Hello @saturnzoon ❤️ sorry to hear what has happened, have you got a foil envelope for your bank and credit cards so someone can't scan it in your handbag and run off with your money? They look like this and you can buy off ebay or Amazon:
Also do you have a password manager that scrambles all your online passwords so its difficult to crack the code? PCMag is a free online magazine that goes into details about the different password managers out there. Some password managers offer a free trial period so you don't have to pay upfront but after that its subscription. My password manager is called "Keeper" and what it does is it aggregates all the sites you have left a password with from the day dot and shows you what percentage of protection you have and how many times youve used similar passwords over and over. I would talk to your IT tech wizard to see if they could recommend something they are familiar working with so you have a safer online experience. You must have strong passwords
You can also do something called an opt-out request and delete all information on associated with your e-mail address. There are companies out there that collect information about you based on your e-mail history for both good and bad reasons and this info can be sold to all kinds of people on the dark web. Its called personal identifiable information and these data brokerage companies have info on you. To delete info about me from their files I use the online website called "Privacy Bee" - an elect to use the free option and contact companies myself that have my e-mail listed with them and request that all info about me be deleted from their databases. Doing it manually for free yourself can take hours but you would be surprised who is storing information about you.
You can also contact the 3 Australian national credit bureaus (Experian, Illion and Equifax) and get you credit file frozen for free so nobody can take out a new loan or credit card in your name. You can also go back to them once every 3 months to see if there is unusual activity with your name.
Another thing you can do is when you surf the net is to use a VPN (Virtual Privacy Network) which keeps your online activity private so nobody can watch you online and steal private credit card information. Just ask your computer technician! Also have virus and malware checkers installed on your computer in addition to having the most up-to-date operating system. I actually had to upgrade my operating system again today
Finally you can check this website - its free: https://haveibeenpwned.com for securing your credit card reports and credit card fraud.
I realised I wasn't as secure as I would have liked and looking into these options was an eye opener about surfing the web. I learnt about it from a finance magazine. I hope it makes you feel more safe online as these are things I have tried myself ❤️🌻
