Identity Theft Lies

Every time I turn around, I see Identity Theft advertisements (including the ones on this page that I do not endorse). What really bothers me no end is the wording of those ads. On the surface, to someone who has not researched the different types of Identity Theft, you are led to believe that credit monitoring is THE answer to all your cares, woes, and nightmares.

On top of that, what really has me hopping mad is what is not said in the ads. I can only parallel these Identity Theft ads to buying a car where they forget to tell you that a gas pedal and brakes are not included in the price.

Just so you won't be disappointed, research into the different types of identity theft also includes reading the fine print in the Terms of Use and Service Guarantee of Identity Theft Protection and assess your risk.

Here's a quick list of what is omitted in typical Identity Theft coverage:

"If the amount involved is over $1,000, we reserve the right to investigate the Service Guarantee request in order to determine whether the request is valid before we do anything else. We will perform our investigation as promptly as we can."

"Similarly, should we decline your Service Guarantee request following our investigation and that decision subsequently is determined to have been wrong, we will honor our Service Guarantee."

"Your cooperation in completing the Recovery Plan is a condition of the continued involvement of the Recovery Advocate and the Recovery Team. Participants are entitled to the Damage Assessment phase, of the recovery at no cost. The Full Recovery phase will be bid on a case by case basis and it will be the Participant's decision whether to pay for it."

"The Program's lost income and expense reimbursement services are available to you even if you have identity theft insurance with another company. For example, homeowner's policies and credit card companies frequently provide such coverage. However, if you become a victim of an Identity Theft Event, you must seek reimbursement from that company first, up to its policy limits. . . "

How are you supposed to monitor Identity Name Theft which accounts for one-half to two-thirds of all Identity Theft?

Maybe it's time you put the companies' collective feet to the fire and ask them the following questions:

1. Does your company ONLY use credit monitoring to detect Identity Theft?

2. If I notice a problem with my credit reports that may involve Identity Theft or don't understand the reports, will you explain how to use this information?

3. Can you detect Identity Theft when my credit and non-credit-related identity has been stolen? If so, will you do automatic credit freezes?

4. Do you offer nightly scanning of national and international databases for Identity Theft such as with the Department of Motor Vehicles, public databases, criminal databases, credit card aggregators, medical insurance databases and other non-credit related databases?

5. When my identity is stolen, do you actually do the work of restoring my identity such as birth certificates, marriage license records, divorce records, tax records, etc., 401k, IRAs, pension benefits fraud, social security benefits fraud and the like?

6. Do you include children and other dependents (such as parents living with you) in the Identity Theft plan at no extra charge for all the features I would receive?

7. Do you have family member exclusions for Identity Theft? (For example, if a family member would commit identity theft against you and you didn't know anything about it, will that be excluded under your coverage.)

8. Do you include reimbursement for time lost time from work, court costs, attorney fees, postage and the like for Identity Theft?

9. Do you actually handle the legal nightmare of Identity Theft paperwork and everything else involved or do I get "Assist In A Box," meaning I do it?

10. Do you track down Identity Theft criminals, put them behind bars, seeking criminal charges and prosecution? If they say yes, ask them, "How do you do that?"

Don't be so intimidated and threatened by little Tommy Tucker singing for his supper and working 5 jobs in a commercial because someone committed credit fraud Identity Theft in his name and now he's broke. Yes, credit monitoring would have helped him, but there are other types of Identity Theft that can ruin your reputation, your lifetyle and your piece of mind.

If I were Tommy, I'd just as concerned if. . .

1. I was arrested for a crime I didn't commit because someone gave my identifying information when s/he was booked.

2. I discovered someone using my medical insurance at some hospital and the wrong blood type was on file with the Medical Information Bureau.

3. I got thousands of dollars of medical bills that I didn't incur.

4. I found someone assumed my identity and got a job in my name. Not knowing about that "extra income," you would be committing tax fraud.

4. I found someone assumed my identity to collect social security benefits, such as disability income because some nitwit didn't feel like working.

5. I had the nightmare of restoring my identity without losing months out of my life with endless paperwork and follow up.

Since Congress shelved the Real ID bill thanks to the ACLU screaming about our violation of privacy and a few good citizens saying the same, the bill is due to go nowhere soon in any form that would help us.

My personal feeling is, if you don't want a National Identification and feel that would violate your privacy, then go live somewhere else because you obviously have something to hide. Try another country and see how happy you are there.

While Congress, the ACLU, and liberals are stonewalling any legislation that could help you protect yourself against Identity Theft and Identity Name Fraud, don't look for any relief from the government.

Hop on over to my ID Theft And Fraud Protection Blog and discover what it takes to truly protect and restore your identity when, not if, your identity is stolen.