Identity theft can be difficult to correct as an adult. Anyone who has gone through the process on their own will explain the frustrating experience of trying to prove who you are to credit bureaus and merchants who are verifying against a credit report, which contains mostly incorrect fraudulent information. Victims are often asked to verify addresses they never lived at, phone number they never had or accounts they never opened.

As frustrating as this experience can be, it is nothing compared to a victim turning 18 and finding out that their entire credit file is fraudulent. Proving your identity when all records available to the credit bureaus and merchants are full of fraudulent information can be the most difficult process that an identity theft victim can go through. Most people are unaware that credit issuers may not have any method available to verify the age of an applicant, and that credit bureaus record the “official” age of an applicant with the first credit application. If the application indicates that your 3 your old son is actually 24, the record remains at age 24 until it is disputed and proven otherwise. This can also be difficult since it is common to take the information of a minor to get a driver’s license. As a result of this kind of identity theft, victims are sometimes turned down for college loans, denied welfare or other benefits, denied a driver’s license and occasionally arrested because of the fraud.

As a parent, you can help your children avoid this grim future. Your child may or may not have a legitimate credit history. Some banks and credit card companies allow parents to add children to the accounts as an authorized user, which could create credit history. Please be aware that receiving a pre-approved credit card offer in the mail for your child can be alarming, but does not necessarily mean that they have a credit history or that there is identity theft occurring. You can opt out of these offers for yourself or your children by calling 888-5OPTOUT or going to www.optoutprescreen.com

Experts recommend that if you inquire about your child’s credit history, that you do so no more than once a year. For security and privacy reasons, only parents or guardians may request a credit report on behalf of a child under the age of 13. For this reason, you may be requested to fax or mail documents providing that you are the parent or legal guardian before they will send the credit file. Be aware that it is also possible that an inquiry into a child’s credit history could be answered with a letter indicating a file cannot be found. TransUnion recommends that parents do not just request a copy of the credit report just to check and see. To that end, TransUnion has set up a special email address for parents and guardians to use to obtain a “yes/no” answer regarding if a file exists: childidtheft@transunion.com. They suggest that if the answer is “yes”, to weigh the risks and probability that there is use of your child’s identity and decide to order a copy report based on your assessment.You can find a sample form letter to request these reports here and a list of required documents by credit bureau here.

The Identity Theft Resource Center provides the following tips for parents to help prevent the identity theft of minor children:

• Parents: Parents are often asked to show a copy of a birth certificate and/or Social Security card in order for their children to participate in after school sports. Coaches often ask for photocopies of these papers. ITRC does not believe that this is a good security measure and that safer information handling practices should become policy. We recommend the following:
• Ask if the coach has had a criminal and financial background check done by an independent or hiring source. If not, will one be done? This should be an automatic practice due to the amount of child molestation and child information theft.
• Show the papers to the coach and then put them in a sealed envelope. Write your name across the sealed flap in colored ink so that you can tell if it has been opened.
• Initial the back of each page in colored ink that you place in the envelope. At the end of the season you will know if you got the original back.
• Ask where the papers will be stored during the season. Parents need to make sure that the envelopes will be stored in a locked box and returned unopened after the season has ended, unless you have been notified that there is a need to show them to other people.
• Shred all papers that you throw out that contain account or Social Security Number.
• Do not carry your or your child’s Social Security Number in your wallet, including Social Security cards. If necessary (i.e. health insurance cards) make a photocopy of the card, cut off the last 4 numbers of the Social Security Number and carry that photocopy with you on a daily basis. Only carry original cards on days you know you will need them. Then if your wallet is lost or stolen, this information will not be stolen.
• Students- when possible, ask your college not to use your Social Security Number as your college ID number. If they insist on doing so, only carry your original card on the days you need it. Ask to not include the number on rosters that others may see and insist that it not be posted in public display areas.
• Lock your information away. Roommates may seem friendly and end up as good friends, but too many victims have found out that an unscrupulous roommate or friend has stolen their information.
• Watch your backpacks, briefcases, or anything you carry your wallets or important papers at all times (this includes in class, at lunch and in the library).
• Use a locked mailbox to send and receive all mail. Do not leave mail unattended for pickup in an “out” box.
• Resist giving out your driver’s license number or Social Security Number (or child’s Social Security Number) unless they have a good reason for needing it. A doctor’s office is a great place for a child profiler to collect information. Make sure that the physician is aware of that and that his or her staff is taking proper precautions with your child’s information. Watch for people who may try to eavesdrop and overhear the information you give out orally.
• Scams- Teach children not to give out personal information over the phone and do not give out any of your or your child’s information on the Internet unless you are absolutely sure that you are dealing with a legitimate company. When in doubt, don’t. You can check out companies with the Better Business Bureau, the FBI or your State Attorney General if you have any concerns. Think first- don’t give out information and then later regret it.

The FTC wants you to know about the only official site to get your free credit report as granted under federal law. Since catchy tunes and funny videos are the way to our hearts, they have released some videos to help spread to word about how to monitor your credit report for free by using www.annualcreditreport.com

See the other videos at http://www.youtube.com/ftcvideos

by Doug Pollack

The Santa Fe Group, an industry consortium, announced today an identity crime victims’ bill of rights that proposes the rights that should be provided to all individuals and recommending an approach to legislation for adopting this bill of rights.

“The five basic rights address the need for legislation that enables individual victims of identity theft to access and correct personally identifiable information (PII) records. The Bill of Rights white paper, titled Victims’ Rights: Fighting Identity Crime on the Front Lines, is now available at http://santa-fe-group.com/whitepapers/register.php.”

The Identity Crime Victims Bill of Rights advocates improved protection and support for victims and includes:

• Assessment of the nature and extent of the crime that removes the procedural ‘Catch-22s’ when validating identity
• Full restoration of victims’ identities to pre-theft status, including the ability to expunge records
• Freedom from harassment from collection agencies, law enforcement and others
• Prosecution of offenders and accountability for businesses that fail to reasonably secure personal information
• Restitution that includes repayment for financial losses and expenses

“The white paper effort was led by the Identity Management Working Group of The Santa Fe Group Vendor Council chaired by Rick Kam, President of ID Experts (www.idexpertscorp.com).

‘Despite new additions to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 (FACT), such as free credit reports and the ability to place fraud alerts after identity theft, victims are still subject to inconsistent and unfair treatment from state and federal agencies, law enforcement and businesses,’ said Rick Kam, President of Portland-based ID Experts, a leader in data breach prevention and remediation. ‘We created the Bill of Rights to empower victims by granting them the same rights as victims of other crimes.’”

The Santa Fe Group, ID Experts and other members of the Vendor Council will be holding meetings in Washington, DC later this spring in order to drum up support for this concept and related legislation.

by Doug Pollack

I’ll admit I’m a fan of Clark Howard. For those of you that don’t know him, he has a very popular radio show, The Clark Howard Show, and is a advocate for consumers in their financial affairs.

On today’s program, he became very animated talking about Freecreditreport.com. This is a website from one of the three large credit bureaus, Experian, that oddly enough requires that you pay for their service, despite the interesting name.

I thought that it would be useful to highlight some excerpts from his comments. He is obviously not a fan of this offering, and believes that their mass media advertising (who hasn’t seen the television ad with the kid in the seafood restaurant singing about his identity theft?) is deceptive.

The following are quotes from his show today:

“Freecreditreport.com, the ripoff non-service from Experian, is ripping you off, stealing money right out of your wallet…charing you a ripoff fee month after month after month”

“If you are currently subscribing to Freecreditreport.com, stop it! You are throwing your money away…why pay for it, they are liars at Experian. Liars, liars, liars.”

I have always found it amazing that Experian can advertise their service under that name when they require that you purchase their “triple advantage” service for a monthly fee of around $13 a month in order to get a “free” credit report. Maybe I just don’t have a good grasp of the english language. Doesn’t free, mean without cost?

by Doug Pollack

This past week, there were two class action lawsuits filed against LifeLock, one in its home state of Arizona and one in New Jersey. Following on a recent lawsuit filed against LifeLock by Experian, one of three US credit bureaus, these class action lawsuits also assert that LifeLock is engaged in deceptive advertising relative to the level of protection provided by their service against identity theft. The LifeLock offering depends almost entirely upon the placement of perpetual fraud alerts as the means for protecting their subscribers from identity theft.

As noted by David Paris, an attorney involved in this matter, in an article on the CNBC website titled “N.J. Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against LifeLock Alleging Deceptive Marketing Regarding Limited Level of Protection Against Identity Theft“:

” ‘While fraud alerts may be effective in limited instances, they certainly cannot provide the comprehensive identity protection that LifeLock deceptively advertises,’ said Paris. ‘For instance, fraud alerts cannot stop the use of existing account numbers, and contrary to LifeLock’s advertisements, lenders are certainly not required to contact the subscriber before extending credit to a potential identity thief.’ ”

The article and comments from Mr. Paris also address the alleged deceptive nature a severe limitations on the highly publicized $1MM LifeLock Guarantee:

“According to the Complaint, LifeLock also misleads subscribers by advertising its $1 million service guarantee. ‘Potential LifeLock subscribers are enticed by the ‘safety net’ of what appears to be a one-million dollar insurance policy against any losses sustained as a result of identity theft,’ said Paris. ‘In actuality, once you get beyond the limitations and disclaimers, you find that the guarantee is limited to fixing failures in LifeLock’s services and paying third-parties to attempt to restore subscriber losses.’ ”

Hopefully these lawsuits will help bring visibility and clarity to consumers as to the differences in identity theft protection services. Most services, including those provided by the company that sponsors this blog, ID Experts, do not rely on fraud alerts as a primary or sole means of protection, nor do they make questionable or misleading large dollar guarantees. It is unfortunate that brash marketing tactics have made it difficult for consumers to make an informed product decision based on the facts related to differences in these services.

by Doug Pollack

There has been a great deal of attention recently paid to the actions by credit bureaus enabling consumers to use credit freezes as a tool to avoid or deal with identity theft events.

In a recent New York Times article titled “In ID Theft, Some Victims See Opportunity”, the author highlights several companies, like ours, that provide ID theft protection services. Several of these companies see the use of credit freezes and credit fraud alerts as a panacea for eliminating the threat of identity theft. This is a position that we do not subscribe to. We believe strongly in encouraging consumers to use all appropriate best practices to avoid identity theft, and we provide a product, FraudStop, that provides broader prevention from ID theft by addressing not just credit records, but also other records including real estate, motor vehicles, utilities and the like, all of which can be used by identity thieves.

“Among its peers, LifeLock has attracted the most attention–much of it negative. In radio and television ads, Todd Davis, chief executive of LifeLock, gives out his Social Security number to demonstrate his faith in the service. As a result, he has been hit with repeated identity theft attacks, including one successful effort this summer in which a check-cashing firm gave out a $500 loan to a Texas fraudster without ever checking Davis’ credit report. Last summer, The Phoenix New Times, an Arizona paper, reported that LifeLock’s co-founder, Robert Maynard, had a criminal past. Maynard later resigned.”

But despite the best protection, ID theft does and will occur. Which is why the consumer is best served by a company that can provide them with an expert to handle any identity theft issues. Which is what we do with our staff of personal recovery advocates. Most identity theft protection services companies do not provide recovery services. They do not have teams of trained professionals. They do not see this as important. We obviously do. And so do the over 2.5 million people that rely on our recovery services.

Among other things, the author highlights that identity theft services whose only value is in setting fraud alerts or credit freezes for consumer, are vulnerable to potential legislation.

“[This] business [specifically mentioned were LifeLock, TrustedID, and Debix] is vulnerable if Congress succeeds in pressuring the three major credit agencies to make these theft-fighting measures cheaper and more accessible to consumers. Sen. Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, criticized the credit companies last month for making identity theft freezes too cumbersome to set and lift. Each of the three credit agencies recently bowed to public pressure and made freezes available in all 50 states.”

But this article is silent on the consumer need for professional ID theft recovery services. It is projected that over 10MM people in the US will fall victim to identity theft in 2008. Identity theft protection services such as ours, and those provided by others in this space, will help in turning this trend. But consumers should be told the truth. There isn’t a silver bullet that will guarantee that you won’t become a victim of identity theft. ID thieves are using increasingly more sophisticated means to steal from you. Which is why if you opt for an identity theft protection service, it should include expert, professional, personal recovery assistance.