1 Simple Step to STOP Identity Theft (10 min!)

This is an excellent guide, but it only applies to the USA. In the UK only Experian will allow you to freeze or 'lock' your credit report and only as part of their expensive paid-for subscription service. The reality is the credit agencies are data brokers who sell your private data for profit and are part of the Identity Theft problem by making it hard, impossible or a for-profit service to force them to protect your own private data. It's frankly disgusting that they do not offer the same protections to their global customers as they are required to by law in the US. This hypocrisy especially applies to Equifax, who were fined £ 11 million by the UK Information Commissioners Office for illegal mishandling and a data breach involving the private data of 15.2 million UK consumers.

Incorrect. Many if not most EU countries, but for sure France, do NOT have anything like a "Credit Rating" or "credit bureaus". It simply doesn't exist. That's mostly an US invention. In France for instance, your ability to borrow from your bank is completely dependent and assessed on your income level, which to a great amount is related to your education level. As in if your education level potentially gives you access to higher paying jobs then you will be deemed more likely to be able to pay back higher level loans. In general the French carry a dramatically lower level of debt than US citizens, and their debt is mostly mortgage related. Even credit cards are much less commonly used in France and your bank debit card is used 90% of the time. In general, the French are very reluctant to get in debt.

I'm working with a Credit Monitoring Co. & he said but a fraud alert first & then a freeze. Huh? Once I went with Equifax Credit monitoring & had the worst experience. When I would call they switch my personal information to themselves so it was like they get credit. This was when Equifax was hacked back in 2017, Feb. Tell me how does the most important security business get hacked? I say it was allowed.

You're a genius 🤔 the hairs on my head have changed from Gray to Black! The sun is shining again! 🥲 I've got a golden ticket! 🎼 If everyone in the country did this we would all be free to get that much-needed sleep. 🙂‍↕️ I will follow your advice immediately and then I will go and frolic through the park, and I'm not joking I am going to frolic, actually might be more of a hobble since my Walker doesn't have wheels. 🤫

How do you know they already have your information?

I froze my credit today, 9/15/24.

NO! Mr Summers did not read the terms of use, privacy notice, and how they use your data. He just ticked the box. If you take the trouble to do this, then you might have second thoughts, because they do sell your data to a very long list of all the usual suspects. That is why the account is "free". It takes a long time to read the material, and makes very uncomfortable reading for anybody who wants privacy and security. Also, outside the United States, you have to answer a long list of very personal (and totally unnecessary) questions about your income, value of property, savings, investments, children, and these agencies state very clearly that they will "share" this information with their "partners" for "marketing purposes", and you agree to this by opening an account with them. This is not good at all.

my options look completely different. if i type in the URL for the freeze section i hit a Whitelabel Error Page

It is critical to freeze your credit at all three credit bureaus. I had done this previously and recently started recieving phone calls spoofed to look like credit card companies we deal with (l don't answer unknown callers). They give different spiels but I know my credit is frozen. I hang up and go check the accounts myself for fraudulent activity.

Thank you!!!

But if they have your info they can easily reopen right?

About time to get a flip phone & ditch smart anything. This is ruining everything.

Great info! I would add one very important step to this process. Check your credit report/score (usually free) for suspicious transactions during the process of freezing your credit. You need to check (at a minimum) the big three credit bureaus. There is a fourth, but I always forget the name. For example, make sure all credit accounts, loans and mortgages are yours! Scammers may have opened a credit card, bought a car or gotten a mortgage under your name and you would never know unless you check your report. Freezing your credit will prevent this.
I’ve had my credit frozen since 2016 and haven’t had an issue since, despite knowing all my info is on the dark web. Knock on wood.

Well damn, I tried registering an account on Equifax to place a freeze, and their account registration is broken — it throws me to an error page on the FIRST STEP, after entering my personal information, telling me to contact customer support.

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What if you've never opened up a credit card before? What do you do then?

at the imposter crooks house?
while br"i"an didnt get a meal on easter,....
im just chewin on slimjimz

and his filthy rich crook family is at the galvin

Does freezing your credit effect your credit score at all?

When freezing my account on Experian I got a pop-up in the right hand corner of my computer screen that said success and I said I did not get the option to print anything off… how do I get that pdf for Experian? Is there somewhere I can find it.

Edit:
The same thing happened with Trans Union I didn’t get any type of PDF to download just a page that says freeze outage thank you for your request of recess now in place.

I hope I never need the pdf for these 2 sites to unfreeze.

In today's digital age, identity theft has become an increasingly prevalent issue that can seriously affect individuals. We highly recommend using Searchbug's background check and SSN and last name match tools to protect your identity and prevent identity theft. 🙂

And if we live in Latin America? It works?

Find it a lil ironic that I have to subscribe to an email list to get your free checklist

And if you are victim, how do you fix it

Great video, got so distracted with the algorithm blurring out your stubble though lol

Thank you so much!!

One big word of caution. If you place a freeze on your accounts your insurance premiums may go up. I went through this before. I placed a freeze and then over a year saw my car insurance premiums slowly go up. It turns out that the insurance company was trying to get my credit score (in the background, or w/o notifying me) and failed; and then automatically increased my premiums.

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I would like to know how my sister was able to delete her massages and texts from my email and phone?

That helps

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