity

Monitoring your credit score is one of the best ways to keep an eye on any fraudulent activity. Also, looking at your monthly credit card statements is a great way to ensure nothing suspicious pops up. And if it does, you can catch it earlier and take action immediately.

In addition, if you suspect someone has stolen your Social Security Number, you can request a copy of your earnings records (Form 7004) to double-check, check F-Secure, or have I been pwned? And, again, if you have older parents, you may want to have these things handy and check semi-regularly to ensure everything is ok.

How To Protect Yourself from Identity Theft

Knowing what to look for is helpful, but it’s also important to have a plan for protecting yourself and your family from identity theft.

Here are a few things to consider:

1. Monitoring Services

Sign up for a free credit monitoring service to help keep an eye on things. Having a backup is crucial if you suspect something is awry.

2. Recovery Services

Some recovery services help you get your money or identity back if you are the target of an identity theft scam. These are vital if the scammer’s web runs deep, so you cut off anything they may have access to at the source.

3. Identity Theft Insurance

Some companies offer identity theft insurance. Many help resolves identity theft issues and provides insurance up to $1 million if the worst should occur.

4. Be Aware Of your Online Presence

We love to share aspects of our lives on social media, but sometimes your account information can be easily accessed.

Always enable two-factor authentication to prevent this, and keep your address, phone number, or other personal information private. The last thing you want is for someone to be granted access to your entire personal network and information.

5. Shred your Documents

Your parents probably did it, and you need to do it, too. While many documents are online nowadays, mail still comes with personal information.

When you are done with statements or any other documents containing information about you or your family, ensure you properly shred them. This prevents anyone from coming across information you don’t want them to have access to.

6. Beware Of Public Wi-Fi

Scammers love open networks. When possible, only hop on secured public connections!

7. Freeze your Credit Reports

You can freeze your credit reports if all signs point to identity theft. This makes opening new accounts only possible if you temporarily lift the freeze by providing your password or PIN.

Go Forward with Confidence

Proactively protecting you and your family from identity theft is the best approach. Keep the above tips in mind and stress to your whole family how important it is to keep private information.

Of course, your kids will only sometimes understand this from a young age. But instilling the principles of why shredding documents is important and why they may not want to hit “yes” when accepting public Wi-Fi are valuable lessons as they age.

In addition, while it may not be for everyone, identity theft insurance can protect you from having large amounts of money swept out from underneath you. Consider this if you have senior parents or think there could be a potential hack into one of your financial systems.

While we can always anticipate what will happen, we can be prepared. So do what you can to monitor your statements and keep as much as possible off the internet. 

Here’s how to protect your family with family insurance.

About the author

In 1995, Gerardo Campbell married his now ex-wife, becoming the stepdad to her two children. In 2011, he started Support for Stepfathers to reverse the nearly 70% divorce rate for blended families in the US. His website is to help and inspire stepfathers, aspiring stepfathers, and the women who love them worldwide. You can follow Support for Stepdads on Twitter and Facebook.