One weekend my roommate and I were running separate errands and I had came home first to find a screwdriver on the back table and the sliding glass door wide open. I thought it was weird, but figured she must have been in a hurry and went on inside without a second thought. My dog wouldn’t come out of my bedroom and was lying on the bed, both uncharacteristic. I went over and sat down and started to pet her and noticed my laptop was missing.

At first, I figured my roommate borrowed it; we worked at the same company and had the same portal for work, so I thought maybe she had forgotten hers. So I called her and asked her when she was coming home and why she took my laptop. She said she didn’t have it. Then I said “You know you left the back door wide open,” and then all of a sudden panic hit me. Was someone in the house with me still?

So, I did exactly what they do on TV and started looking around the house. My roommate told me to go in her room and of course, her laptop was stolen as well, along with some jewelry tossed around the room. We called the police and they basically told us there was nothing we could do.

I was planning to close on my house the next week so I had a lot more money in my bank account than I normally did. When talking with my boyfriend, he told me I needed to contact my banks, credit cards, etc. I sort of dismissed it because for one thing, it was a work computer and not my personal one. Well, I was very wrong.

I got to work on Monday and after getting my replacement laptop and a long lecture from IT, I logged in to find that my money was missing from my account. I FREAKED OUT! I immediately drove to the bank, forget calling, I needed to see them in person.

They had noticed fraudulent activity on my account through various ways (I never bothered to listen, I wanted my money) so they froze my account automatically. Thank goodness my bank had systems in place because I sure didn’t.

What I didn’t know at the time is that it just takes a small amount of information for a skilled thief to use and run with it and steal your money, your identity, and your details that are near and dear to you. What I’ve learned since then is that it’s so easy for thieves, even small petty neighborhoods ones to have information about you that can be used to steal your identity.

Now while my money was recovered, I dealt with all the credit card companies, banks, DMV and every other entity I could think of that might have been hit by this criminal who took my laptop. I was one of the fortunate ones that I didn’t save my passwords, or have a spreadsheet of accounts or have links to my financial resources, etc. since it was a work computer.

But take it under advisement to be very smart and safe with your information, protect yourself and do not allow too much personal information out of your hands, ever.

They show up in your e-mail inbox, messages with a subject line that reads, “You have received a Valentine’s card” or “Your sweetheart has sent you a Valentine’s Day greeting.” Some may even indicate that, “The flowers you ordered for your sweetie won’t be delivered unless you log in and re-enter your credit card information.” But look out, Cupid. With February 14th fast approaching, you need to be on the alert for spam e-mails that are anything but romantic!

Tens of millions of fake Valentine’s Day greeting-card messages will be sent out this Valentine’s Day, and it’s likely you will receive one. The e-mail will direct you to click on a link to retrieve your special electronic e-card. Beware. When you click on the link, a virus and malicious malware may be triggered to download onto your computer. The spyware that is installed often includes a key-logger program, which tracks the sites you visit while also logging every keystroke you make on your computer. Key-logger software can record user names, passwords, account numbers and personal PIN numbers, too. Ultimately, every key you press on the keyboard is captured. Everything you type into word-processing documents, spreadsheets or e-mail programs is recorded too.

These spyware and malware programs typically run without your knowledge and are difficult to detect, and they continue to run in the background until they are detected and removed. If you receive a notice that a greeting card has been sent to you, before you even consider opening on an attachment or clicking on an embedded link, first check with the person it claims to be from and determine whether or not they actually sent it. Under no circumstances should you blindly trust that the card is legitimate simply because the e-mail looks legitimate. If you discover that the e-mail is spam, delete it immediately—without clicking on the links.

If you have already received a greeting card message and clicked on its links, there are still steps you can take to protect yourself. First, you should install up-to-date virus protection on your computer and run a full virus scan on your hard drive. If you find that your computer has been infected, you should then place a fraud alert on your credit files with each of the big three credit reporting agencies (Trans Union, Experian and Equifax). You only need to contact one credit bureau and they will alert the other two agencies. Sorry to say, if you want the alert to stay on your accounts, you will need to reset it every three months days. After 90 days, the alert automatically expires. Or you can engage an identity theft protection service like LifeLock to set and renew them for you every 90 days.

With fraud alerts in place, creditors, lenders, or other prospective users of your consumer report must take steps to verify your identity before they can issue new credit, increase credit lines, and obtain utilities, cell phones or new loans. Most of the time, when someone else is trying to use your identity to get credit, the fraud alert will stop them.

It’s also important to note that often scammers will instruct you to call a provided phone number. Never dial an unsolicited number provided in an unsolicited e-mail, text or voice mail, even if it purports to come from a company you deal with regularly. Instead, take the time to look up the legitimate phone number of the company and call that instead.

There are, of course, variations to these types of phishing and spoofing scams.

Spoofing scams occur when criminals create a false or “shadow” copy of a real website or e-mail. This allows the “spoofer” to acquire personal information such as passwords, credit card numbers, and account numbers. Even though the e-mail looks like the real thing—complete with authentic logos and working web links—it’s just an elaborate fake. The website where you’re instructed to enter your account information into -is also fake. In some instances, really slick spoofers direct you to a genuine website and then arrange a pop up a window to appear over the site. Any information entered, goes straight to the spoofer. Your information will most likely be sold to criminals who’ll use it to drain your accounts, ruin your credit and steal you and your sweetheart’s name!

Follow these tips to prevent having more than your heart stolen this Valentine’s Day!

• Do not respond to unsolicited (spam) e-mail.
• Do not click on links contained within an unsolicited e-mail.
• Be cautious of e-mail claiming to contain pictures in attached files as these files may contain viruses.
• Open attachments only from known senders.
• Avoid filling out forms in e-mail messages that ask for personal information.
• Always compare the link in the e-mail to the link that you are actually directed to.
• Log on to the official website instead of “linking” to it from an unsolicited e-mail.
• Contact the actual business that supposedly sent the e-mail to verify if the e-mail is genuine.
• Make sure you have a firewall and up-to-date antivirus software running on your computer at all times.
• Update any available Security Patches.

You might want to think twice before sending an electronic Valentine’s Day Card this year. Remember instead that “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” and guys rarely read through our cards!

I am a member of LifeLock, as well as an employee, and this is a story of my personal experience with Identity Theft. Identity theft can occur in many different forms, one of which is the theft of a minor’s identity, which is exactly what happened to my two daughters. In our situation the perpetrator used my daughters’ information for defrauding the Department of Economic Security (DES) for financial gain.

I guess I should start with how I found out about the illegal use of my children’s information. Per the recommendation of LifeLock I requested work history reports from the Social Security Administration for both of my daughters. After six weeks I received a letter from DES stating that someone was claiming my girls as dependants and was collecting food stamps and other state assistance. You can imagine my shock, not only because of the fact I never applied nor received financial aid, but that they were holding me responsible for the income. Naturally, I came unglued and made an appointment with DES. Fortunately, they easily came to the conclusion that this was a fraudulent account and released me from responsibility. DES was great in assisting me with this issue, but their explanation for how this happened is quite disturbing.

I should probably step back a few years in order for you to understand how this happened to us and why. I adopted my girls when they were 10 and 12 years of age. Before that their biological parents had full access to their personal information, social security numbers and dates of birth, which of course, did not change after the adoption was final. Apparently, one of the biological parents sold my daughters’ personal information and claimed them as their own when applying for unemployment and state financial assistance. In our case, the perpetrator went as far as to find two children around the same age and brought them to DES when applying for the assistance.

Luckily everything worked out and DES corrected everything, but the experience was stressful. It’s amazing to think how long this could have continued if LifeLock hadn’t assisted in bringing it to my attention.

It is difficult to imagine the amount of time and mental energy it takes to restore a stolen or compromised identity…until it happens to you! We’ve all heard the bad news… declining stocks, job losses, frozen credit markets, and mortgage foreclosures. With the economy in this state, there’s never been a more important time for everyone to get control over their finances, their credit and their very identity.

When inaccurate or fraudulent data finds its way into your credit reports, you may pay a high price for that contaminated data. When it comes to buying an automobile, financing a home or obtaining credit, it’s all about three little numbers – our credit score.

Our credit scores are directly linked to the price of a car or home we can afford. These all-powerful numbers affect both the affordability of insurance premiums as well as our interest rates and ultimately, often become the deciding factor in whether or not we can drive the car we want or purchase the home that seems a perfect for our family.

Odds are pretty good we could be paying a steep price for someone else’s errors or crime, as results of several studies point out that;

• one in four credit reports have errors,
• data breaches are at an all time high, and
• an identity theft occurs every 3 seconds

Identity theft (or inaccurate credit reporting) is often exacerbated by the fact that consumers typically don’t review their credit reports. Oftentimes consumers are complacent or have a false belief… “It won’t happen to me”. That false belief and complacency can get people into deep trouble.

In 2008, “reported” data breaches increased a whopping 47% over 2007, making it easy to see that we really have very little control over our information. Data breaches will continue to occur and thieves will continue to find ingenious methods to hijack, and then sell our personal information.

The truth of the matter is, in a bad economy, scam artists will work overtime and identity theft will spike. January is both Financial Awareness Month and a great time to act on your new year’s resolutions. Aside from getting your finances in order, consider initiating a plan of action should this be the year your identity is stolen or compromised. Remember, the best way to prevent an identity theft - is to plan for one! If you don’t get control over your finances and identity – someone else surely will.

Aside from asking yourself “What’s in your wallet?” ask yourself “Would you know who to call – or what to do… if it suddenly went missing?

There once was a time when the average consumer associated identity theft simply with buying a nifty shredder at Office Depot, shredding personal documents, and being done with it. Those days are over. Nowadays, we hear in the news nearly every single day about some new high-tech scam being used by identity thieves to steal your information and wreak havoc on your financial life. And while many of us may be aware that LifeLock holds an elite spot as the industry leader in identity theft protection, and that identity theft is affecting people all around us, it’s still entirely possible not everyone really understand the in’s and out’s of the nation’s number one crime. (Keep in mind, in the time it took you to read this paragraph, about 10 more people just joined the list of identity theft victims.)

So, in order to continue the ball rolling in increasing identity theft education among all consumers, LifeLock has developed a new program called the LifeLock Speaker Series. With a focus on reaching more people in more places, the program is a series of free educational seminars on identity theft issues and trends.  Each presentation is hosted by a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist and personally customized to fit the needs of specific groups, such as senior citizens, college and high school students, businesses, and law enforcement organizations, just to name a few. It’s designed so that individuals with similar interests can come together and learn about the latest identity theft trends, the inherent risks associated with the crime, as well as the types of proactive measures all consumers should take in order to minimize their risks of becoming a victim.

LifeLock’s Speaker Series provides consumers with the right tools to begin thinking twice when it comes to handling any and all sensitive personal information. It gives groups of people with a lack of knowledge about identity theft the opportunity to empower themselves. The goal is for consumers to no longer consider shredding papers the primary mechanism for defeating this crime.

Anyone interested in finding out more information about LifeLock’s Speaker Series should e-mail speakerrequest@lifelock.com or contact Cortney Read directly at (480) 457-2032.

Type: Check Scams
Method of Delivery: Consumers report receiving checks in the mail, allegedly for winning a sweepstakes, lottery, or promotion.
Primary Region Effected: National

Scam Characteristics: These checks all look very official and communicate urgency with words such as “Final Notification.” That’s designed to stop the consumer from thinking about what the scammers want the person to do. What’s common to all the variations of this scam is that the consumer is urged to deposit the check, and then write another check from the consumer’s bank account to cover alleged taxes or fees. The check that was deposited turns out to be worthless while the check sent by the consumer is good, and that money ends up being unrecoverable.

Recommended Precautions (How to avoid a counterfeit check scam):

• Throw away any offer that asks you to pay for a prize or a gift. If it’s free or a gift, you shouldn’t have to pay for it. Free is free.
• Resist the urge to enter foreign lotteries. It’s illegal to play a foreign lottery through the mail or the telephone, and most foreign lottery solicitations are phony.
• Know who you’re dealing with, and never wire money to strangers.
• If you’re selling something, don’t accept a check for more than the selling price, no matter how tempting the offer or how convincing the story. Ask the buyer to write the check for the correct amount. If the buyer refuses to send the correct amount, return the check. Don’t send the merchandise.
• As a seller, you can suggest an alternative way for the buyer to pay, like an escrow service or online payment service. There may be a charge for an escrow service. If the buyer insists on using a particular escrow or online payment service you’ve never heard of, check it out. Visit its website, and read its terms of agreement and privacy policy. Call the customer service line. If there isn’t one — or if you call and can’t get answers about the service’s reliability — don’t use the service. To learn more about escrow services and online payment systems, visit ftc.gov/onlineshopping.
• If you accept payment by check, ask for a check drawn on a local bank, or a bank with a local branch. That way, you can make a personal visit to make sure the check is valid. If that’s not possible, call the bank where the check was purchased, and ask if it is valid. Get the bank’s phone number from directory assistance or an Internet site that you know and trust, not from the check or from the person who gave you the check.
• If the buyer insists that you wire back funds, end the transaction immediately. Legitimate buyers don’t pressure you to send money by wire transfer services. In addition, you have little recourse if there’s a problem with a wire transaction.
• Resist any pressure to “act now.” If the buyer’s offer is good now, it should be good after the check clears.
  For more information on Check Scams, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website and read – Giving the Bounce to Counterfeit Check Scams

All is fair in love and war? What about business? Unfortunately the economy has affected everyone nationwide and doesn’t appear to be lifting any time soon. At LifeLock, we had our hands in a variety of events this year; ranging from sponsoring a night with professional baseball teams to titling NASCAR races, to local organizations. With companies watching their spending and the momentum LifeLock has gained, everyone wants a piece of us! It a large job to evaluate the many opportunities available to us to build exposure and partnerships.

NASCAR was a major focus of ours this year and is expected to be hit harder than any other sport due to how dependent race teams are on corporate financial involvement. Everywhere you turn belts are being tightened, why should racing be any different? Especially considering the three big automakers have requested a bailout from the government. But they are not alone. All corporate monies are expected to be drastically reduced in an effort to balance the scales. This single act makes it more difficult for NASCAR teams to function properly. However, this single factor doesn’t account for the worries of team owners. Fuel costs, increase in unemployment rates and the feeling of an insecure future are all examples of what a NASCAR fan must endure.

Is there such a thing as a fair-weather fan in NASCAR? Maybe those who are tired of Jimmie Johnson dominating the sport (completely incomprehensible to me) might be fair-weather. Fans will drive an average of 6 hours to attend a race, stand in long lines to purchase their favorite merchandise and do crazy things to have a chance to meet their favorite drivers. The economy may be on a down swing but nothing can sway the NASCAR fan. Tracks will find new ways to market and a way to keep their ever so faithful fans.

In just over a month the next season kicks off with our title races being in June (Michigan International Speedway) and July (Chicagoland Speedway). It will be interesting to see what 2009 holds in store for LifeLock and the NASCAR fan. Oh yeah, just one last thing; Jimmie……go for a fourth Championship. I told you, loyal to the end.

Every time I teach a seminar or speak to a group I am always asked about how safe it is to shop on-line.  The answer to that is that regardless of where you shop (on-line or in person) you always have to be alert and concerned about becoming the victim of Identity Theft.

The reality is that someone is processing your information and is therefore aware of your identifiers and/or credit card numbers.  The best way to protect yourself is to make sure that you only shop on-line with reputable parties and businesses that have demonstrated the responsibility to protect your good name and information.

The same is true of shopping in person.  Make sure that you keep a constant eye on your credit card and identifiers.  If you are completing paperwork for an instant credit application, make sure that when the transaction is completed you ask for the application back so you can destroy it.  Once the application is processed there is NO need for the merchant to maintain the application.  If nothing else, ask them to destroy (shred) the document in front of you for your own personal safety.