While celebrities have lots of fans online and offline, among them lies a few people with ulterior motives. Almost every fan wants to know more about their favorite celebrity and this is why celebrities are more prone to identity theft.

As a baseballer, your information is out there in the open. People know when you were born, where you were born, your siblings, maybe where you live, and so much more – millions of people watch what you do every day and this puts you at a higher risk of identity theft. It only takes one fan with bad intentions and you will be in a mess.

How Does Identity Theft Occur for Baseballers?

If an identity thief finds too much information about a baseballer, they might start plotting to steal their identity. These thieves can garner information through various ways including analyzing databases, checking domain WHOIS, sending phishing emails, hacking databases, and much more. As long as an identity thief has fragments of information, they can join the dots until they have access to the celebrity’s accounts. Learn all about identity theft protection services to stay safe.

Today, identity thieves go for minor payoffs, not more than $500. It is impossible to go for a large credit line without legit ID verification. Most celebrities have active credit reports which make it a challenge for identity thieves to use synthetic identity theft tactics of opening a credit line and building it up – they will be caught before they build the credit report.

Many celebrities were involved in identity theft in 2013. Some of these include Michelle Obama, Beyonce and husband Jay-Z, Paris Hilton, Bill Gates, Ashton Kutcher, and many more. Most of these celebrities had their personal information posted online although no financial fraud befell them. The theft was blamed on a Russian group of hackers.

Other celebrities have lost money in the hands of identity thieves. These include 50 Cent, Carmelo, Tiger Woods, Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey, Ted Turner, Warren Buffett, George Lucas, George Soros, Steven Spielberg, and Martha Stewart among others.

How to Stay Safe From Identity Theft as a Baseballer

There are many ways through which a baseballer can prevent identity theft. One of these ways is to avoid sharing every personal detail on the internet. Sharing everything including date of birth, email address, home address, phone number, and much more might get you in trouble.

The 2001 busboy incident saw celebrities including Warren Buffett and Oprah Winfrey lose up to $80 million. After the incident, many people became aware of celebrity identity theft and became more cautious. What seemed normal online, such as having your address on public phone books became dangerous. Below are simple ways celebrities can protect their information online and offline:

1. Get Off Local Databases

As a baseballer with a lot of fans, you will always have privacy concerns. Even before you get a well-known product to protect you from identity theft, you need to get off local databases. You will know you are still on the local database when you get hundreds of calls from fans. Information on local databases is often used by identity thieves who use reverse lookup sites and other tools to find out more about you. All you need to do is request your name, address, and number delisted from the local database. 

• Delete Your House Street View From Google

You can delete your house street view image from Google. By so doing, no one will see your house online unless it was previously listed for sale. Every piece of information you hide from the thief is another blank they have to fill and this enhances your safety.

• Avoid Using Credit Cards for Shopping

You can always pay with cash to avoid thieves. Celebrities have a lot of paparazzi following them. If this happens, the cashier might run a card skimmer to defraud the celebrity once a card is used. Most thieves working in stores are selected so as not to get caught – they will only steal a small amount of money and only from wealthy people such as celebrities.

• Use an Identity Theft Protection Service

An identity theft protection service can help you when you do not know what to do or when you keep exposing yourself to identity theft risks. The service puts in all the work to ensure you are completely safe from thieves. The plans are affordable, with most services charging between $10 and $30 a month. The service specialist will monitor your information all the time.

It is challenging to catch an intelligent identity thief. Even if they are caught, the investigations can take more than a year. With an identity theft protection service, your risk of losing data to a thief reduces significantly.

It is worthwhile to spend a few dollars to protect thousands of dollars. Some identity thieves might end up using your details and your accounts to attack your friends and family members. When Kim Kardashian’s identity was stolen, her family members were also attacked. Keeping yourself safe, therefore, means protecting those close to you.

Conclusion

You cannot pick the first identity theft protection service that shows up on Google. You have to compare different services to ensure that you end up with the right one. Check out online reviews, look at the package and what is in it, the pricing model, and the customer service.

However, if you keep sharing your details and shopping online using your card, the identity theft protection service may not help you. To be safe, you need to heed to the advice of the specialist. You need to filter the information you share online and always ensure you update your identity protection service often. Celebrities have their identity stolen, just like everyone else. If the thief only steals a few hundred dollars, you might not realize. With a protection service, however, nothing will happen without your knowledge.