Have You Noticed Missing Information?

Do you think that your email or other online account has hacked? Have you recently received a notification saying your information was exposed in a data breach? Worse, did you lose your wallet lately?

Depending on where your information, there are some things you can take to help protect against identity theft.

Social Security number

If a company responsible for exposing your information offers you free credit monitoring, take advantage of it.

Get your free credit reports from annualcreditreport.com. Check for any accounts or charges you don’t recognize.

Consider placing a credit freeze. A credit freeze makes it harder for someone to open a new account in your name.

Don’t believe anyone who calls and says you’ll be arrested unless you pay for taxes or debt — even if they have part or all of your Social Security number, or they say they’re from the IRS.

Continue to check your credit reports at annualcreditreport.com. You can order a free report from each of the three credit reporting companies once a year.

Online login or password

If you can’t log in, contact the company. Ask them how you can recover or shut down the account.

If you use the same password anywhere else, change that, too.

Is it a financial site, or is your credit card number stored? Check your account for any charges that you don’t recognize.

Debit or credit card number

Contact your bank or credit card company to cancel your card and request a new one.

Review your transactions regularly. Make sure no one misused your card.

If you find fraudulent charges, call the fraud department and get them removed.

If you have automatic payments set up, update them with your new card number.

Check your credit report at annualcreditreport.com.

Bank account information

Contact your bank to close the account and open a new one.

Review your transactions regularly to make sure no one misused your account.

If you find fraudulent charges or withdrawals, call the fraud department and get them removed.

If you have automatic payments set up, update them with your new bank account information.

Check your credit report at annualcreditreport.com.

Driver’s license information

Contact your nearest motor vehicles branch to report a lost or stolen driver’s license. The state might flag your license number in case someone else tries to use it, or they might suggest that you apply for a duplicate.

Check your credit report at annualcreditreport.com.