PrivacyGuard is a company that specializes in protecting against identity theft. They offer pricing options that are easy to understand, with affordable monthly rates and extensive coverage for resolving fraudulent activity.
According to reviews, PrivacyGuard is known for providing exceptional customer service. This Connecticut-based company serves customers in all U.S. states except Iowa, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Regarding ID protection through PrivacyGuard, the most affordable plan starts at just $9.99 per month and includes up to $1,000,000 in coverage for resolving fraud incidents. It's important to note that this plan requires auto-renewal.
PrivacyGuard offers comprehensive protection and ensures a positive customer experience with its friendly service representatives
ID theft prevention
Credit monitoring
Identity recovery assistance
Identity theft insurance up to $1,000,000
Pros:
Exceptional customer service
Offers a cost-effective basic identity theft protection plan
The premium plan includes credit monitoring and fraud restoration services
Provides up to $1 million in identity theft insurance coverage
Cons:
Lack of a dedicated family plan option
Absence of social media monitoring
No provision for a free trial
The premium plan is on the expensive side
Plans & Pricing
ID Protection, $9.99/month: This plan doesn't include credit reports but provides key preventive features like dark web surveillance, SSN tracking, and ID verification monitoring. Subscribers also receive fraud resolution support and up to $1,000,000 in identity theft coverage.
Credit Protection, $19.99/month: This plan doesn't include some ID protection features like dark web monitoring but offers daily credit report monitoring from all three bureaus. PrivacyGuard provides fraud resolution support in case of ID theft and helps secure up to $1,000,000 for theft/damages.
Total Protection, $24.99/month: Total Protection combines the features of the two plans above, encompassing identity theft prevention, credit report monitoring, and fraud resolution. It includes a $1,000,000 insurance plan.
Our Methodology: How We Picked the Best Identity Theft Protection of 2023
Credit Agencies Monitored: We require monitoring from all three major credit bureaus 바카라“ Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, along with regular updates to both credit scores and reports.
Financial Areas Monitored: Our chosen service should oversee various financial aspects, including credit card, investment, and bank accounts, and monitoring for payday loans to safeguard our payment information.
Criminal Areas Monitored: We seek services with comprehensive coverage across criminal areas, including court records, local sex offender registries, and the dark web.
Identity Theft Insurance: We expect services to include identity theft insurance with a maximum reimbursement of $1 million, a common feature among policies.
Privacy Jurisdiction: While most services are based in the U.S., a Five Eyes member, we consider the company's privacy jurisdiction, especially for individuals highly concerned about privacy.
Privacy Policy: We conduct thorough reviews of each company's privacy policy to assess how they handle our personally identifiable information, ensuring it isn't shared with marketers for personalized advertising.
Encryption Method: We prioritize services that employ top-tier encryption standards such as AES-256 to protect our Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
App: When testing apps on iOS and Android platforms, we value intuitive usability and reliability, free from disruptive bugs.
Pricing: We aim to stay within a budget of at most $30 per month for our service and appreciate companies that offer discounts for annual subscriptions.
Customer Support: We value responsive customer support accessible via live chat, phone, or email, ideally offering all three channels for assistance with any technical issues.
Best Identity Theft Protection Services 바카라“ Buyer바카라™s Guide
What Is Identity Theft? Everything You Need to Know
Identity theft is a criminal act wherein an individual uses another person's personal data to engage in various activities such as making purchases, opening accounts, obtaining loans, and more. If your identity is stolen, you may face financial losses or legal consequences if the thief uses your name during an arrest. Resolving identity theft promptly is crucial; however, taking preventative measures to avoid it altogether is even better.
What Is Identity Theft Protection?
Identity theft protection encompasses various services that actively monitor an individual's personal information across various online and beyond platforms. These services include but aren바카라™t limited to credit applications, criminal records, and other areas on the Internet.
Credit Monitoring: Monitoring credit scores and reports are a valuable indicator of potential identity theft, mainly when detecting unfamiliar activities. For enhanced protection, select services provide credit scores and reports from all three major U.S. credit bureaus: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.
Identity Monitoring: Identity monitoring encompasses a wide range of areas, where your credentials are continuously scanned. This includes financial domains like bank accounts and criminal areas like court records. Most identity theft protection services leverage artificial intelligence to scan your personal information comprehensively.
How Does Identity Theft Protection Work?
Identity theft protection operates straightforwardly. Upon enrollment and payment for the service, identity theft protection services underwent an identity verification process involving simple multiple-choice questions.
The more information they furnished to the service provider, the better they could monitor potential fraudulent activities on our behalf. To enhance vigilance further, they configured notifications to receive alerts whenever their artificial intelligence software detected any unauthorized usage of our information.
Suppose they receive an alert notification from the service provider regarding any suspicious activity related to our data. In that case, they can access the app and review detailed reports about what happened. This platform offered us direct communication with identity restoration specialists who would assist us as necessary.
Is Identity Theft Protection Worth the Money?
In our professional perspective, investing in identity theft protection is a wise decision. Not all services are created equal. Before committing to any service, we strongly advise our comprehensive reviews on individual identity theft protection options. We have personally experienced and evaluated each service to save you valuable time and hard-earned money.
How Does Identity Theft Happen?
There are various manifestations of identity theft, and not all involve a nefarious hacker eagerly anticipating your password as you type it on the other side of the screen.
Phishing
Identity thieves can deceive individuals into divulging personal information through emails or text messages that appear to be from reputable establishments, such as banks, e-commerce platforms, social networking sites, or streaming services.
These deceptive messages, commonly called phishing attempts, typically prompt recipients to click on a hyperlink and promptly address issues like a restricted account or outdated payment details. They may also request the download of attachments that introduce harmful software onto one's device.
Formjacking
By utilizing formjacking, cyber criminals implant malicious code into authentic website forms to clandestinely duplicate your billing details or login credentials.
To ensure the security of the websites you access, it바카라™s crucial to verify that their URL starts with "https" and showcases a small lock symbol. However, it's important to note that this method isn바카라™t foolproof since advanced hackers can incorporate these safety measures into formjacked websites.
Physical Document Theft
Avoid keeping your Social Security card, passport, and other significant paperwork in your wallet, handbag, or vehicle unless necessary. Before discarding them, it바카라™s essential to shred any documents that contain personal details like bank statements and utility bills.
Synthetic Identity Theft
Cyber attackers can merge genuine personal details with fabricated information to establish new identities. This can involve using a legitimate Social Security number alongside an invented name when applying for financial loans, for instance.
Child Identity Theft
Scammers can steal a child's data and exploit it for their gain by initiating bank account openings, credit card applications, or loan requests. The insidious nature of child identity theft often remains undetected until many years later, when the victim attempts to secure employment, car insurance coverage, or obtain a fresh credit card.
The Technology Behind Identity Monitoring
Let's dive into the technical aspects. The primary components that drive most identity monitoring services are encryption and artificial intelligence (AI). Given that we entrust these services with sensitive personal information such as our Social Security numbers and home addresses, it바카라™s crucial that they securely store our data through encryption.
Encryption converts our data into incomprehensible text accessible only through our account. This ensures that the identity theft protection service does not inadvertently increase the theft risk, defeating its purpose.
Companies like Identity Guard leverage AI to monitor the internet and global landscape for potential threats continuously. In particular, Identity Guard uses IBM Watson® Artificial Intelligence to scan criminal and financial domains around the clock for personally identifiable information (PII) belonging to their users. As constant vigilance can be costly and exhausting for businesses, employing AI-powered robots offers a more efficient approach to identity monitoring.
In our comparisons, you can analyze Identity Guard against companies like Complete ID, IdentityForce, and InfoArmor. Delve into the details of the Identity Guard app, credit monitoring services offered by Identity Guard, the opportunity to avail of a free trial from Identity Guard, or explore how Identity Guard caters to spouses.
Can I Monitor My Own Identity? Identity Theft Protection Alternatives
Identity theft protection services aren바카라™t the sole means of preventing identity theft. The Federal Trade Commission offers a range of alternatives to consider,
Store important documents like credit cards, Social Security certificates, birth certificates, passports, and medicare cards in a secure location, and consider using a reliable home security system for added protection if needed.
Retrieve your mail promptly from your mailbox to prevent potential theft of your credentials.
Dispose of any papers containing personal information by shredding them immediately after use.
Maintain strong, complex, and unique passwords for each of your accounts.
Employ anti-phishing software to shield your accounts from unauthorized access.
Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) for added security when using public Wi-Fi networks.
Only disclose your Social Security number when necessary. Evaluate the necessity on a case-by-case basis.
Regularly monitor your credit scores and reports from all three major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Keep a close eye on your bank accounts and any other financial or medical accounts you may have.
Although there바카라™s no foolproof method to prevent identity theft, following these straightforward measures will decrease the likelihood of it happening.
Identity Theft Insurance
As mentioned, most identity theft protection companies include identity theft insurance as part of their subscription services. Usually, this provides users with reimbursement of up to $1 million if they become victims of identity theft. It's important to note that no individual or measure can eliminate the possibility of identity theft.
Even experts in digital security, such as ourselves, can have our credentials compromised and our identities stolen. This is precisely why identity theft insurance exists, it safeguards against such incidents. We appreciate that it바카라™s seamlessly integrated into most identity theft protection plans!
How to Report Identity Theft?
To report identity theft, commence the process by submitting a report to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) through IdentityTheft.gov or by dialing 1-877-438-4338. After completing the FTC report, it바카라™s advisable also to file a police report, especially if you have information about the perpetrator. When preparing to file a police report, gather the following documents:
A copy of your FTC Identity Theft Report, which serves as crucial documentation for identity recovery and informs businesses about the theft of your identity
A government-issued photo ID, such as your driver's license or passport
Your current physical address and supporting evidence of residence, such as a mortgage statement or utility bill
Documentation showing identity theft may include unfamiliar bills, recurring credit inquiries, notices from the IRS, and related evidence
Best Identity Theft Protection Services 바카라“ FAQs
How Do You Check to See if Someone Stole Your Identity?
According to the Federal Trade Commission, there are some signs that your identity has been stolen, such as
Unexplained withdrawals from your bank account
Receipt of calls regarding unfamiliar debts or bills
Missing or undelivered mail
Incorrect information appears on your medical records
Notification from the IRS indicating that a tax return has been filed under your name
Unfamiliar alterations in your credit score or credit report
How Can I Monitor My Credit for Identity Theft?
One can use various methods to keep track of their credit and protect against identity theft. One option is subscribing to a credit or identity monitoring service such as Experian or LifeLock. Alternatively, you can access your credit reports at no cost through annualcreditreport.com.
It바카라™s crucial to review the reports from the three major credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Look for unknown accounts, bankruptcies, judgments, or other suspicious activities that may indicate potential fraud.
Should You Get Identity Theft Protection?
Regardless of age, financial status, credit history, or other considerations, we firmly believe everyone should have access to identity theft protection. Our personal information is vulnerable and can be easily stolen through various means, such as lost wallets or phishing scams.
While it's impossible to eliminate the risk of identity theft, having a reliable protection service can promptly alert you when suspicious activities are detected and even offer insurance coverage in case your identity is compromised.
Final Thoughts
A top-notch service for safeguarding against identity theft should provide a wide range of monitoring services for identity and credit, along with a robust package for restoring one's identity. It should include extra cybersecurity tools.
We assessed each provider's alert and monitoring services, policies on reimbursement, customer support quality policies, and cybersecurity software to determine which companies offer the most effective protection against identity theft. Some notable examples are LifeLock, ReliaShield, and Aura.
Disclaimer: The above is a sponsored post, the views expressed are those of the sponsor/author and do not represent the stand and views of Outlook Editorial.
