Identity theft is when someone fraudulently uses another person's name and personal information to get credit, obtain loans, make purchases, etc.

If you become a victim of identity theft, the first things you should do are: change your logins and passwords on affected accounts, notify your credit card companies, and file an identity theft report with the relevant governmental authority — in the US that’s the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Managing these processes can be difficult, confusing, and time-consuming without help — and that’s why Avast Secure Identity offers you assistence from our specialist team to help sort things out after you’ve had your identity stolen.

There are many ways to avoid identity theft including using strong passwords and PINs, limiting the amount of personal information you share online, and monitoring your bank statements for suspicious transactions. You can also help protect yourself using software like Avast Secure Identity, which, among various protective measures, also monitors your emails for scams like spoofing and phishing.

You can check if you’ve become a victim of identity theft regularly checking your credit reports, keeping an eye out for transactions you didn’t make, and monitoring your credit score for sudden changes. You can also use a specialist service like Avast Secure Identity to monitor social media , the web, and the dark web for leaks of your personal information or perform a hack check to see if any of your passwords have been leaked online.

There are many signs that may indicate that your identity has been stolen, and here are a few to look out for: unfamiliar bank transactions, errors on your credit report, new debts for loans that you never applied for, unfamiliar credit card changes, unfamiliar medical bills, and your credit score dropping for no obvious reason.

Identity fraud occurs when somebody misuses your personal information without your consent for nefarious reasons. This person may open accounts, make purchases, or even commit other kinds of criminal offenses in your name. To help to protect yourself against this, you must take certain day-to-day precautions to help safeguard your sensitive data from threats. Good examples of this include visiting safe websites and not sharing your personal data with unverified organizations or strangers you don’t know or recognize. Choosing an identity theft protection service like Avast Secure Identity can help you to detect potential threats much faster. If identity theft happens to you, our experts can also help guide you through the recovery process, and we can even reimburse you with up to $1 million if you experience financial losses due to the fraud.

Identity theft is when someone acquires your personal information without your knowledge or permission. Identity fraud describes the criminal activities that this person might carry out in your name while using this data to do so. But in reality it could also apply to anybody using your stolen data in a criminally deceptive manner for their own financial or personal gain. Some specific examples of identity fraud include somebody opening accounts in your name, buying things using your payment details, and potentially even filing false tax returns.