Security Breaches are Increasing March 11, 2008
Posted by LifeLock Promo in Prevent Identity Theft.Tags: identity theft, identity theft protection, security breaches
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I visit the PrivacyRights.org site often to see what new breach has happened that may not have been reported on the news. It’s pretty scary to see how many there are.
Here’s one from a cell phone business that moved that really makes me nervous: “Two men found a box in a dumpster. The cell phone business recently moved and threw away documents that contained personal information from customers. The information contained driver’s license numbers, Social Security number, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, work and home addresses.”
They don’t even know how many people that affected but fortunately, the box was found by honest people. How many other businesses just dump info like that into a dumpster that we never hear about? No wonder dumpster diving is so popular. A full identity like that is worth about $100 each and can be sold many times over.
Universities, medical clinics, government offices and health insurers have lost tens of thousands of files. How can you ever think you’ll be safe?
You can put a fraud alert on your credit report for free by calling one of the credit bureaus. You can do it online at Experian. It’s free and doesn’t make it take longer to get new credit the way a security freeze does. The alert expires every 90 days, so you’ll have to remember to keep it renewed. The credit bureaus say the fraud alerts are for people who suspect they’re in imminent danger of becoming an identity theft victim or someone who already is. By following the trail of security breaches, I think we’re all in imminent danger of being the next victim. Our information is out there and we just can’t keep it controlled anymore.
Identity Theft – Cyber Crime Pays November 18, 2007
Posted by LifeLock Promo in Internet Identity Theft.Tags: identity theft, identity theft protection, security breaches
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Identity theft is THE fastest growing crime in the world. It’s now bringing in more than drug trafficking.
One of the reason it’s so popular with thieves is because they are rarely caught. And even if they are caught, they generally aren’t convicted. It’s possible that only 5% of identity theft cases lead to an arrest. Of those 5%, only 30% are actually convicted. Electronic crime seems to be THE place to be nowadays.
Another reason cyber hackers don’t get caught is because so few people actually detect it. As a society, we’re still in the 1980’s mentality. Identity theft rarely happened back then because there wasn’t as much access to personal information.
Security breaches are now commonplace. A huge black market exists for bank account numbers, credit card numbers and social security numbers. They get sold many times over. For a thief, finding a spreadsheet full of credit card numbers is like hitting a lottery.
Bring yourself into the 21st century and pay close attention to your credit reports and what’s in them. Preventing identity theft is a lot easier than fixing it.
