Frauds & Scams

10 Ways to Protect Your Personal Information

August 19, 2021 • By

Reading Time: 2 Minutes

Last Updated: November 2, 2023

man clicking on an image of a lockFraudsters don’t go on vacation—so it’s necessary for you and your loved ones to stay vigilant year round. Identity theft affects millions of people each year and can cause serious financial and identity-related issues. Protect yourself by securing your personal information, understanding the threat of identity theft, and exercising caution. We have a list of 10 things you can start doing now to protect yourself and your loved ones.

  1. Don’t believe calls, emails, texts, or any message that say you need to immediately pay to resolve a problem, such as legal trouble with the government or a virus on your computer, or even to collect a prize, like lottery or sweepstakes winnings. Legitimate businesses will not force you to make a payment over the phone as the only option, and will not require payment by prepaid debit card, gift card, Internet currency, or by mailing cash.
  1. Protect your Social Security number by keeping your card in a safe place at home. Don’t carry it around with you or provide your number unnecessarily.
  1. Be careful when you speak with unknown callers. Scammers may use legitimate phone numbers or the real names of officials to mislead you. If they threaten you or make you feel scared, hang up.
  1. Never give out your personal or financial information in response to an unsolicited call or message. And don’t post it on social media.
  1. Shred paper that contains personal information, such as your name, birth date, and Social Security number.
  1. Regularly check your financial accounts for suspicious transactions.
  1. Request and check a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus every year: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian.
  1. Install and maintain strong anti-virus software on all your devices—including your smartphone, personal computer, and tablet. Don’t fall for tech support scams, including pop-up warnings. If you need help fixing a problem on your computer, take it to someone you know and trust.
  1. Create strong passwords so others can’t easily access your accounts. Use different passwords for different accounts so if a hacker compromises one account, they can’t access other accounts. Check out the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) password checklist for tips.
  1. Never click on a link sent in an unsolicited email or text message—type in the web address yourself. Only provide information on secure websites.

Stay smart. Stop scams.

We encourage you to create your own personal my Social Security account to track your earnings record. Contact Social Security if you find suspicious work activity on your record–you could be a victim of identity theft. You can find more information and report identity theft to the FTC on their Identity Theft website. Please share this information with your family and friends—and post it on social media.

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About the Author

Darlynda Bogle, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications

Darlynda Bogle, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications

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Comments

  1. Hospitals &.

    The Education Secretary has agreed to repay, not forgive, $5.8 billion of student loans for more than 320,000 disability beneficiaries, some 1.7 percent of disability beneficiaries to be identified by the Social Security Administration, pursuant to 20USC§1087. The Secretary promises not to contact borrowers or reinstate the loan as invariably occurred after three years of abusive investigation by the 1965 program under §1087(a)(B). In appreciation it is determined that the Federal Student Loan program requires Congress to legislate and finance a bona fide loan guarantee program to ensure student loan revenues and expenditures do not again intrude on the federal budget pursuant to the Federal Credit Reform Act under 2USC§661c(a)(g). Due to increasing demand it is also necessary for Congress to legislate an increase in the lending limit on Student Loans from [$100 billion] to [$120 billion] to afford the anticipated number of college student borrowers an annual 3 percent increase in loans that have depreciated in value due to hyperinflation in tuition. After insurance fraud regarding the concept of federal loan guaranty in the now defunct Federal Family Loan Program, from whence the disability repayment comes, it is important that Congress have ill-accounted for student loan program thoroughly amortized by the legislation of a regularly financed federal student loan guaranty program. It is hoped that by ceasing to offend the Federal Credit Reform Act by allowing student revenues and expenditures to unlawfully intrude on the federal budget, the Congress will prevent the incitement of any future rampage shootings by Attorney General authorized delinquent student loan collection attempts and Clerk of Congress email responses, in one federal and Education budget stabilizing Act to create a federal student loan guaranty program.

  2. Albert B.

    This message is critical because fraudsters will take advantage of every minor opportunity to obtain your personal information. Architecture Company Bali

  3. Musaddiq A.

    We support all the unshared news globally!
    This might help many people, much appreciated
    From: Team Unshared News

  4. S B.

    Also if given a choice when using 2-step verification, opt for a phone call instead of a text. Calls are more secure.

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  6. Alex M.

    Thanks for the interesting article, I think that even unconscious actions on the Internet, for example, “likes” left on social networks, allow us to collect enough personal information about a person. I work as a security business consultant Engre.co and I think that with a proper analysis of the user’s behavior on the Web, his psychological profile is created, which is used for a variety of tasks – offering him a certain kind of advertising, submitting suitable content. Business and the state benefit from the active presence of as many people as possible in the electronic space. This helps companies to promote their products and services, to fight competitors. To the state – to make citizens loyal, to prevent offenses. It would seem that there is nothing wrong with this, but at a certain moment the question of personal boundaries arises.

  7. nena

    This message is extremely important, thieves thrive on any small opportunity to steal your personal data.

  8. StorePlay A.

    Nice Post Thaks

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  10. vidalovelina

    This information is very important to protect our personal information. Even we king138 group will implement these steps, thanks for the information.

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