It’s not uncommon for people who live in the United States to leave the country for various periods. Whether you travel for college, go on vacation, or accept a job overseas, leaving the country is common for many US citizens. Whatever you’re planning to do outside the country, you want to keep yourself as safe as possible. Let’s look at a few different ways to protect yourself from identity theft abroad.
Keep Sensitive Data Secure
Many people may associate sensitive data breaches with a big website’s data loss or with using the dark web. However, data breaches can happen for other reasons as well. For example, if you leave your passport or ID out on a public table. This is why it’s imperative to keep track of your sensitive data, no matter where you are.
Physical breaches are not the only thing you should be aware of. Online breaches can easily happen as well. If you get news that an American company has had a data breach, you’ll also want to take precautions. Keeping track of your sensitive data is a critical element of the process.
Keep Important Documents Separated
When you are storing your important files, like your birth certificate, passport, ID, and more, it’s important that you don’t store them all in one place. Keeping all these documents together makes it much easier for someone to steal your identity quickly. Alternatively, you’ll want to store these documents in separate places.
This also applies to when you are leaving your home with these documents. If you are going out, store them in different places on your person. Don’t keep everything in your wallet. Instead, keep them in separate pockets, bags, or even ask someone else to carry one.
Turn on Automatic Alerts for Important Accounts
One of the easiest ways to know if you are being hacked or scammed is by turning on automatic alerts for your accounts. If you have an online bank account, credit card, overseas bank account, and a savings account, it can be hard to keep track of it all. This is where automatic alerts come in handy.
You can turn on automatic alerts for your accounts so you can see every time someone makes a purchase, and if you have a credit score account, you can see if someone tries applying for a line of credit. These alerts can help you stop someone from using your accounts quickly.
Watch Your Data in the United States
Even if you are out of the country, your data can still be stolen in the United States. That said, some scammers search for people outside of the country, hoping that they won’t notice if something happens to their account. You can easily keep an eye on your data inside the United States by using PeopleFinders.
All you have to do is perform a people search on yourself every now and again. This will give you basic information about your own data in the US. If you do a people search on yourself and some of the information is off, someone may be trying to alter your data.
Final Thoughts
Whether you are outside the United States for work, school, or vacation, it’s important to keep your information safe. If you think you are experiencing identity theft, use tools like PeopleFinders to ensure your personal information is not changing.