What Is Identity Theft Monitoring?

In 2021 alone, the FTC received 1.4 million reports of identity theft.¹ Identity theft occurs when personal information is stolen and used without the individual’s knowledge to commit fraud or other crimes. Not only can this crime tarnish the affected individual’s credit history and name, but rectifying the problem can cost time, money, and a great deal of effort.

 
According to Justice.gov, the best way to protect yourself against identity theft is through measures such as:²

• Carefully safeguarding your information.
• Routinely monitoring all financial account activity and billing statements.
• Defending against identity theft as soon as it is suspected.

One place people are increasingly turning to for help safeguarding their personal information is an identity theft monitoring service.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), identity monitoring services, also known as identity theft protection services, monitor an individual’s personally identifiable information on websites, credit applications, public records, and any other places where unusual activity could indicate identity theft.³ For example, an identity monitoring service might alert you if a thief attempts to open a credit account in your name, or if your personal information is compromised and appears somewhere on the web.

Identity monitoring services are often linked to credit monitoring services that regularly check an individual’s credit activity for suspicious activity, such as applications for new credit accounts or logging into a credit account from an unusual location.

 
Credit card issuers, banks, and other third party companies may offer identity monitoring services.

Identity monitoring is a reactive, not proactive service, meaning it doesn’t automatically prevent personal information from being compromised. Instead, it aims to rapidly alert you if such information is exposed or used suspiciously. These tools can help you get a jump on any potential ID theft-related problems by quickly alerting you to issues that you may not come across simply by monitoring your accounts and credit reports, such as compromised account information being shared on the dark web.

Combined with best practices to prevent identity theft – such as safeguarding personal information, using secure networks, and using long, unique passwords – identity monitoring can help individuals strengthen their identity theft protection capabilities.

You may be extremely cautious with your own personal information. But as more and more sensitive information is stored online, the more likely it is that the information could be compromised. Anything from a credit card number and address saved at a retail store’s website, to a Social Security number associated with a health insurance plan or tax prep account, could end up in the wrong hands if a data breach were to occur.

While many organizations continually work to build impenetrable security solutions, many cybersecurity experts agree that some breaches are inevitable. So, it’s wise to safeguard yourself against all possibilities. Identity monitoring can help give you peace of mind by immediately alerting you to any suspicious activity. Then, you can quickly take action to protect yourself, whether by changing passwords, disputing fraudulent activity, or freezing your credit, for instance.

American Express^® MyCredit Guide is a free service that lets you check your FICO^® Score and Experian^® credit report. (FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.) Once you enroll in MyCredit Guide, you’ll be alerted if there are any changes to your credit report – including new accounts opened, new inquiries, changes of address and more. This could help to alert you to potential signs of identity theft.

In addition, ID Monitoring from MyCredit Guide keeps an eye on your profile information across a range of internet sites. If the service detects that your profile information has been exposed or compromised, you’ll receive an alert so you can proactively address the situation.

ID Monitoring from MyCredit Guide scans certain internet sites on the Surface Web, Deep Web, and Dark Web. The Surface Web is made up of the websites indexed by typical search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The Deep Web consists of the part of the internet that isn’t indexed by common search engines, while the Dark Web consists of websites whose IP addresses are encrypted or hidden.

  
If the ID Monitoring service detects that your profile information (such as your first name, last name, Social Security number, date of birth, email address or primary address) has been compromised or exposed, MyCredit Guide will send you an alert to inform you of the specific accounts exposed, a description of what was found, as well as recommendations for actions you can take to help secure your data and identity – and help to prevent identity theft.

If you have an existing MyCredit Guide account, ID Monitoring Alerts are also available in addition to any credit alerts you may already receive.