It's identity theft awareness week. According to the Federal Trade Commission – once someone has your personal information, they can open new accounts, steal your tax refund, and even file fake health insurance claims.

With AI and more sophisticated scammers, ID theft is rampant these days. But is it worth paying $25 a month or more for extra protection?

During Identity Theft Awareness Week (Jan. 27-31), you can learn how you can protect yourself from becoming a victim. We are partnering with the FTC for 2 webinars on Thursday, Jan. 30, to help you better understand ID theft, avoid it, and, if necessary, recover from it.

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Here are five ways you can protect yourself from falling victim to identity theft: Choose strong passwords by using passwords that combine letters, numbers and special characters. Also, always be sure to use a different password for each account.

Identity Theft Awareness Week started on Monday. It’s scary how we can be just one click away from handing over our personal information to a stranger who managed to fool us. Let’s not let this happen in 2025 by beefing up our online accounts and habits.