Section
Identity Theft Protection
Guides, explainers, and practical reads updated regularly.
All Articles
An identity protection checklist you can finish in one evening
Nine concrete steps, all free, all with the exact site or phone number — freezes, weekly reports, prescreen opt-out and the recovery route.
How to read your credit report for signs of identity theft
Weekly reports from all three bureaus are now free and permanent. Here is the routine, what to look for, and where the old stagger-them advice…
Shopping online and the public Wi-Fi warning that changed
The FTC now says connecting through public Wi-Fi is usually safe. The risk moved to the site you are buying from, and to the device…
What official figures do and do not tell you about identity theft losses
Averages quoted in identity theft articles are usually unsourced. Here is what the IC3 report actually counts, and what it leaves out.
How a thief opens an account in your name, and when monitoring notices
Automated monitoring is detection, and detection arrives after the account exists. Here is the sequence, and the free step that interrupts it.
Identity theft insurance and the free protections it sits on top of
Before comparing policies, know the baseline: freezes, weekly credit reports and a full recovery service all cost nothing.
Automated identity monitoring versus doing it yourself
One buys you convenience and a shorter delay. The other is free and includes the only step that actually blocks a new account.
How to tell whether your identity protection is actually working
You cannot measure this with a percentage. You can verify each control is in place, and here is exactly what to check and how often.
Which identity theft safeguard actually stops a new account
Freeze, fraud alert and monitoring do three different jobs. Only one of them prevents an account being opened, and it is the free one.
