When you think of identity theft, there are typically two things that people associate it with: hackers and credit cards. However, while identity theft involves both of those things, it is also a much bigger issue than just the funny insurance commercials you see on television.
When a hacker steals your identity, they have access to every single part of you: including your house. You might have home insurance, but that only protects your house against disasters not you.
In 2019 alone, Americans lost more than 160 million to identity theft. These people use easily accessible public data to impersonate you. One of the biggest databases is your public property records. Hackers take this data and turn it into forged deeds for your own property and you may never know.
Many homeowners who have had their identity stolen don’t find out until they are trying to sell the house and find that they no longer have the right to transfer ownership. Some unlucky victims of identity theft find out that they have been taken advantage of when they receive a letter indicating foreclosure from their lender.
Once these situations escalate to this point there is not much that can be done to protect the owner. That is why knowing where your data is is imperative to protecting it. Hackers can be anyone - even relatives.
Services like Home Title Lock allow you as a homeowner to feel secure, knowing that your data is protected from home title fraud. Title Insurance is necessary in the digital age to feel comfortable in your own space: both in the real world and the online one. Title insurance does the work of protecting your home against and past issues with fraud or bad claims.
While Title Insurance protects your property's past, it is up to you to save its future. Identity theft can take many forms so look for the common red flags. These include protecting personal data, reviewing transaction statements, and keeping track of where your bills and other important documents are at all times. While hackers may seem smarter than you, by taking necessary precautions you can outsmart them.