Story perspectives

Credit Monitoring Misses Many Theft Schemes, Experts Warn

By Drooid · Oct 24, 2026, 10:07 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Credit-monitoring tracks new accounts, inquiries, scores, and collections but misses many theft schemes.
Criminals hijack existing bank accounts, file false tax returns, or conduct SIM-swap attacks without alerts.
Experts advise reviewing financial, tax, and medical statements regularly and securing mobile accounts with PINs.
The IRS issues a free six-digit Identity Protection PIN each year to block fraudulent tax returns.

1 of 1

Story summary

Credit-monitoring tracks new accounts, inquiries, scores, and collections but misses many theft schemes.
Criminals hijack existing bank accounts, file false tax returns, or conduct SIM-swap attacks without alerts.
Experts advise reviewing financial, tax, and medical statements regularly and securing mobile accounts with PINs.
The IRS issues a free six-digit Identity Protection PIN each year to block fraudulent tax returns.