Social Security's top five ways to protect against identity theft

Identity theft is when someone uses your personal information to impersonate you or steal from you. It is important that you stay safe online. Please review these data privacy and identity protection resources:

1. A great online resource is http://www.ssa.gov/myaccount. You can visit this page to open a secure my Social Security account, keep track of your earnings record, and identify any suspicious activity.

2. Our blog post, Protect Yourself from Identity Thieves, helps you understand how to spot, prevent, and report identity theft. You can check out this blog at blog.ssa.gov/protect-yourself-from-identity-thieves.

3. In our blog post, Protect Your Online Identity with Strong Passwords, we encourage better password habits to keep online data and accounts safe and secure. You can check out this blog for tips to help make sure passwords are strong at blog.ssa.gov/protect-your-online-identity-with-strong-passwords.

4. Our blog post, Protecting Yourself from QR Code Fraud, provides details to help safeguard from using Quick Response (QR) codes that may compromise your personal information. You can read this blog at blog.ssa.gov/protecting-yourself-from-qr-code-fraud.

5. Fraudsters use Social Security scams to mislead victims into making cash, gift card, or wire transfer payments to fix alleged Social Security number problems. Learn how to spot scams, check out our blog post Social Security’s Top 5 Scam Awareness Articles at blog.ssa.gov/social-securitys-top-5-scam-awareness-articles.

We encourage you to help protect your vital information. Please share these resources with your loved ones.