I'd love to freeze my credit but as one of the millions of Americans living overseas I have learned that this is flat out impossible for us. I've even written to my Senators and they can't get it done either (One positive note, it was surprisingly easy to reach them and they seemed genuinely eager to help).

Fortunately 'identity theft' is an imaginary concept, you cannot have your identity stolen - you are still you and no one can ever change that. It's the financial institutions' problem to fix at the end of the day, but there is this expectation that you are obliged to help them understand how they fell for a scam, and you are expected to do this for free or they make your life more difficult.

We do need a better system for expats.