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Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft Should Always Be a Priority

Identity Theft

Have you been a victim of identity theft? If not, you’re one of the fortunate ones. And if that’s the case, you need to keep up your defenses, or even strengthen them, because cybercriminals are not letting up.

The cold, hard facts support this. Here are the top-level highlights of a 2024 survey* of 1,000 Americans, pretty much evenly split between men and women.

  • Over the past 12 months, nearly one in three Americans has been scammed.
  • We’re all pretty much worried about being victimized. Almost half of us are concerned about falling for a scam.
  • And we’re also somewhat confused about who falls for scams the most. When asked, almost three-quarters of us believe that younger people (maybe 25 and younger) are the primary targets and victims.

However, survey statistics show that the percentage of Millennials who were scammed in 2024 was lower (26%) than that of Baby Boomers (38%). Nonetheless, that means there’s a whole lot of scamming going on. And identity theft is a specific category of fraud that continues to grow.

What is identity theft?

One of the more frightening types of fraud is when a cybercriminal impersonates you—typically online—using your name, account information, and other personally identifiable information (PII) for financial gain. That’s the essence of identity theft, and it’s frightening just to think about, isn’t it?

Not only is a fraudster making a transaction on your account without your permission, but they are also doing it without your knowledge. In fact, it may take some time for you or your financial institution to realize that something’s not right.

To illustrate this, let’s say you handed your son or daughter your credit card and allowed them to buy themselves a birthday present—that’s not identity theft because you willingly handed over your card and permitted them to use it. Your credit card company likely wouldn’t flag that as a suspicious transaction.

By contrast, what if you saw on your credit statement a charge for an expensive purchase at a high-end store you’ve never shopped at that’s 50 miles away? That’s when you’d fear you might be a victim of identity theft.

That type of fraud is called Financial Identity Theft, and nearly three-quarters of identity theft falls into that category. There is also Employment ID Theft and Synthetic ID Theft, in which fraudsters create fake IDs to carry out their crimes.

Identity Theft is on the Rise.

The cost of identity theft.

According to the Cyberguy podcast and website, recent federal statistics show that data breaches targeting four major data brokers could be linked to more than $20 billion in identity theft losses over the past 10 years. That data came from a 2026 report from the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee.

They derived that astronomical number by applying a median $200 identity-theft loss to hundreds of millions of personal records that have been “exposed” through data breaches.

Those are the big-picture numbers, but how would identity theft affect you if it happened? Here’s a look at the likely major headaches and hassles it would cause:

  • Your credit history and record would be damaged and set back.
  • Applying for new credit would be difficult for a long time.
  • It could take weeks, months, or years to straighten things out with your credit card providers, financial institutions, and the major credit bureaus.

The FTC report revealed that in 2024, consumers were victimized to the tune of $12.5 billion. That figure was up 25% from the year before. Of course, identity theft-related losses were a major portion of that number.

Social Security Numbers are often exposed in data breaches.

Are you aware that your Social Security Number exists in hundreds of places online? That’s natural, because it’s the key to getting loans, credit cards, medical services, and more. You can only hope that the organizations that have a record of your SSN will do everything they can to protect it…but that’s not always the case. Social Security numbers are often stolen or exposed in major data breaches.

Here’s an example: In 2024, 2.9 billion records were stolen in the massive data breach against National Public Data (NPD). Those records included names, addresses, and Social Security Numbers of Americans. It’s assumed that virtually every U.S. citizen had some information exposed through that one data breach. You can read about that data breach and others in our article on The Top Five Data Breaches of 2024.

Find out if your information has been stolen in a data breach.

Use our free data breach check.

Don’t be the last to know. Protect your identity:

When you hear of a major data breach, you should pay attention and take the news seriously. Of course, you’ll also want to keep an eye on that account for any suspicious activity.

Also, be sure to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) on every important account, including bank accounts, credit cards, and social media sites. That’s an extra security step in the login process that prevents hackers from accessing your information.

It often takes months for an organization to realize it has been breached, and the news often has to be brought to its attention. If you perform a data breach check and see that an account may have been compromised, change the password for that account immediately.

Will a credit monitoring service prevent identity theft?

If you want to take further steps to protect your identity, consider a third-party credit monitoring service, such as LifeLock, Identity Guard, or Aura. When you have a paid account with one, they continuously scan the internet and other records to detect unauthorized transactions on their clients’ accounts. They’ll inform you if your Social Security Number, personal email address, or PII has been compromised.

When the monitoring service detects something suspicious, it immediately alerts you to potential fraud or unusual activity. For instance, if a new account is opened in your name or there’s been a recent credit check, they will alert you via text, email, or their app. Of course, that activity could be your own and is fully legitimate. But if that’s not the case, the news is worth checking out.

However, financial experts point out some limitations of credit monitoring companies:

  • These services react to potential fraud through alerts and messages…they don’t prevent fraud from happening. It’s like a neighbor telling you that someone is trying to break into your car: you can chase the would-be thief away and call the police, but it won’t stop any thief from trying or succeeding.
  • These services also cannot stop a thief from using your ID for financial gain, even though they will alert you immediately if something seems suspicious.
  • Finally, some of these services offer various protection plans with higher monthly fees for top-level protection.

Stay informed about security and privacy issues.

To learn more about protecting your email, your privacy, and your identity, visit our Learning Center and explore links to articles and interviews on the topic.

Learn More

*From ipx1031.com: American Fraud and Identity Theft Statistics

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