Maintaining a secure level of privacy online can be tricky. Sometimes, even when you’ve taken all of the necessary steps to protect yourself against hackers, phishers and cyber terrorists, your efforts may fall short to the advancement of technology and the creativity of these criminals.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) knows that becoming a victim of cybercrimes, such as identity theft, causes stress and damage to a person. The changes made to the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov website is designed to ease the recovery process by allowing you to create a custom identity theft recovery plan. It’s simplified into a step-by-step checklist to give you an more efficient recovery experience should you ever become a victim of identity theft.
The modifications to the site have made it:
- More Convenient
The website is now easily accessible using a mobile phone and/or mobile tablet. The site also includes the necessary documents you’ll need to notify the police, credit bureaus and IRS.
- More Personalized
The most important changes that come with this upgrade include the customized recovery process. Specific to the type of identity theft that you may be going through, the site will automatically generate government forms (i.e. affidavits, pre-fill letters, and other documentation) that you’ll need to send off to their relevant destinations.
- More Diverse
Both the website and government forms are available in Spanish. The oftentimes complicated language barrier disappears as Spanish-speakers are able to go through the process in Spanish, and print off their customized forms in English to send to the appropriate recipient.
Practicing online safety lowers your risk of becoming a victim of cyber-attacks. However, should you ever find yourself in a situation as unfortunate as this, there are ways to combat damage that has been done, and move along to ensure that it does not happen again.
To learn more about how the FTC and IdentityTheft.gov work to help consumers, you can watch this video.
For more information, visit the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov, OR IdentityTheft.gov.