 TITLE: Should You Pay for Cellphone ID Protection? CONTENT: With concerns about identity theft on the rise, you might be eyeing your cellphone service carrier's identity protection offers, which can be bundled with your phone bill for about the same price as a monthly streaming subscription or two. Cellphone ID protection can provide a number of safeguards for your personal information and is available through a number of cell service providers. Services from major carriers include: Verizon's Digital Secure, AT&T's IDnotify and Protection <360> through T-Mobile. Protection plans vary in the specific services they offer, but they generally aim to protect your data in three main ways:\n*   **Alerts**: A cellphone ID protection service can alert you if it detects that your personal information—including your Social Security number, bank account info or credit card numbers—is being shared online. A cellphone carrier-provided plan may even sound the alarm with an app notification if it detects an unsafe website, or sees that you're trying to connect to an unprotected Wi-Fi network.\n*   **Monitoring**: ID security programs may continuously monitor your credit reports and other wells of personal information for changes like new accounts in your name. If something noteworthy is found, you'll receive a notification to look into any changes before they can escalate.\n*   **Support and insurance**: On the chance that your identity or personal information _does_ get stolen, ID protection plans usually have some legal and monetary coverage that could help you recover from fraud.\nCell providers have been increasingly in the spotlight for their ID theft vulnerability. The most common cellphone ID fraud happens when thieves gather personal data to obtain new phone lines in your name (called \"porting\") or transfer your existing phone line to a SIM card they control (known as \"SIM swapping\").\nOnce thieves have hijacked your cell service, they can receive two-factor authentication codes and calls to \"confirm\" their identity as you. From there, they can gain entry to your accounts, including your finances, and spend at will—meanwhile, you're left wondering why your cellphone service suddenly stopped working. They may also attempt to collect your information through social media and with phishing attacks, in which you're lured into entering login or account information on a phony website. END