Kurt Knutsson Flags 9 Identity-Theft Signs as Cybercrime Losses Hit $21 Billion
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 5
Kurt Knutsson Flags 9 Identity-Theft Signs as Cybercrime Losses Hit $21 Billion
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 5
Summary
$21 billion in cybercrime losses last year pushed Kurt Knutsson to warn that AI-driven scams are getting harder to spot, with investment fraud alone costing victims $8.65 billion.
Nine early identity-theft signs he highlighted include unfamiliar credit inquiries, bills for accounts never opened, unexplained bank activity, password-reset alerts, government notices and sudden phone outages that could signal a SIM-swap attack.
Knutsson urged people to verify suspicious messages through official channels, review all major accounts and credit reports, and treat small anomalies such as test charges or profile changes as possible takeover attempts.
Recommended defenses include freezing credit with all three bureaus, adding fraud alerts, securing email and phone accounts with unique passwords and multifactor authentication, and reporting confirmed identity theft at IdentityTheft.gov.
He also pointed viewers to a free replay of his financial-protection class, framing identity-monitoring services as a useful extra layer rather than a substitute for regular account checks and basic security habits.