Your personal information is ‘out there.’ It has been shared with enough organizations throughout your lifetime that you can’t always protect your identity yourself. Take a couple minutes and think about whom you have shared your personal information with…doctor’s offices, dentists, schools, employers, banks, insurance companies, tax preparers and the list goes on. What are those organizations doing to protect your information? As careful as you are at protecting your identity, you have no control over what these other organizations are doing to protect your personal information.

Take a look from the other side of the table now and consider what you and your company are doing to protect employee and client information. Your company’s industry may have strict guidelines and regulations that mandate safeguards be put in place. Your company may have processes and procedures to mitigate the risk of losing this information. These processes and procedures should cover data collection, access controls, and data retention.

• Does your company need all of the personal information it is collecting? If not, why accept the additional risk of having this information?
• Is access to personal information limited to those who need it to do their jobs? This includes access to electronic records, and paper records.
• Is your company retaining personal information for a period longer than necessary, or in an unsecure format? If your company is not required to retain personal information and doesn’t need this information, don’t store it. If it does need this information, be sure it is stored safely and securely. This may mean encrypting electronic data.
• If your organization has policies and procedures in place, be sure to adhere to them. These policies and procedures are only as good as the people in your company. If your organization doesn’t have policies and procedures in place, take the initiative and suggest policies be drawn up. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is a good resource to begin your research on proven ways to protect personal information.

There is a great article in the Journal of Accountancy which goes into more specifics in these areas.

I get emails from consumers all over the United States and even in other countries, pointing out the latest scams to separate you from your precious identity. You never know how clever an identity thief can be until one slips under your radar. Don’t let it happen to you! Take a look at these sneaky tales of identity theft and protect yourself from anything like them happening to you.

Cell Phone Trickery

A woman had her handbag – containing her cell phone, wallet, credit cards, etc., stolen from her grocery cart. She called her husband a short twenty minutes later to tell him what had happened and he said, “I received your text asking about our Pin number and I replied a little while ago.” Need less to say, she hadn’t sent him any text. The thief had seen the “Hubby” number on her phone, texted a request for the PIN, and voila! Hundreds of dollars were gone from her ATM account.

Lessons to learn

• Don’t identify people or numbers by personal nicknames like “Hubby,” “Sweetheart,” or even “Home.”
• When you are asked for information, don’t assume you know who is asking. Call and speak to the person to confirm, and if you don’t know who it is, DON’T reveal the information.

Credit Card Switcheroo

A man went to his local gym and placed his belongings in a locker as usual. When he returned after his workout he noticed the locker was open so he checked his belongings—wallet, cash, keys, phone, everything in place. Nothing appeared to be missing. And yet, when he returned from vacation and finally found time to review his bank statements, he was stunned to see that charges totaling a whopping $14,000 where made on his debit card. Apparently, the thief had stolen his card and replaced it with another credit card—an expired one—issued by the same bank. The man hadn’t noticed because didn’t use it regularly.

Worst of all, the credit card company refused to pay the charges because the card had not been reported stolen. Ouch!

Lessons to learn

• Check carefully when something suspicious happens. Your personal information is worth a few minutes of looking at everything in your wallet if you suspect that someone has been snooping.
• Have a special set of gym-only stuff that travels with you to that locker room so you aren’t leaving everything about yourself in one easily compromised place.
• If you don’t want your life tipped upside down due to a thief stealing your wallet (or identity) –then you need LifeLock. WalletLock, a service included in a LifeLock membership, takes the time, panic and hassle out of a lost or stolen wallet.

As you can see, the people who would steal your identity are getting craftier, so you have to become even more careful. Don’t let these scams happen to you! With knowledge there’s power and with power there’s peace of mind –and with peace of mind there’s LifeLock!

Students be aware, university data breaches have resulted in a new tact for identity thieves. Recently, I have received several emails to both my personal and school account reporting to be from my university. Similar to the fraud email from “your bank,” this email denotes a need for you to reaffirm who you are and ensure that the university has registered the correct student in order to remain on track for graduation. The good news is that the data breach must have only compromised my school information (school id number, email, GPA, etc.). The bad news, not every student is a former identity theft victim and will think twice before responding. Thus, it is ever more important for students to remain informed and remember that for every lock we put in place, another thief is looking to find a new way in.

Moreover, recently the FTC released its yearly report on the statistics concerning identity theft. Many things had increased. From the number of cases, to the cost; however, one statistic stood out so strongly above the rest for this victim. The number of cases that get reported to the FTC and not the local authorities was among the highest for the 2008 year. This means that victims of the crime are reporting the crime to their credit companies and the then to the FTC without reporting the crime to the police. Maybe if more people report the crime to the police, more effort will be put forth to go after and stop these criminals. From students to teachers to families, everyone needs to do everything they can to keep thieves away from our personal identifying information.

If more of us report the crime, we not only protect ourselves, but also increase the safety net for our communities. Simply because the crime has increased in number for the last five years doesn’t mean this year has to be the same. With the right tools and drive we can put a stop to identity theft. Either by doing it yourself or having a company lock up your identity, we all have the ability to stay safe and start putting the pressure on thieves. It all starts by empowering and protecting yourself, then your family, then your community. Working together we can all put an end to the phishing emails as well as affect the outcome of the FTC 2009 statistics on identity theft.

Everything we do is a cost benefit analysis. Before we do anything, we look at what we have to give up, in relation to the value of what we expect to get in return. We won’t even get out of bed in the morning until we have done the math. We rate the cost (get out of the warm bed) versus value (mmm, breakfast burrito). Once we weigh the two, we decide whether to “risk it”, and then get to work, or do nothing.

Problem is, human beings are very poor at rating the value of anything. We have a difficult time deciding what is a reasonable amount to pay/work for something, because we are extremely poor estimators of the actual value of anything. We spend billions on lottery tickets, will pay twice as much if shoes have a particular logo scribbled across them, will drive 30 miles to save 100 dollars on a TV, but will not leave a dealership for the one two miles down the street if it does not offer greater than a $2,000 savings on our auto loan.

So what does this have to do with your personal identity and identity theft protection?

Two questions:

• Do I truly recognize the true value of keeping my identity safe?
• And what is a reasonable price to keep that identity safe?

We already know there is high risk for identity theft. Identity theft is on the news almost every day. Odds are that most of us have some idea of the pain caused by identity theft, either through our own experience, or through the experience of someone we know. This risk gets greater every day. Every person on earth should be making efforts to protect themselves, but still some millions don’t do anything about it.

Why not? Perhaps in their eyes, the perceived likelihood of identity theft, and the possible pain of losing their Identity still doesn’t warrant the effort and cost of enlisting identity theft protection? LifeLock is the industry leader in identity theft protection, and offers its service for less than $10 a month. A pair of Double Chai Latte’s cost more! Yet some still refrain from enlisting identity theft protection services. This leads me to believe that some people have not truly understood the value of their identity. They do not recognize the value of not only not losing your identity, but also keeping your Identity.

So you may ask yourself, what is the value to me of keeping my identity secure? Let’s put it in terms of cash value. Imagine a handsome, yet slightly mysterious stranger came to you on the street and said, “I cannot tell you why, but I need your Social Security Number, current address, and first and last name. I am ready to hand you cash today. How much will you require?”
So, how much money would it take for you to give him your personal information? Knowing you will have to make every effort as soon as you get home (and for the rest of your life) to make sure that information cannot be used to affect you personally? Did you demand $100? $30,000? A million?

Now look at situations in the past where you did just that. You gave your personal information to a stranger. Maybe he wasn’t as handsome as the gentleman in our example, but the scenario was very close. You gave your personal information to a stranger the last time you bought a car (a $25,000 purchase?). But you would feel highly concerned if personal information was required in order to buy shoes ($100)? What is the threshold at which it would be “reasonable” to give them your personal information?

The cash value in each scenario may give you a clue of what the cash value of your identity is to you. Is the amount required in the car salesman scenario even close to the amount you would have required from the handsome stranger?

Now that you have a better idea of the cash value of a secure identity to you, what would be a reasonable amount to invest to keep it?
May I offer a suggestion?

LifeLock is the industry leader in identity theft protection, and offers its service for less than $10 a month. Our job is to protect your good name. As a consumer, you have rights that allow you to take more control over who uses your identity and how they use it. We do the mechanics, the details if you will, to enforce those rights. And we stand behind our service with our $1,000,000 total service guarantee.

We don’t think you will see a guarantee like this anywhere else from any other company. If you do, let us know because we’d like to do business with them. If you have a reason to think that you will become a victim of identity theft, we can help you stop looking over your shoulder, because we’ve got your back. We understand the investment on your part is twofold: trusting us with your personal information to allow us to protect you, and $10 a month.

Its tax time again. I made my normal trip to my tax appointment office to process my paperwork. Thoughts of what I was going to buy with my refund were running through my head. After an hour with the tax advisor my taxes were completed and e-filed. I paid a little bit extra to have my refund within 1-2 days by getting an anticipation loan from a bank. After 24 hours I got a call from my accountant to tell me that the anticipation loan was denied and that I would receive my check within 8 – 15 days. I figured that was fine and that I could wait that long. Well, 18 days went by with no check. After calling my accountant every day for 10 days, I was getting very frustrated. No one could tell me why I didn’t have my refund check yet. I was ready to go to the office and throw a fit. On the 19th day I received a call from the accountant’s headquarters asking that I contact the bank in regards to my tax refund check.

I made the call and low and behold….. I have fraud alerts on my credit report and they needed to take additional steps to verify my identity, prior to allowing the anticipation loan to be processed. DUH! I work for LifeLock and I’m a LifeLock member, why hadn’t I thought of that. It had slipped my mind that the refund coming within 8 - 15 days was still going to be a loan. I’m glad to know that no one else would have been able to get an anticipation loan using my information without my permission. Fortunately my story had a happy ending and I received my refund.

I’ve got a scary number for you: Security experts estimate that as many as ten million personal computers are infected with viruses designed to steal your personal information.

If that doesn’t make your hair stand on end, then listen to this: Panda Security found that at least one percent of the 67 million people who utilized their free ActiveScan to test their computers last year were infected with malicious Trojan software programs. That’s 670,000 computers. They estimate that if 1 percent of the computers in homes across the world actually downloaded malware without knowledge of it, it’s safe to estimate then that over ten million computers worldwide could potentially be infected with software capable of stealing its contents—and along with that, personal identities.

The scary numbers just keep coming. According to Panda, their detection rate rose to over 800 percent between the middle of 2008 and the end of the year. Victims are usually infected after being duped into downloading virus programs through fake websites or pop-ups.

Malicious programs such as key logger spyware can go undetected for quite a period of time, whether or not the latest antivirus updates are installed. And once these destructive programs are downloaded onto a computer, every keystroke made—including credit card numbers entered, Social Security numbers typed, banking information and passwords input—are then in the hands of the bad guys. Thieves have become technologically savvy. In fact, Panda reported that more than a third of the PCs they found to be infected had fully-functional and recently-updated anti-virus programs installed.

Here are some of the highlights from Panda’s study on the evolution of online identity theft:

• Over three million of the audited users in the U.S. and more than 10 million users worldwide were infected with active identity theft-based malware in 2008
• 1.07 percent of all PCs scanned in 2008 were infected with active malware (resident in memory during the scan) related to identity theft, such as banker Trojans
• 35 percent of the infected PCs had up-to-date antivirus software installed
• The number of PCs infected with identify theft malware increased by 800 percent from the first half of 2008 to the second half

A few tips to help protect your computer and your identity;

• 1. If you are using a shared computer, always delete any personal information and passwords you may have entered.
• 2. Never click on pop-ups or embedded links contained in email from an unknown source, even if it says, “You have been sent a postcard from your friend!” These are most likely fronts for “phishing” scams. DON’T CLICK.
• 3. Use care when picking passwords. Don’t use passwords containing public information that a trained identity thief can easily crack. Hint: your birth date, the name of your pet, and your mother’s maiden name are not as secret as you think.

I have one last number for you: The Federal Trade Commission estimates that over nine million consumers have had their identities stolen in the United States alone. Remember, the best way to prevent an identity theft is to plan for one. If your wallet is stolen, “who ya gonna call”? I know I’m going to call LifeLock, and leave the clean-up to them!

During the past two weeks I have spoken with a number of victims of identity theft and credit card fraud (skimming). In each conversation we discussed how the victim was targeted and where their information was compromised. One victim was unsure where the point of compromise occurred, the second victim was targeted through skimming, and the third believes the information was from the Human Resource Department of an employer. In order to create the best possible chance to identify the perpetrators of this type of criminal activity it is extremely important to determine the original point of compromise where your information was stolen or obtained.

This element of the case not only provides specific clues to who the perpetrator is but also can be utilized to identify other possible victims which in turn can lead law enforcement to other locations where the information may have been utilized to gain credit in the victim’s name. For that matter it is extremely important to closely monitor your expenditures and credit card statements so that you can immediately recognize unauthorized activity on your account. The quicker a victim realizes they have been targeted the faster law enforcement can begin to identify the potential point of compromise.

The Scam

Caller: “Hi, I’m Carl from the Department of Economic Security. I’m calling to verify employment for Judy Smith.”
HR: “I’m sorry, I cannot provide any information to you without a signed release.”
Caller: “Well, Judy Smith is waiting for benefits from DES. I just need you to verify she works there.”
HR: “It is against our policy to provide any information without a signed release from the employee.”
Caller: “You’re just making it difficult for Judy Smith to claim benefits.”
HR: “We’re happy to help any way possible, once we receive the signed release. Here’s our fax number: 222.555.1111.”

The Reality

Judy Smith has a restraining order taken out against an ex-boyfriend as a result of his arrest for assault. The caller was the ex-boyfriend looking for information on how to find Judy.

Protecting Identities and Privacy

Human Resources, as the keeper of private employee information, receives a multitude of requests each week from a number of outside agencies and sources seeking information about employees. These requests come from state and Federal agencies, mortgage lenders, and other organizations.

Most of these requests for information are absolutely legitimate and organizations seeking this type of information are now used to HR departments requiring signed employee authorizations before the release of any information. Willingly they comply and fax over signed employee authorizations.

However, criminals and individuals with malice in mind contact HR departments, too, seeking private and confidential information. HR professionals have heard these people say, “I just need you to tell me they work there for my files to be complete.” Or “Can you verify what location where the employee works?” or even “They’re waiting to close on a house and you will mess this up for them if you don’t tell me over the phone.”

Rest assured that LifeLock’s HR department has implemented best practices to protect employee information and their privacy. LifeLock will only release information if an employee has signed an authorization to do so or LifeLock is required by a court order or subpoena to provide such information. Some steps you, your friends and family can take to assist HR departments in protecting your identity and privacy are to contact the HR department when:

• If you have filed a Restraining Order, contact your HR department immediately so steps can be taken to protect you while at work.
• You have applied for a mortgage or loan and you are expecting your lender to contact your employer for a verification of employment.
• You’ve applied for assistance through a state or non-profit agency that will verify your employment or hours worked.
• You suspect someone is trying to find out about your personal or professional life.

Throughout our entire lives we are taught to protect our Good Name and our credit score. In fact it could be said that two of the most important things we can have to aid us in success is our good name and good credit. Even though we know this, on occasion we do things or more importantly don’t do things that could put our good name and good credit status at risk.

For example, almost every day we mail out documents from our mailboxes at our residence. Most of the time, we mail out important documents, letters, or envelopes that contain information or other items that identity thieves can use to target us. We mail out bills with accompanying checks or even worse tax related documents. Not only do we mail them from our mailbox but we put the flag up on the mailbox to alert thieves that there is something in the mailbox worth stealing.

Everyone needs to do a better job at protecting their interest and valuable name by mailing out important items from secure places, were identity thieves are unable to steal them with ease. While it is a simple step of protection it may just be the one step that keeps us from becoming a victim of identity theft.

“So, just so I’m clear, I’m telling you that someone stole $1,000 out of my account, and you’re telling me that even though I’m a customer of your bank, and even though the ATMs belong to you, the only way you’ll look at the film in your cameras, so I can prove it wasn’t me, is if I go to the police and get a subpoena?”

“That’s right. The only way you can see the picture is with a subpoena.”

“Okay, but you’re still my banker, right?

“Right.”

“That’s okay, because as my banker you can just look at the film in your camera for me?”

“No. My supervisor says you’ll need a subpoena for that, too.”

Unlike most people, I know that my financial institutions don’t protect me from all identity theft. They only protect me for the accounts I have with them. In fact, my bank makes a big deal out of some of their services in their advertising.

Here’s what they say on their web site:

“If you’re a victim of identity theft or account fraud, you should notify your bank(s) immediately. If your account(s) is with us you should call your customer service representative immediately. We will work with you in an effort to make appropriate corrections of unauthorized transactions in your accounts and to correct any incorrect reports submitted by us to credit bureaus, and will attempt to help protect you from any future identity theft or account fraud.”

They also told me to place fraud alerts on my account and file a report with the police.

All of which I did (or LifeLock had already done for me). So you can imagine my surprise when after reporting that I had apparently been the victim of Skimming, my bank informed me that they found nothing wrong with they were recognizing as an “authorized transaction.”

Skimming is when identity thieves create a new card by stealing your credit and debit card numbers using a special storage device when processing your card (see Wayne Ivey’s blog of November 24, 2008). They also stole my PIN. The thieves then proceeded to withdraw the maximum daily amount. Luckily I caught them on Day 2 and reported the two thefts to my bank.

When the bank denied my claim, they told me I’d be able to view the material used to review my case, so in lieu of a subpoena forcing them to look at the ATM footage, I asked to see the material.

“What documents?”

“The documents used to review my claim. The denial notice said I could see all the material used to review my claim.”

“My supervisor says that’s just a form letter and there are no documents.”

“Then how did you review my case?”

“We have a series of guidelines.”

“Fine. Send me a copy of the guidelines.”

“Well, they’re not actually written guidelines.”

So, to make a long story only slightly less long, the first phase in my bank’s efforts to “help me” is actually a Denial Procedure. I know because two of the representatives I spoke with told exactly that. That is to say that, rather than help me recover my losses, the bank first looks to see if they can simply justify not helping me at all.

But I have LifeLock.

For three days my bank refused to help me in anyway. Forty minutes after LifeLock got involved, the bank agreed to review the footage, without a subpoena, and less than 24-hours after that my $1000 was back in my account.

LifeLock works. My soon-to-be-former-bank, not so much.

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?

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.

I love the holiday! I have ever since I was a little girl. My family and I would begin to decorate the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, that’s the day my dad would go into the garage and pull out all the Christmas lights we owned… quite begrudgingly I might add, as my mother, who LOVES Christmas lights, seemed to add more to the collection each year.

In the beginning, my dad would lay out all the ‘old’ C-7’s on the grass and plug them in checking each light if a cord was out. Soon he transformed these cords into cords that allowed the other lights to still illuminate even if there was a light out in the row.

If only we took this much time and care to protect our identities all year long and check our credit reports every now and then for ‘burnt out bulbs’ or perhaps upgrade our security practices to help protect our identities better.

My family has kept every ornament that my brother or I have ever made, yep, all the way from the paper and glitter Christmas trees to the bric-a-brac covered pinecones, they’re all there. Baby’s first Christmas ornaments and miniature soccer player angels as well as ornaments from my grandparent’s trees that have been lovingly and carefully wrapped and nestled into boxes from the 1940’s are all present on our tree. Imagine if we kept all of our financial and personal information as diligently.

Financial records are important to keep track of. Purchases, receipts, tax returns, pay stubs, bills, credit cards, all personal information that should be kept in case of discrepancies and for our own personal records in case we become a victim of identity theft. If we kept this information, we could file police reports easier in case of a theft. Yet, we don’t seem to care for these documents like our treasured Christmas ornaments.

In my family on Christmas Eve, a Yule Log would be burning in our fireplace as my brother and I opened presents from our parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and friends. Then we would get into our ‘footie’ pajamas, make S’mores in the fireplace, set out a special Christmas Mug and Plate especially for Santa of milk and cookies, as well as a carrot for Rudolph, then climb into bed and try to stay awake as long as our eyes would allow in hope to hear or see Santa Claus.

Think of this, Santa Claus, a man we’ve never met, who knows our inner most hearts and our year-long personal behavior characteristics. Naughty? Nice? Present? Coal? A man who knows where we live. A man we tell our most desired wishes to. A man who uses alias’s to get by, Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, Pere Noel, Baba Chaghaloo. A man whom we welcome with open arms into our homes one night a year to leave presents, and he doesn’t even use the front door, he shimmies down the chimney. Any ‘regular’ person who did this would be considered an intruder. Now heed this thought, how many people know about our personal information or our own personal behavior characteristics? How many other ‘Santa’s’ are out there searching to invade our personal identities? The point is, we never know who might be looking into our lives getting ready to leave lumps of coal in our proverbial stocking.

With this in mind, be on alert for Santa Fraud this holiday season. In fact, ask the real Santa Claus for a shredder for Christmas, or maybe a subscription to LifeLock. Spread the holiday cheer and give a practical gift everyone will love, LifeLock for the whole family! Don’t get caught in a battle between Santa Claus and Santa Fraud, let LifeLock sort it out!

Merry Christmas!
~Christina Hall

Whether you believe it or not, the holiday season is in full swing. We are all busy and juggling many responsibilities, family life, work, travel, shopping and so much more! It is really easy to become overwhelmed and let your guard down. Sadly, there are people waiting for this to happen they want to steal from you while you’re distracted; they may want your wallet or worse… your identity.

The concern exists every day, however, it important to remember to stay vigilant during this very hectic time of year. The guidelines remain the same regardless of the time of year, but here are a few key points to remember while you are out and about, during the holiday season:

• Be aware of your surroundings – Protect your personal space at the ATM. Be aware of other people’s proximity whenever you enter a PIN.
• Never carry your Social Security Card in your wallet with your Driver’s License – Shield your SSN, it is the primary means of identification.
• Limit the number of credit or debit cards in your wallet – The fewer items you have available the easier they easier it is for you to keep track of them. If something bad happens, you will be more certain of what’s missing.
• Never let your credit card leave your sight – This isn’t always possible, but it will limit the opportunity for credit card skimming.
• Never leave receipts behind – These create a paper trail for someone else to follow, don’t help them!

In the case of protecting what’s in your wallet, remember that LifeLock offers WalletLock as part of our service. If ever you lose your wallet, just give us a call. We’ll transfer you to a certified Recovery Specialist that will help you:

• Identify your missing documents
• Contact each credit, bank or document issuing company while you’re on the phone
• Cancel the lost cards, licenses and documents (including your credit/debit cards, driver’s licenses, social security cards, insurance cards, passports, checkbooks and travelers checks*)
• Fill out the paperwork and request new replacements
• Initiate the fraud affidavit and police reports if the wallet was stolen
• Depending on the severity of the situation, additional follow-up and resolution calls will be arranged.

In many cases, we will be able to replace all of your documents for you. However, some states require you to be involved with us directly. If this happens, we’ll make it as easy as possible by filling out the necessary forms ahead of time and setting appointments at your convenience - all you have to do is show up.

WalletLock - it’s just one more way we go above and beyond to guarantee your good name.

Identity theft is a smart crime.  Make no mistake about it, when it comes to getting a hold of your personal information, thieves will do anything and everything from pick pocketing to phishing just for a chance at your identity.  Moreover, for every thief’s scam that doesn’t work, two more pop up.  With such a vast number of thieves and even more cons, for most people these days the question becomes not whom can’t we trust but who can we.  One could labor intensively over the vast number of emails and phone calls; even personal visits in some cases, from identity thieves who seem relentless in their attempt to figure out just what will motivate you to give up the numbers that may hurt you most.  On the other hand, with such a busy world today and such a growing number of thieves many people are turning to experts for help.

In an unfortunate trend for the crime, people and families who were once empowered by programs, like LifeLock, to keep themselves safe are now finding the thieves once again making them feel helpless.  For example, last year experts struggled to keep the public informed as the emergence of skimmers grew.  While it is still unseen what new tact thieves will take this year, one thing is clear; individuals cannot hope to keep themselves safe let alone loved ones without help.

LifeLock has done a great job in attempting to empower communities to stay safe, but as the times change those do-it-yourselfers are finding it difficult to keep up.  Furthermore, the rapid springing up of fraud prevention companies can overwhelm individuals with too many choices and not enough substance.

Many have heard my grief with companies such as freecreditreport.com who disenfranchise the public with hopes of help without cost, only to leave them confused and discouraged when told they must in fact pay.  That is why I’m glad there is a company like LifeLock out there.  One with enough integrity to not only help communities for free, but also go above and beyond in providing the best protection and safety net for the same or lower cost of other ‘id protection’ companies.

I truly believe everyone should figure out their own security needs for this ever-evolving crime and then choose the company that fits them best, but I would be surprised if after researching companies someone found anyone who can keep them and their family safe better than LifeLock.

Today’s society is a convenience driven society that each of us has become comfortable with. Unfortunately, convenience and comfort can often give us a false sense of security that exposes us to increased risks of becoming the victims of Identity Theft and Credit Card Fraud.

One of those comforts is the luxury to sit in a restaurant and have our server take our credit card and bill to the register to facilitate payment. For the most part waiters and waitresses are some of the hardest working and most integral members of the service industry.

Unfortunately though, there are a significant number of them that carry “electronic skimmers” in their aprons and pockets allowing them the ability to electronically steal the information that is concealed in the magnetic strip of your credit card.

Within hours and in some cases even minutes your information is downloaded into a computer and placed on the magnetic strip of a cloned credit card that contains your billing information. The newly created card with your information is then sold on the “black market” and used until it reaches the maximum charge limit.

I am often asked during seminars how we can stop or at least prevent ourselves from becoming victims of this type of criminal activity. One answer is to always accompany the waitress/waiter to the cash register and maintain absolute control of your credit card.

There should be nothing embarrassing about doing this as each of us has the right and privilege of protecting ourselves from identity thieves and credit card fraud. Another significant step toward protecting yourself from credit card skimming is to routinely review your credit card billing statement to make sure that all the charges are the result of legitimate activity.

As with all forms of Identity Theft, education, awareness, and early recognition are vital keys to protecting your good name.

Wayne Ivey
27 Year law Enforcement Veteran
Identity Theft Consultant

Medical identity theft, by definition, is what results when a thief steals someone else’s social security number or health insurance information in order to obtain medical benefits of their own, particularly in the form of hospital visits and prescription drugs. The two facets of medical identity theft involve financial breaches of security and healthcare fraud. Long-term detrimental effects can easily result from this increasingly prevalent type of identity theft.

Medical identity theft is not as easy to detect or reverse as are the more common forms of identity fraud. This type of identity theft has left victims with tainted health records, medical histories, and diagnoses. Victims may receive bills for medications, tests and even surgeries that they never had done. In order to ensure your own adequate identity theft protection, always be on the look out for medical service bills, records and notations that are not and were never applicable to your own history. If at any time you receive a bill for a service you never received, or you’re asked questions regarding an unknown medical condition, you’ve probably been victimized. Some victims of medical identity theft have even received faulty blood transfusions due to their records indicating the wrong blood type. So not only can this crime ruin your credit, it can also be potentially life-threatening.

Thieves often fail to pay their shares of insurance deductibles and co-pays, leaving their victims to receive credit reports detailing unrecognizable medical debts. Having a working knowledge of identity theft prevention techniques will help you protect yourself from this damaging crime. It is estimated that 1 in 6 Americans don’t have insurance, making it very tempting for some people to engage in medical identity theft, especially when emergency situations arise. If, heaven forbid, someone uses your personal data in an emergency care facility, they are very likely to get away with it as these facilities cannot refuse care and are less likely to catch the error in the first place.

To date, there are no government statistics as to the number of medical identity fraud cases occurring annually in the United States, but insurance providers and hospitals agree that this type of theft is presenting itself more and more. Approximately 250,000 Americans have been victims of medical identity theft thus far, according to the World Privacy Forum. If you think your medical records and insurance data are safe, never underestimate a thief’s ability to get their hands on your information. And because insurance companies share patient information, should you decide to switch to another provider in the future, your tarnished medical history just might follow you.

Should a medical identity thief ever use your good name to seek treatment, you could be refused insurance coverage later–depending on the treatment they sought. It’s no secret that insurance agencies can and will refuse coverage to people with histories of certain drug use or pre-existing conditions.

Here are a few medical identity theft protection tips for you and your loved ones to keep in mind:

• Any notices from your insurance carrier should be opened immediately.
• If you’re ever informed of or billed for treatment you didn’t receive, dispute it right away.
• Always shred these documents before throwing them in the trash.
• Be diligent about checking your credit report and dispute any unknown medical accounts with credit reporting agencies, as well as your insurance company.
• If you receive mail from a doctor’s office or hospital where you haven’t been a patient, don’t just assume it’s junk. Open these immediately, as they could be bills for services to which you weren’t privy.
• Let credit agencies know so they can put fraud alerts on your file. Also let your insurance company know right away.

If you lead a hectic lifestyle and don’t especially want to spend your free time placing fraud alerts, ordering credit reports, opting out of junk mailing lists, and can’t fathom spending months or years trying to restore your identity if stolen, then consider doing what I did…enroll in LifeLock and turn the burden of protecting your life over to them!

~ Denise Richardson, Author of Give Me Back My Credit