You need to sign up to a dedicated service from a recognizable brand with a good reputation, especially if you want help you can trust with identity theft issues. For us at AVG, it’s simply a case of you visiting the AVG website, selecting an AVG Secure Identity plan, and signing up. As a part of this plan, we search the dark web for potential exposure of your personal data. This includes credit card numbers, emails addresses, and passwords.

The main thing is to act fast if someone steals your identity. File a police report, contact the Federal Trade Commission, and freeze your accounts. You can also contact credit bureaus to make them aware of any fraud. Becoming a victim of identity theft can be stressful. We can make both discovery and recovery from it easier if bad luck strikes, providing that you’re already subscribed to one of our AVG Secure Identity plans.

Not only do we check the internet thoroughly for any leaks to your sensitive data and alert you — you get 24/7 access to specialist support for your case if someone steals your identity. This also includes reimbursing you with up to $1 million in the event of financial loss due to fraud.

The best way for you to prevent identity theft is to be careful with data like payment information and to pay more attention to how you’re using it, where, and when. Use strong, unique passwords for online accounts. And avoid sharing sensitive information over the phone or online, especially with people representing organizations that you’ve never seen or heard of before.

Be wary of suspicious links or emails, and consider signing up as a subscriber to an identity theft protection service for support with detecting issues, advice with how to deal with them, and support with the recovery process. AVG Secure Identity can do it all, plus you could get up to $1 million in reimbursement if identity theft causes you financial loss.

It’s best to start by checking the most obvious things in your day-to-day life. For example, monitor your finances for transactions you didn’t do yourself and check your credit report for any strange activity. If you subscribe to AVG Secure Identity, we can monitor the dark web for any personal information of yours that’s potentially fallen into the wrong hands. This includes credit monitoring to help you detect odd financial activity faster, plus much more with our identity theft protection plans.

Signs your identity is stolen may include unauthorized bank or payment card transactions or unusual activity on your credit report. You may also get odd, unexpected calls from financial services organizations or government agencies. If you suspect any fraudulent activity, seek help from the authorities and financial experts. That said, you can put yourself in a much better position to prevent future identity theft and it’s potential consequences if you subscribe to a identity protection service like AVG Secure Identity today.