Identity Theft: An Example

A common identity theft scenario looks like the following:

  1. A bad actor pieces together information about you using publicly available information from data brokers and data breaches.
  2. If they can't find or guess your credentials through breaches or the dark web, they call your bank impersonating you, using the information they've successfully gleaned from online, getting the bank to verify your identity or change your credentials.
  3. They open credit cards in your name, leaving you with the bill.

While banks and other institutions are continually enhancing their security, they don't want to inconvenience their customers too much, and AI is making attacks easier. Identity theft has increased since the internet became widespread and is projected to keep increasing for the foreseeable future.

How Credit Monitoring Helps

Credit monitoring services work with Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion to continually check for activity that could indicate identity theft, such as an application to open a new credit card. They then send real-time alerts for their users to indicate whether they were the ones taking the action. This is the fastest way to stop any actual instances of identity theft before they escalate.

Even if you have $1M identity theft insurance with white glove service to recover assets and restore your identity, catching identity theft ASAP helps you:

  1. Minimize the time you spend issuing claims and doing follow-up that the service can't do on your behalf
  2. Reduce how much money you lose before it's recovered
  3. Reduce the negative impact on your credit score
  4. Reduce the risk of needing to secure new identity documents
  5. Minimize stress

Where Keenly Comes In

Credit monitoring and alerts are coming soon to Keenly.

Keenly is built by the same team that built Kikoff, an app that has helped 1M+ consumers build their credit. This means that the team has relationships with the three major credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—and has built the technology to monitor consumers' credit in real-time and send sensitive alerts.

Try Keenly today.