Prevent identity theft

Reading material

  1. https://inteltechniques.com/workbook.html
  2. https://www.investopedia.com/how-to-freeze-and-unfreeze-your-credit-5075527
  3. https://www.investopedia.com/how-to-lock-your-credit-5075538

Freeze your credit

Unless you’re actively applying for loans, it’s better to be proactive and freeze your credit file(s) immediately until you determine the best firm to use for monitoring, etc. Keep the login handy for each service in case you need to unfreeze your credit files temporarily.

Find out which credit reporting agency your creditor uses for a loan you’re applying for and only unfreeze that credit bureau temporarily.

Don’t lose the login info.

  1. https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/
  2. https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
  3. https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
  1. Kroll
  2. LifeLock
  3. myIDCard

delete.me

As our lives become increasingly digital, so too does our vulnerability to cyber crime. The number of identity theft and online fraud cases reported to the FTC have skyrocketed in recent years. According to the FBI, total cyber crime losses are over $10 billion per year. Whenever you browse the web, websites can store your personal information and resell it to what are called Data Brokers. That’s how your email ends up on countless mailing lists. This can also happen when you purchase items online with your credit card.

This is where delete.me comes into the picture. Just input your information and they’ll automatically contact hundreds of known data brokers and compel them to remove your data. Within 7 days, they’ll give you a report showing all the personal data they’ve removed for you. Delete.me reviews thousands of listings per month and removes your data from any broker that has it.

When I first started using delete.me this past July they removed my personal data from over 300 Brokers who’ gotten their hands on my data over the years. I’ve seen a massive decrease in scam calls and emails as a result. It feels good to sit back and know that delete me is removing my personal data from literally hundreds of data broker websites.


Links to this note