by Rick Kam
TransUnion and Equifax to offer credit freeze services according to a September 22, 2007 article in ConsumerAffairs.com by Martin Bosworth.
“offer consumers the ability to “freeze” their credit files in all 50 states in order to protect themselves against identity theft and fraud. The service will be available in the 11 states that do not already have credit-freeze laws, costing consumers $10 to set the freeze and $10 to unlock it, and will “meet or exceed the requirements” of states with existing freeze laws. The freeze service will be free to victims of identity theft, and is scheduled to roll out Oct. 15.”
This means that you can instruct these two credit bureaus to freeze your credit making it more difficult for an ID thief to set up a new fraudulent credit card or take out a loan using your personal information. Experian is the other major credit bureau. They have not indicated whether or not they will also offer this service.
The question is whether or not this is a good solution to protect you from ID theft? There is a $10 cost to freeze and unfreeze your credit. If you are a victim of ID theft, the cost to freeze your credit is $0.
Our suggestion is to look at using this tool if you are a victim of ID theft versus a preventative measure. There are several reasons for this.
1. If you are a victim of ID theft, it can prevent more fraudulent accounts being set up by the thief
2. If you are not a victim of ID theft, this tool requires you to take an action each time you want to open a new credit line.
3. A credit freeze only protects you against credit fraud. There are many more ways ID theft can occur that this tool will not address including debit fraud, medical ID theft, criminal misuse of your ID etc.
The good news is there are new preventative tools entering the market that provide a 360 degree protection against all of these issues and provide better protection. These services scan both financial and non-financial data sources and do a much better job of protecting your identity. I will discuss more on this topic in future blogs.
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by Rick Kam
According to Brian Koemer who authored an article on September 10, 2007 titled “Peer-to-Peer Networks Used to Steal Identities“, the answer is YES!
“In what federal authorities are calling the first of its kind, the arrest of Gregory Thomas Kopiloff of Seattle, who allegedly used P2P Software to steal the personally identifiable information (PII) of at least 83 people.”
How many of you use P2P file sharing software like Kazaa or LimeWire?
If you have teenagers in the house, are they using these tools to share their favorite songs with friends?
There is a good chance that one of your computers have this tools installed. If you do, Brian Koemer provides tips on how to protect yourself online. Besides, these tips from Brian, We also suggest the following:
1. Make sure your computer has the firewalls enabled. A firewall will help reduce the risk of someone getting unauthorized access to your computer. If you bought a computer recently, most will come out of the box with the firewalls enabled (i.e. Windows Vista or MAC OSX).
2. Scan your computer regularly for viruses. You can schedule this function to run every week or once a month when you are not using it.
3. Make sure you obtain files from known sources (i.e. iTunes). Many versions of music files exist on the web. You can tell they are different because the file sizes differ. Some of these variations are legitimate and accommodate for various media players. Others contain viruses and other malware.
If you suspect any issues with files, just don’t put it on your computer…
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By: D. Jones, Recovery Advocate
Enjoying your computer but one or more of the drives bites the dust? Realizing that it’s still under warranty solves only half the problem. What happens to that old, dead drive once your warranty service visits your home to replace it? Worse yet, what about when you ship your computer to the manufacturer for them to replace the drive at their facility? Both of these scenarios can be rife with identity theft opportunities.
As noted in a recent post on whatsnextblog, it has been shown that hard drive replacement could lead to data compromise. Manufacturers are supposed to wipe the drives with an industrial magnet, a technique called “degaussing”, before resale or render them unusable but that often doesn’t happen the way it should. One of our recovery advocates recalls a Dell computer drive that failed. The system was under warranty so a contractor made a house call to replace the drive. She asked if she could keep the old drive for security reasons and was told it was Dell’s policy to return the used drive. Daunted, but secure in the fact that the drive was new and therefore free from sensitive information, she watched as the drive was taken from her computer and removed from her home. Who knows what happened after that point? Its common knowledge now that the drives are repaired and resold but what happens to the info stored on the drives?
The auto mechanic industry has learned to honor our right to the broken, damaged parts that are replaced – why not the computer technician field? If we’ve paid for it, we should be able to keep the old part or be assured that our information is removed or the drive destroyed so that others can’t access it. Dell now has a policy that allows the consumer to purchase the damaged drive for an additional fee. As the article in the link states, at the very least, new manufacturers should revisit current policy on replacing dead drives or perhaps current laws need to be restructured to ensure corporate protection of consumer privacy.
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by Doug Pollack
Prominent talk show host Dave Ramsey discussed the prevalence of identity theft among college students in an interview earlier today on the CBS News Early Show.
He stated that:
“Identity thieves zero in on college students much of the time. They’re deemed particularly vulnerable to ID theft, and people aged 18-29 make up the group most commonly victimized by it.”
Strangely enough, young people might seem to have the least to lose from identity theft, which may be why they are specifically targeted, because that they don’t feel vulnerable, they can be very cavalier with their personal information, and because they’re consumed by school activities. Most college students not only haven’t ever checked their credit reports, most of them probably don’t even know what a credit report is (I know mine don’t).
One of his listeners wrote to him saying:
“My third day at college, I applied for several credit cards on campus. Five years later, I found out that all my personal information was posted on a Web site. I had cars bought in my name and credit accounts across the country. A college student who ran one of the credit card booths was responsible for posting my information. Even though I now have a new Social Security number, I constantly have to monitor my credit reports. I have had to explain all of this to employers who run background checks on me. Those free T-shirts wound up costing me $150,000!”
Obviously, you’re never too young to be careful with your personal information.
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by Rick Kam
Is there a connection between Cyber Terror and ID Theft? According to a July 5, 2007 article by MSNBC, the answer is yes.
“Authorities say the terrorists used phishing e-mails to trick recipients into divulging personal information, thereby making Westerners unwitting donors to al-Qaeda.”
We have seen trends during the past two years where more and more identity theft victims fall prey to organized crime and potentially cyber terrorist. What does this mean for the average American looking to protect themselves from this new emerging form of identity theft?
The good news is you can still take proactive steps to reduce your risk of falling victim to identity theft. It doesn’t necessarily matter who is trying to steal your personal information — meth gang, organized crime unit, or cyber terrorist. They all use similar techniques and methods to steal your ID.
I do believe it is more difficult to recover from some of these more complex identity theft crimes where your personal information is used not only to generate cash for illegal purposes, but to impersonate you, or use your identity to commit a crime. It is more difficult to clear your good name if you are accused of crime (i.e. being a sexual predator) or have crimes your “cyber double” has committed associated with your criminal records in National and State law enforcement databases.
The best situation is avoid falling victim in the first place by taking steps to reduce your risk. If you do fall victim to one of these complex ID theft, get professional help to resolve it quickly and effectively.
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by Rick Kam
In a July 26, 2007 article titled Dumb, dumber and Davis, InfoWorld’s Robert X. Cringely points out the drawback of forcing an ID thief to confess to a crime using coercion. The story notes that Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock, would put his social security number on company web sites and in advertising (see related post on why this is not a good idea). Turns out he fell victim to ID theft.
“After authorities identified the man who misappropriated Davis’s identity, the idiot sent employees to the guy’s house with a typed confession and a video camera. Yes, they got the confession they sought. And then the local DA dropped the case, because that confession would never stand up in court.”
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By Heather Wells (Recovery Advocate)
Do an online search for “free credit report” and you’ll end up with a dozen or more websites promising online credit reports (and often credit scores) for FREE. Most of these companies even have the word “free” in their name, but don’t be fooled, there’s nothing FREE about their services. Many will entice people to sign up for a product that comes with strings attached. Most will request a credit card number to enroll and then will charge you if you do not cancel the service within a specific grace period.
A recent post (July 24, 2007) on the blogsite The Red Tape Chronicles written by Bob Sullivan explains that “one site, for instance, requires enrollment in pricey credit monitoring service, which can only be canceled online after precisely 23 days. Another automatically enrolls users in a discount travel service. And some hint that the real free credit report site established by Congress — AnnualCreditReport.com — isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” He goes on to say that many of these sites actually can be traced back to the credit bureaus either directly or by affiliation.
There’s only one legitimate source where you can obtain your FREE credit reports and that’s http://www.annualcreditreport.com/. The law requires that each of the major credit reporting agencies-Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion-give you a copy of your credit report every year at no charge. This law was passed as part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) and was a real milestone for consumer rights.
Increased consumer awareness and knowledge is a good thing. It’s a positive sign that more folks are interested in what’s being reported in their credit files. Everyone should check their credit reports at least once a year to make sure that all of the information contained in them is accurate and up to date. You should also check your reports for any information that is fraudulent, which could signal that you are the victim of Identity Theft. This includes accounts as well as personal information such as addresses and phone numbers.
So, before you give over your credit card number for something that is supposed to be “free,” don’t do it. Go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com/.
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by Rick Kam
NBC’s Dateline is doing a show Sunday, July 22, 2007 on ID Theft, based on the current series of “To Catch a Predator”. Chris Hansen continues his mission to put a face on the crime of identity theft, working with CardCops, an organization specializing in monitoring ID thieves.
Date: Sun., July 22, 2007
Time: 7:00PM
Channel: 4, WNBC
Descriptor: New Episode, Stereo, CC
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Identity Safeguards began when a few frustrated identity theft victims decided to educate and assist other victims in restoring themselves to pre-identity theft status. Now a national leader in corporate identity security, Identity Safeguards provides fully-managed identity protection and identity theft recovery services to individuals and businesses of all sizes throughout the nation. Identity Safeguards offers businesses proactive and response solutions both to manage the risk of a confidential data breach and to respond effectively by offering the appropriate remedies to businesses and consumers in the event such a breach occurs. In the event of a data breach turned Identity Theft Event, highly trained in-house “Recovery Advocates” fully manage Identity Safeguards’ member victim cases in order to successfully restore victim’s credit and life back to pre-event status. This highly specialized service, along with Identity Safeguards’ Confidential Identity Protection Solution (CIPS) and Emergency Incident Response Service (EIRS), is what separates Identity Safeguards from those who offer less complete solutions. Identity Safeguards provides restoration services to millions of citizens in the United States. Hundreds of corporate entities, government agencies and non-profit organizations nationwide offer Identity Safeguards’ proactive and response solution to a confidential data breach and employee benefits or consumer protection programs. Contact a representative to learn how Identity Safeguards can help you and your business plan for, protect against, and react to a data breach.
With hundreds of programs already in place, Identity Safeguards covers millions of Americans from the hardships of identity theft and fraud. Having already served hundreds of companies, we are able to leverage significant relationships to provide your company with an unparalleled level of service. After taking the time to learn about the services that Identity Safeguards has to offer, contact a representative to request more information in order to learn about what Identity Safeguards can do for your company.
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