Identtiy Theft Secrets is the site that Identity Thieves don't want you to see!
IdentityTheftSecrets
Tutorials on avoiding Identity Theft
Want to see what thieves do to steal your information? Check it out!
- IdentityTheftSecrets
- After almost becoming a victim of a 409 Nigerian Fraud scheme, I figured out that there are many people who just don't know what's going on in the world of online scams. This site has been started as a way to help people protect themselves, not only online, but in the real world as well.
Debunking the myth - this won't help.
There are many things you can do to help reduce your risk, but none of them have been proven to be effective.
Reducing risk is what people generally ask me about. Even though there is no 100% effective plan against Identity Theft, people still want a list that they can check off at the end of the day.
So, here is a list of what "experts" traditionally recommend you can do to protect yourself, although the time you spend doing the things on the list may not be worth it, as no studies have really proven that these methods will reduce your risk in any way.
All of your information is held in many databases that you have no idea exist. Once hacked, or physically stolen, all your prevention steps prove futile. Here are some examples of things people tell you to do, and why they don't work.
So, here is a list of what "experts" traditionally recommend you can do to protect yourself, although the time you spend doing the things on the list may not be worth it, as no studies have really proven that these methods will reduce your risk in any way.
All of your information is held in many databases that you have no idea exist. Once hacked, or physically stolen, all your prevention steps prove futile. Here are some examples of things people tell you to do, and why they don't work.
- carry the info with you that you absolutely need. Avoid taking higher limit cards with you.
- Don't put your social security number on your checks. In fact, don't put your social security number on anything. Good luck.
- Keep an eye on your mail. Don't wait until the end of the day to pick it up. Better yet, get a locking mailbox. Don't deposit outgoing mail anwhere except at the post office.
Oh, wait, a letter carrier was caught with over 1,000 pieces of other people's mail in Virginia not too long ago, and identity thieves actually stole a mailbox, planted it at a different location, and collected mail from it. - Never allow your mail to build up while you're out of town. "Stolen mail is one of the easiest ways to get someone's vital statistics."
This is true, but as we've been saying all along, most often, identity theft is committed by someone you know, and not usually from the mailbox. - "Know your payment cycles on your credit cards. If the bill is late, call and ask why." This is a good piece of advice, because identity thieves often request a change of address for your credit card billing and run hefty charges up before you notice that you're not getting your monthly statements.
However, what happens when they open a NEW account in your name? You never had "regular billing cycles" for that card, or mortgage, or auto loan, because you never had a payment to begin with. (or so you thought) - "There are people who have legitimate reasons to ask for personal information. Employers, merchants, landlords, etc. Before you give out that information, know why they need it, and only give them what they actually need to complete the transaction."
How likely is your new potential boss going to be to hire you when you start asking tons of questions about why they need your social security number, and refuse to give it to them?
Will your potential new landlord rent to you without your social security number?
How do you know that potential new landlord won't use your information in unscrupulous ways? - Never give personal info to people who contact you out of the blue.
This is also a good idea, but may not be practical in many real-world situations. - So, what do I recommend?
Identity theft is like having your financial house on fire. Don't put it out, and it will continue to burn and usually become worse.
What I recommend is monitoring. But not just monitoring.
I recommend monitoring with restoration.
Monitoring without restoration is like a fire alarm with no fire extinguisher, no water, and not even any flour. Sure, you might be able to put out the fire by beating it with a blanket, but you might also just catch the blanket on fire. - Monitoring and Restoration is like having the fire alarm hooked up on a direct connection to the fire department, and having fire hoses installed in your house, just waiting for the right people to man the hoses.
Who's really stupid?
Someone told me that you'd have to be stupid to lose your identity.
Someone recently told me, "You would have to be a stupid to lose your personal information." While I respectfully responded to this person in the moment, the comment has stuck with me. I present on Identity Theft all over the Western United States, & I'm responding to this particular individual in writing.
There are multitudes of ways to lose your personal information. You have undoubtedly heard of many of them. Fake web sites, data theft, stealing people's trash, stealing people's outgoing mail, check fraud, etc., are just a few of the possibilities for loss of information. Job ads are also being used for Identity Theft. Monster.com ranks fake companies posing as real companies on their web site among their biggest problems.
There is NO 100% effective method to defend yourself against identity theft.
Here's an example of why. Let's say you want to get health insurance, or auto insurance, or finance a car, etc. etc. etc. Let's say for purposes of this example that you are trying to get health insurance through your company. This is a relatively simple process, right? Fill out the form, and wait to get the insurance cards in the mail.
What you may not realize is that the insurance agent has taken the form you filled out and submitted it for group health. It is submitted to three different companies for underwriting. So now, the insurance agent and the insurance company has the information from you, the three companies supplying the insurance coverage have the information on you, AND all of the employees at all four points have access to the information. Think about how many employees that might be.
That info is often then passed on to a data warehouse like ChoicePoint. Who has access to ChoicePoint? Who doesn't have access to ChoicePoint?
The info is also submitted to your MIB (Medical Information Bureau) file. Anyone who has access to the MIB files, now has access to all of that information.
According to John Gardner, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneurial Soul, "This makes the Identity Theft Shield, along with a Pre-Paid Legal Services Membership, an absolute must for anyone that's breathing."
So to you, sir, who more or less said to me, "You'd have to be stupid to become a victim of Identity Theft!" I wish you my best. If you want to continue thinking that shredding your info is going to protect you, then for you I respectfully choose a phrase used by my friend Larry Smith. "Sometimes, you just can't fix stupid."
There are multitudes of ways to lose your personal information. You have undoubtedly heard of many of them. Fake web sites, data theft, stealing people's trash, stealing people's outgoing mail, check fraud, etc., are just a few of the possibilities for loss of information. Job ads are also being used for Identity Theft. Monster.com ranks fake companies posing as real companies on their web site among their biggest problems.
There is NO 100% effective method to defend yourself against identity theft.
Here's an example of why. Let's say you want to get health insurance, or auto insurance, or finance a car, etc. etc. etc. Let's say for purposes of this example that you are trying to get health insurance through your company. This is a relatively simple process, right? Fill out the form, and wait to get the insurance cards in the mail.
What you may not realize is that the insurance agent has taken the form you filled out and submitted it for group health. It is submitted to three different companies for underwriting. So now, the insurance agent and the insurance company has the information from you, the three companies supplying the insurance coverage have the information on you, AND all of the employees at all four points have access to the information. Think about how many employees that might be.
That info is often then passed on to a data warehouse like ChoicePoint. Who has access to ChoicePoint? Who doesn't have access to ChoicePoint?
The info is also submitted to your MIB (Medical Information Bureau) file. Anyone who has access to the MIB files, now has access to all of that information.
According to John Gardner, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneurial Soul, "This makes the Identity Theft Shield, along with a Pre-Paid Legal Services Membership, an absolute must for anyone that's breathing."
So to you, sir, who more or less said to me, "You'd have to be stupid to become a victim of Identity Theft!" I wish you my best. If you want to continue thinking that shredding your info is going to protect you, then for you I respectfully choose a phrase used by my friend Larry Smith. "Sometimes, you just can't fix stupid."
Why does FACTA matter to employers? Part 1
As an employer, FACTA is something you should be aware of.
FACTA stands for Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act. FACTA is the law which allows any American access to their credit report once per year. The law went into effect Jan. 1, 2005. So what does that mean for you as an employer?
On June 1, 2005, a new provision of FACTA went into effect. It says that any employer (even if you only employ one person, and you have their personal information so that you can pay social security taxes,) whose action or inaction results in the loss of employee information, can be fined by federal and state government, and sued in civil court.
A USA Today article on FACTA from Jan. 14. 2005, stated "Bet you didn't know that." But you need to know, and need to know what you can do to protect yourself.
Small Businesses affected the most
'"A small businessman who makes a mistake could bear the brunt of a regulation like this," says James Plummer, policy analyst at Consumer Alert, a non-profit group that focuses on a free-market approach to consumer regulations.'
The USA Today article goes on to say that "if you don't shred and information gets out, there are penalties." But what if you do shred all potential employee information, and take all necessary precautions to protect your past, current, and future employees' identities, and the information still gets out somehow? Under FACTA, you could still be held responsible.
You may not think information theft could happen to you, but neither did this short list of companies, universities, government institutions, and businesses that have had employee or customer information stolen from them:
DSW Shoe Warehouse
Lexis Nexis
University of Northern Colorado
California State University (Chico)
University of California - Berkeley
University of Maryland
Las Vegas Department of Motor Vehicles
Bank of America
Choice Point
Weld County (CO) Employees (information stolen by an inmate while in jail)
How can an employer minimize their liability?
There are hundreds of things that can be done to minimize liability, which are probably things that are already done. Document shredding, redaction of electronically stored information, careful screening of employees who will be coming into contact with personal information of customers and employees, physically locking file drawers with sensitive information, and setting up firewalls on computer equipment connected to the Internet, among hundreds of other solutions, are all good ideas.
On June 1, 2005, a new provision of FACTA went into effect. It says that any employer (even if you only employ one person, and you have their personal information so that you can pay social security taxes,) whose action or inaction results in the loss of employee information, can be fined by federal and state government, and sued in civil court.
A USA Today article on FACTA from Jan. 14. 2005, stated "Bet you didn't know that." But you need to know, and need to know what you can do to protect yourself.
Small Businesses affected the most
'"A small businessman who makes a mistake could bear the brunt of a regulation like this," says James Plummer, policy analyst at Consumer Alert, a non-profit group that focuses on a free-market approach to consumer regulations.'
The USA Today article goes on to say that "if you don't shred and information gets out, there are penalties." But what if you do shred all potential employee information, and take all necessary precautions to protect your past, current, and future employees' identities, and the information still gets out somehow? Under FACTA, you could still be held responsible.
You may not think information theft could happen to you, but neither did this short list of companies, universities, government institutions, and businesses that have had employee or customer information stolen from them:
DSW Shoe Warehouse
Lexis Nexis
University of Northern Colorado
California State University (Chico)
University of California - Berkeley
University of Maryland
Las Vegas Department of Motor Vehicles
Bank of America
Choice Point
Weld County (CO) Employees (information stolen by an inmate while in jail)
How can an employer minimize their liability?
There are hundreds of things that can be done to minimize liability, which are probably things that are already done. Document shredding, redaction of electronically stored information, careful screening of employees who will be coming into contact with personal information of customers and employees, physically locking file drawers with sensitive information, and setting up firewalls on computer equipment connected to the Internet, among hundreds of other solutions, are all good ideas.
Why does FACTA matter to employers? Part 2
As an employer, FACTA is something you should be aware of.
The old saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is definitely the case when it comes to securing personal information. However, no matter what prevention steps you take, there is no 100% effective way to be sure that employee's information won't be compromised. Even if the information doesn't get out from your company, an employee can claim that it did.
That's a scary thought! What if an employee claims that their information was stolen through the actions of your company, but there's no real proof to back it up? At $150 - $200/hour for most attorneys across the United States, how long can you afford to defend your company?
The only sure solution, or at least the only solution that would at least provide an affirmative defense against the fines, fees, and lawsuits you could incur as an employer, is to offer some sort of Identity Theft protection as a benefit to your employees.
If the employee has Identity Theft coverage and becomes a victim, it is beneficial to your business, because an employee with Identity Theft coverage will spend less time, less money, and will experience less frustration while trying to have their information restored. This will get them back on the job and focused on work more quickly.
If the employee declines the coverage, and later claims that the information was stolen as a result of you or your company's actions, you have a piece of paper, with their signature, saying that they attended the presentation and declined the coverage.
Choosing to not make Identity Theft coverage available leaves you exposed to an unlimited dollar amount that you can be sued for under civil liability, federal fines of up to $2,500.00 per employee per incident, and state fines of up to $1,000.00 per employee per incident.
Recommended course of action? Have a benefits consultant who offers an Identity Theft protection plan present to your employees. Help them set up a 20 minute presentation with your employees, and make it mandatory that all employees attend. You want your employees to be protected from this awful crime. If they choose not to be, but you've given the option of being protected, then the liability becomes theirs, not yours, when they become a victim of identity theft.
That's a scary thought! What if an employee claims that their information was stolen through the actions of your company, but there's no real proof to back it up? At $150 - $200/hour for most attorneys across the United States, how long can you afford to defend your company?
The only sure solution, or at least the only solution that would at least provide an affirmative defense against the fines, fees, and lawsuits you could incur as an employer, is to offer some sort of Identity Theft protection as a benefit to your employees.
If the employee has Identity Theft coverage and becomes a victim, it is beneficial to your business, because an employee with Identity Theft coverage will spend less time, less money, and will experience less frustration while trying to have their information restored. This will get them back on the job and focused on work more quickly.
If the employee declines the coverage, and later claims that the information was stolen as a result of you or your company's actions, you have a piece of paper, with their signature, saying that they attended the presentation and declined the coverage.
Choosing to not make Identity Theft coverage available leaves you exposed to an unlimited dollar amount that you can be sued for under civil liability, federal fines of up to $2,500.00 per employee per incident, and state fines of up to $1,000.00 per employee per incident.
Recommended course of action? Have a benefits consultant who offers an Identity Theft protection plan present to your employees. Help them set up a 20 minute presentation with your employees, and make it mandatory that all employees attend. You want your employees to be protected from this awful crime. If they choose not to be, but you've given the option of being protected, then the liability becomes theirs, not yours, when they become a victim of identity theft.
Identity Theft books from Amazon
These could be some good books
These are some of Amazon.com's most recent books on Identity Theft. You can read the reviews on Amazon to find out what people have to say about them. I personally don't know that a book is the best format to keep up-to-date with what's going on in the Identity Theft scene. However, I include this here, because many books can be an excellent primer on the subject.
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