You are likely to experience identity theft when moving to another country. This is because you connect to many points during relocation, like the airport, hotels, and travel agents. You might want to send copies of your work, travel, and financial documents. You may want to connect to public Wi-Fi to transfer money, pay for travel, or make purchases.

You become a prime target because you haven’t learned the local cybersecurity challenges. Protect your digital life through measures like VPNs, 2FAs, and a password manager. Monitor your accounts by setting up alerts and stopping suspicious activities. Protect your physical travel documents and devices from theft.

Why are you prone to identity theft problems during international relocation?

You carry many identification and financial documents when traveling abroad. You also engage in a lot of transactions before, during, and after travel. Your paperwork may include healthcare insurance, licenses, a visa, a passport, etc. You are also new to the online systems in your new country. You might get distracted, stressed, and forget to protect your identity. These things make you vulnerable, and cybercriminals desire to take advantage of this and steal from you.

You should not only protect your travel documents, like your visa and passport, alone but your protection should also include your digital life, phones, and computers. Understand iPhone security breach indicators and the right steps to take. You can protect your identity and prevent data loss the moment you learn how to tell if your phone is hacked. Check for signs like unknown apps, fast battery drain, and strange website redirects. These are signs that you might be an identity theft victim, and you must be ready to act.

What should you do to protect your identity during international travel?

You need many things when preparing to relocate to another country. You may require a new house, a school, a flight booking agent, and local transportation. True Identity Protect is the solution you need to prevent data theft and scams. Here are ways to protect your identity during international travel.

Understand the risks you could be exposed to abroad

Countries have different online security rules, and these laws directly or indirectly affect you. Take precautions for passport identity theft protection from cybercriminals. Your vulnerabilities increase while abroad, and common risks may include the following:

• Job and house scams – Fake websites may promise lucrative jobs just to defraud your money. Fake agents may also steal from you, promising good houses to rent.

• Hacking at public Wi-Fi – Public Wi-Fi is a common spot where you could be targeted abroad. Connect through a VPN and confirm if a network is official.

• Mail theft – You could be receiving your bills through your new mailbox in the new country. Thieves may steal your mail and use it to get your financial data.

• Phishing – Hackers and scammers send you emails or SMS and pretend to be your new bankers. Some may pretend to be immigration officers and request your information.

Protect your physical documents

You can prevent many identity theft problems by simply protecting your physical documents. Only carry the documents that you need most and lock the rest at home or dorm if you are a student. Check the papers you no longer need, like bills and hotel receipts, and destroy them. Do not expose your documents, but store them securely in a bag and lock them.

Stay alert to incidents and act fast

Many people lose all their data or money because they fail to stay alert to the things happening online and around them. Although you have protected your accounts, monitor every ongoing activity. Beware of your physical surroundings and be sensitive to your physical security.

If your local banker allows setting up alerts, do so to make sure you receive transaction notifications. Monitor your services like internet, TV, and banking for suspicious billing. Report such incidents to your providers and make sure you get help.

Take digital data protection measures

Your digital space is your greatest point of vulnerability whenever you connect to the internet. You could get exposed when you connect to online stores to shop or pay for services. Many people experience passport identity theft a few days or months after relocation. Several measures like these can help protect your data privacy abroad:

• Always connect via a VPN – VPNs are built to hide your identity and encrypt your internet connection. Hackers cannot track your online activities or hack when connected this way.

• Create unique passwords – Common passwords expose you to hacking and data identity theft. Prevent such experiences by creating the strongest passwords for your accounts.

• Software updates – Update all software in your phone and computer to eliminate system weaknesses. Avoid using outdated antivirus software, operating systems, and other apps.

• Use strong authentication measures – Require code or confirm your login through a fingerprint, iris scan, voice, emails, etc. This prevents hacking and many identity theft problems.

• Avoid sharing devices – Disable Bluetooth and other apps that allow third parties to connect with your devices. Such connections give hackers the freedom to collect all the data they require from you.

• Do not share data online – Avoid sharing data online whenever possible to avoid data interception.

Conclusion

Moving to another country may improve your career, education, security, and lifestyle. You get exposed to many online vulnerabilities when you are new in the country. Cybercriminals target visitors connecting to public Wi-Fi and steal their identity unawares. You can prevent passport identity theft by securing your digital data and monitoring your accounts. Create strong passwords, use VPNs, update your software, and protect physical documents.