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Three Easy Ways to Help Protect Yourself from Fraud and Identity Theft

Last Updated: October 24, 2024

2 min read

Table of contents

Key Points:

Regularly checking your credit report can help detect items that may point to fraud.
Strong login practices (unique passwords and two-factor authentication) can boost account security.
Reviewing your monthly credit card statement is one way to spot fraudulent charges.

In recent years, information security and identity theft have become top headlines in the news. And no wonder—data provided by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shows that Americans lost more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023. That’s a 14% increase from losses in 2022.

Here are three ways you can protect your sensitive information from credit card fraud schemes and identity thieves.

1. Know your credit score

Many people only find out they’ve become a victim of identity theft after they’ve had a loan or credit application rejected. Consider being proactive by regularly checking your credit report and score for irregular activity and changes. A little credit monitoring can spot fraudulent accounts and suspicious activity and help you limit damage to your credit.

Federal law allows you to receive one free credit report every 12 months from each of the three major credit reporting agencies. The FTC reports that the three credit bureaus have permanently extended the program to include one free report per week.

You can request your free credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com (the only website authorized by the federal government). Additionally, you can ask for a free credit report within 60 days of being denied credit.

2. Strengthen your passwords

It can be difficult to manage the login information for all your online accounts, but you still shouldn’t have simple passwords or reuse the same ones for multiple websites.

Using a password manager helps to protect your credentials from thieves.

Another good option is to enable multi-factor authentication to help keep your accounts safe even if scammers have stolen your password. Multi-factor authentication requires a one-time use code that’s sent to your smartphone before anyone can log in to your account from a new device.

3. Scrutinize your credit card statements

Tracking your credit card spending is a great way to detect fraudulent activity and stop fraudsters in their tracks. By thoroughly checking your monthly billing statements, you can look for purchases you don’t recognize and report any suspicious activities to your credit card company. You can also report such activities to the FTC.

Did you know?

The Fair Credit Billing Act limits your liability to a $50 maximum in the case of fraud. And some credit card issuers have additional policies to protect cardmembers. For example, at Discover, you’re never held responsible for unauthorized purchases on your Discover Card.¹

Cybercriminals change their tactics all the time, but by taking these three proactive steps, you can help protect yourself from credit card fraud and keep your information—and your financial life—as secure as possible.

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