If your country supports credit freezes, consider freezing reports at the major credit bureaus. This can make it harder for criminals to open new credit in your name while still allowing you to temporarily lift the freeze when needed.

Turn on alerts for card-not-present payments, withdrawals, transfers, new payees, credit inquiries, and profile changes. Fast alerts reduce the time criminals have before you notice.

Use virtual or merchant-locked cards for subscriptions, trials, lesser known shops, and travel. Set spending limits where possible and close cards after one-time use.

Use aliases, secondary phone numbers, or separate email addresses for shopping, public profiles, domains, newsletters, and high-value accounts. This limits correlation and makes targeted scams easier to spot.

Search for your name, phone, email, and address on people-search and data broker sites. Remove listings manually or with a reputable removal service, especially if you face harassment, stalking, or targeted scams.

Secure tax, benefits, healthcare, immigration, and government identity portals with strong MFA. Criminals can use these accounts for refunds, benefits fraud, address changes, or sensitive document access.

When uploading ID, proof of address, or financial documents, add a visible watermark naming the recipient and date. This can discourage reuse and helps trace where a leaked copy came from.

Keep offline copies of IDs, account support numbers, credit bureau links, insurance details, and recovery instructions. Include what to freeze, report, and replace if your wallet, phone, or documents are stolen.