I received a phone call as I was leaving a friend’s apartment. The call came in on caller ID as a call from my bank. Even the bank logo came up. The person on the other end said they were from the fraud department of the bank and they were calling because they noticed some suspicious activity on my account.
Of course they had to ask some “security questions” to make sure they were talking to the right person. At first I really thought it was legitimate, but after a while it seemed like they were asking for too much info so, with them still on the line, I headed to the bank to make sure it was legit.
The call ended shortly before I arrived at the bank. Once I arrived and explained the situation to the bank they determined it was not legitimate. All our funds had been taken from our account.
The bank closed that account immediately, but the caller had my social sec number. I then subscribed to Lifelock. I highly recommend it if you have had any notices of your data being a part of any data breach. It’s about $30 monthly, but it’s better than losing all your funds or even the title to your house!
Here is a site to check to see if your data has been compromised. https://npd.pentester.com/. (Thanks to a friend for sharing that site with me)
Here is the official government website for information about identity theft. https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-central
Here are some options for securing your data.
I looked at several lists of the best Identity Theft Protection and these three stood out from the crowd in each list
Here is what Top10.com says about them.
Award-Winning Security
Aura -Complete solution that protects you from fraud & identity theft
3-bureau credit monitoring and credit reports
Up to $5 million identity theft insurance
Antivirus, VPN and password manager
Summer Sale: Get up to 75% off
exceptional
9.8
LifeLock -All-inclusive identity theft protection for you and your family
60-day money-back guarantee
Up to $1M reimbursement
Enroll in minutes
excellent
9.3
Identity Guard -Award-winning solution made to protect you and your family
60-day money-back guarantee
Dark web monitoring & SSN alerts
Up to 40% off Total & Ultra Annual Plans only
excellent
9.1
So be on your guard at all times. If you get any calls or emails saying that your account/accounts/ have been compromised. DO NOT CONVERSE WITH THEM by phone or email or any other means of communication. Go to the source of the supposed compromised account (your bank, the normal website where you pay your bill, call the phone number on your bill) to get accurate information.
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