Identity theft – prevention and damage control

13. April 2026

Identity theft doesn’t just affect celebrities

Identity theft means that someone uses your personal details (name, address, date of birth, email address, banking details) to impersonate you in order to gain e.g. financial advantages.  

This could mean that someone signs a mobile phone contract in your name and uses the phone number for criminal activities without your knowledge. You might not even notice the phone charges being debited from your account. Or someone orders products to a different address but you receive the bill.

That data may have come from a leaked database, a phishing email you clicked on years ago, or a data breach at a company you’d almost forgotten you had an account with.

The real problem is that most people have no idea their data is already compromised. That is why a quick check can go a long way.

We recommend these two steps:

Step 1: “Have I Been Pwned?”

There are free services that list stolen, publicly available identity details. One of the biggest is called “Have I Been Pwned” (haveibeenpwned.com).

You simply enter your email address, and it tells you whether that address has appeared in any known data breach. It takes about 30 seconds. We recommend everyone check this today.

If it turns out that your email address has been compromised:

  • Change the passwords on any accounts linked to that email address
  • and enable two-factor authentication for as many services as possible.

You can also register your email address and be notified automatically in the future (https://haveibeenpwned.com/NotifyMe).

Step 2: Register your details to enforce additional identity checks

There are also services available to protect you from identity theft and its consequences. In UK, for example, Cifas (cifas.org.uk) offers this kind of protection:

  • By registering for their protective registration service, you place a warning flag against your name in their National Fraud Database.
  • From that point on, any lender, bank or financial provider that is a CIFAS member is required to carry out extra identity checks before processing any application in your name.
  • A fraudster trying to take out a loan using your details will hit a wall: the lender will try to reach you directly to verify the application is genuine.

This service costs £30 for two years; comparable services in other countries are free or similarly priced.

For example, go to

Summary:
Personal data that has been leaked can be misused for a long period of time after the original breach took place. Two simple steps can make a real difference: Check your email address and consider registering your details with a service specializing in identity protection.