Review your recent transactions at least once or twice a week by looking at your checking, savings and credit card accounts online. This is the best way to look out for and prevent fraud in your accounts. Sometimes a fraudster will make one small purchase to test whether it will go through unnoticed before moving on to larger purchases. If you regularly check your accounts, you could catch these small purchases before the larger ones are made. You can also monitor any auto-deductions you might have authorized and ensure they are carried through correctly.

Per federal law, you are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the national credit-reporting agencies. View your credit report for free at annualcreditreport.com. Include a reminder on your calendar so you won’t forget to make the annual request.

United Bank takes identity theft seriously and has a web page for your use and review about protecting yourself against fraudulent scams, Internet malware, telephone scams, payment fraud, at home and more. 

It’s recommended you change your passwords every six to 12 months. Think of uncommon answers to the security questions, and don’t list the names of your pets, your Social Security number or your mobile number. Think of combinations of numbers, symbols and words. 

To protect yourself, your business and your customers, it’s necessary that you shred any documents containing personal information as soon as they are no longer needed.

Per Consumer Affairs, enrolling in an identity theft protection service can help consumers identify abnormal activity regarding their credit cards, bank accounts, Social Security information and more, as well as help them repair and resolve issues related to identity theft. There are different types of service offerings related to identity theft protection, including credit monitoring, ID theft prevention, ID theft repair and full-service ID theft protection. You can choose solely credit monitoring or Social Security number monitoring, or opt for more comprehensive monitoring that includes finances, credit cards, medical history and more.  

If your identity has been stolen or if you’re simply looking to protect yourself from ID theft, consider placing a credit freeze, also called a security freeze, on your credit report. This won’t allow lenders and creditors to pull your credit report or credit score, and applications for credit will be denied because a credit check would be required. See the Federal Trade Commission website for more information on how to place a freeze on your credit reports through all three nationwide credit-reporting companies.

A fraud alert can be placed on your credit report, at no charge, so that creditors will take added precautions to verify your identity before extending credit. Contact one of the nationwide credit-reporting companies to initiate one of these.

While your employer might have a secure network, it’s still safer to avoid checking your accounts on your work computer. Wherever you log into accounts, protect your online info by clearing logins and passwords.

You never know if you’re being watched, so take extra precaution and use an ATM in a secure location, such as inside a bank branch or isolated ATM in your bank’s parking area during business hours. 

Be more disciplined with your spending and opt out of overdraft protection. If a large, fraudulent transaction comes through on your credit or debit card without your knowledge, it could overdraw your account. But if you don’t have overdraft protection, then the transaction is likely to be declined instead.

Something you might not have thought about is to verify your mailing address with the post office or your financial institutions. Identity thieves could complete change of address forms under your name so that you are unaware of any new credit lines or delinquent credit notices.