Protecting Your Identity

There's no denying it - in order to do anything today you have to give your personal information out to someone. It doesn't matter if you're opening a new bank account, investing online, or applying for a new home loan - your information is being transferred from one hand to another to another. Personal information is publicly available now more than ever before.

How can you trust that every person you hand your information over to is using that information properly? Can they all really keep your information protected? The government has already done everything it can to make sure that every business stores, uses, and protects their customers' data and personal information in the safest ways possible... Yet identity thieves are still able to infiltrate these resources and steal consumer information.

The rest is up to us. And with ID Guards, protecting your information is easier than ever before... We make it okay to trust again. We can't rid the world of every last identity thief - and we can't promise that identity theft will soon be all in the past. But we can give you the tools to help you better protect your identity without turning it into a full time job.

We do this by arming you with knowledge:

  • Knowledge about what your identity holds and what others can do with your identity
  • Knowledge about the factors that place your identity at a higher risk for theft
  • Knowledge about what information get placed on your credit reports and how this information can make either a positive or negative impact on your credit score
  • Knowledge about what your credit reports and credit scores are used for, who views them, and how they can be amended and corrected by you.

How do you Identity Thieves get your personal information?

Thieves, and especially identity thieves, will often go to extremes to get your information. They'll use several methods of stealing your personal information; and you may be surprised at some of the most common methods that they use to steal your information:

  • By posing as a business man or even a government official to talk you into giving them your personal information for some reason.
  • By going through your mail - or even filling out a change of address form with the US Postal Service to have your mail redirected to them.
  • Using a small digital camera or even a camera phone to take snapshots of your credit card, debit card, or personal checks while you are completing a transaction at a retail store
  • Sending you phishing emails that look legitimate are appear to be from a business you might trust and asking you to "respond immediately" about an account issue.
  • Sending you a more personal email from a friend's account asking you to download and play a movie or video.

Years ago, one of the best ways you could protect yourself from identity theft was to always keep your wallet in your pocket and only open emails from people you know. These methods are no longer enough as identity thieves have begun to develop new ways to steal your information.

And chances are, as the numbers of identity theft victims continue to rise, the current methods of protection will no doubt become just as obsolete. This is why it's so important for you to stay up to date with the latest identity theft and credit monitoring news available and trust that your identity theft risk management solution stays ahead of the game.

ID Guards gives you that advantage over the identity thieves. We constantly monitor your credit, financial accounts, and personal information to find risks, alert you to those risks, and then work with you to help you clear your good name before they can become problems. All the while, our focus remains on finding new and innovative methods of protecting your identity before the thieves can work around our current systems.