How to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft Online

Identity theft is one of the most stressful things that can happen to anyone, and unfortunately, this has been a prevalent problem online.

There are simple ways anyone can take in order to protect themselves from identity theft. We list some of them below.

What is Identity Theft?

But first, let us define what identity theft is. According to Investopedia, identity theft is defined as the "crime of obtaining the personal or financial information of another person to use their identity to commit fraud, such as making unauthorized transactions or purchases."

Investopedia says there are different kinds of identity theft, which are as follows:

Child identity theft - As the name suggests, criminal steals the identity of a child.
Criminal identity theft - The criminal takes on someone's identity in order to evade being arrested and other similar acts.
Financial identity theft - This type of identity theft usually happens when someone uses another person's identity to earn goods, services, credits, and others.
Medical identity theft - The criminal steals another person's identity in order to take advantage of medical benefits.
Social Security identity theft - Your Social Security number is stolen from you so that the thief can use it for credit card and loan applications.
Synthetic identity theft - According to Investopedia, this a "type of fraud in which a criminal combines real (usually stolen) and fake information to create a new identity, which is used to open fraudulent accounts and make fraudulent purchases."
Tax identity theft - The criminal takes on someone else's identity in order to file a fake tax return in order to claim money.

How to Protect Yourself From Online Identity Theft

There are some easy and practical steps you can take in order to avoid becoming a victim to this kind of fraud. Here are some examples:

Be Careful with Your Personal Information

According to Microsoft, one of the most important things you can do to protect your identity is to protect your sensitive information. It is recommended that you be careful to whom you share your personal information to and how you share that information.

It is also likewise recommended that you make sure that the websites you share your sensitive information with is both secure and legitimate.

Create Strong Passwords

Another practical step you can take to protect yourself is to make sure that your passwords are strong and you do not share them with anyone. Per Microsoft, passwords are ideally long. It can even be a whole sentence long.

Passwords should contain a mix of letters in both lower and upper case, numbers, and symbols. Microsoft recommends that you do not use the same password in every account you have.

Secure Your Phone

As PCMag wisely points out, your phone is gold mine for any theif who wants to steal personal information, photos, and more. With that in mind, it is recommended that you secure your phone.

Though there are different ways to secure your device, biometic authentication is highly preferred. A strong passcode can also help augment your phone's security.