With so many natural disasters in the news, it’s hard to imagine people taking advantage of and even committing crimes against victims, but it does happen. One ProtectMyID member learned this lesson the hard way.

The Five Things You Should Do When You Lose Your Wallet By Nikki Junker, Identity Theft Resource Center While a lost or stolen wallet may simply mean the loss of your cash and credit cards, it may also be the beginning of an identity theft case. Hope for the best while taking steps to reduce your risk of identity theft. The return of the item does not guarantee that cards were not copied, so you need to proceed as if the items were stolen. Here are the top 5 things that should be done as soon as the loss of a wallet has been discovered.

The purpose of this blog series is to educate people about the ways that identities are stolen. Keep in mind, these stories are true (although I have omitted specific details for our members’ protection) and are described by our Identity Theft Resolution Agents. As you read these stories, think about ways that you can protect yourself from identity theft.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s website is a valuable resource. It has a lot of information about many different types of identity theft that we at ProtectMyID want to share with our readers. Once a month, we’ll highlight a news announcement, article, alert, or other item from the FBI website about identity theft so you can learn more about how this crime is perpetrated.

As someone who has worked for ProtectMyID for several years, oftentimes I am asked how people can learn more about the brand or interact with it. The purpose of this post is to answer that question!

Recently a friend was concerned about her credit after several new credit cards arrived in the mail. The credit cards were for various companies and the consumer had never applied for any of them. Unfortunately, this happens quite a bit.

Dealing with the loss of a loved one is a difficult event for anyone to go through. Not only is there the initial loss, but having to sort through personal things can be just as painful. What can add to the pain is discovering that the dead person’s identity has been stolen.

By Nikki Junker, Identity Theft Resource Center How many times have you opened your wallet just to have an endless number of receipts fall out or been unable to successfully close it due to the number of credit and store cards? While a lost or stolen wallet may simply mean the loss of your cash, credit cards and family pictures, it may also be the beginning of an identity theft case.

I’ll admit it; I’ve lost my wallet before. I’ve been one of the lucky people who quickly realized it was missing and found it without any negative consequences. I’ve also had my wallet stolen in a foreign country. That one took a bit longer to clean up. It was the end of a long day as I boarded a crowded tram in Belgium. A group of active adolescents surrounded and separated me from my friend. They jostled me around for a bit as I tried to exit their tightly interlinked circle. It took a few scary seconds and some intervention from other passengers, but I was finally freed and the boys quickly ran away. Dazed, it took me a moment to realize they’d taken my wallet in the shuffle. If I’d had the list below when that happened, it would have saved me several hours of worry and calls. So, dear readers, below is a lost wallet checklist to help you if your wallet is ever lost or stolen.