Category: Identity Theft

Source: Los Angeles Times

Kathy M. Kristof, Personal Finance
September 14, 2008

Everyone is afraid of identity theft. It seems as if every couple of days there are new reports of Social Security numbers and other sensitive information stolen, lost or leaked.

Just last week Countrywide Financial, which is now owned by Bank of America, said it would provide two years of free credit monitoring for customers whose confidential data were allegedly stolen by a former employee.

But should you spend money to buy services that promise to protect you from identity theft?

As in so many matters financial, it depends: on whether you don’t mind paying for something you could do yourself for free, and on whether the company offering the protection can really deliver on its promises.

Most identity theft protection services actually watch out for only one type of fraud — in which hackers or other thieves take out new credit in your name.

But there are seven types of identity fraud, said Avivah Litan, vice president and analyst at Gartner Research in Stamford, Conn.

They include abuse of an existing credit card account, abuse of an existing debit card account and checking account fraud, ranging from forgery to account takeovers.

New account identity fraud — the type monitored by most services — hits only about 1.45 million people each year, said Litan, who compiles industry statistics. “You have about a 1-in-200-million chance of it happening to you,” Litan said. “Is avoiding that chance worth $120 a year? If you are a statistically based person, probably not.”

But add in the other types of identity theft, she said, and the number of people affected goes up to between 9 million and 15 million annually.

Another problem, said Jay Foley, executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a San Diego nonprofit organization that does not sell monitoring services, is that most companies that do claim to be preventive in fact are simply offering a way of detecting that you’ve already become a victim.

The service sold by another nonprofit, the similarly named Identity Theft Assistance Center, for instance, alerts you when new accounts have been opened in your name. The service is $10 to $18 a month and the center earns a fee whenever consumers buy it.

The group’s website warns consumers not to be taken in by services that promise more than they deliver — but the service offers little more than most of its competitors.

There are some identity theft services that aim at prevention rather than detection. Two such services — LifeLock and Debix — put a fraud alert on your credit file, which demands that merchants call you before issuing credit in your name. LifeLock Chief Executive Todd Davis widely publicizes his own Social Security number to show the effectiveness of his service, which charges $10 a month. However, Davis’ identity has been stolen once and he admits that a handful of his company’s customers have had problems too. But, he says, LifeLock works with them to fix anything that gets through.

Source: Redding.com

By Janet O’Neill (Contact)
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Protect your credit

• For Countrywide customers: Go to www.consumerinfo.com/countrywide. The activation code in borrower letters is required. Call 866-451-5895 for more information.

• Other useful sites: To learn more about placing a security freeze, go to financialprivacynow.org.

• To receive a free credit report, go to annualcreditreport.com.

• To learn more about how to how to deter and detect identity theft, go to ftc.gov/idtheft.

Letters hitting north state mailboxes from Countrywide Financial Corp. are offering free credit monitoring in the wake of an alleged theft of personal information from the mortgage lender’s computers.

Palo Cedro homeowner Carly Pickern signed up for the two-year service the lender is providing through www.consumerinfo.com, an Experian business unit.

“It’s actually a pretty neat system that they have,” said Pickern, who alerted friends via her MySpace page that the service was available. “If they’ve (Countrywide) had some sort of compromising situation I would rather sign up for it just for a safety net.”

In its letter, Countrywide advises its customers that a former employee may have sold information — including names, addresses, and Social Security and mortgage-loan numbers — to a third party. It says the free plan it’s offering includes daily monitoring from national credit-reporting companies Experien, Equifax and TransUnion.

The program also offers e-mail alerts to any major changes in credit reports.

For Countrywide customers at least the price is right, said Gail Hillebrand, senior attorney for Consumers Union in San Francisco.

“It isn’t worth paying for, but if it’s being offered to you for free you may as well sign up for it,” Hillebrand said Friday. “You should realize that it does have limitations.”

The nonprofit Consumers Union is the publisher of Consumer Reports.

Credit monitoring, which alerts consumers after the fact, is just one of three basic steps people can take to protect themselves, Hillebrand said. Those who buy it pay $60 to $180 a year, which Consumer Reports says is too much.

A second option is the fraud alert, which the major credit bureaus attach to a credit report. A potential lender or creditor is asked to contact the consumer during a transaction, but isn’t required to do so. It expires after 90 days.

“It’s like putting a sign on your door that says don’t break in,” Hillebrand said.

A third step is a security freeze, which she likened to “a dead bolt on your credit report.” It allows consumers to lock access to their credit files against anyone who might be trying to open a new account or get credit in their name, according to Consumers Union.

A person can unlock the file using a PIN number, Hillebrand said.

Joe Rodola, director of By Design Financial Solutions in Redding, agrees accepting Countrywide’s offer wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“At least it gives you notification when something happens,” he said. “Otherwise you’re forced to pull a credit report once a year.”

The Los Angeles Times last week reported that according to the FBI, as many as 2 million Countrywide loan applicants may have had data stolen.

A former company employee has been charged with illegally accessing its computers.

The paper also quotes a Countrywide spokesman as saying no financial harm has been reported as a result of the theft.

Bank of America Corp. acquired Countrywide on July 1.

Reporter Janet O’Neill can be reached at 225-8216 or joneill@redding.com.

CNN Money
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/26/pf/identity_theft_prevention/

By Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: August 27, 2008: 11:12 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Even weeks after Brenda Clarke’s identity was stolen and thousands of dollars in illegitimate credit card charges were discovered, she is still saddled with extremely high interest rates on her credit cards and a damaged credit score.

“It’s been very frustrating, very time consuming,” she said.

Clarke’s situation is not uncommon. Approximately 15 million Americans are victims of identity theft each year, according to Gartner research firm. And although anyone with a social security number is at risk, safeguarding your information isn’t easy.

Identity theft occurs when someone uses your information to open credit cards or bank accounts, write bad checks or take out loans. Victims can be left with countless charges, years of bad credit and endless aggravation.

Proactive safekeeping of your personal information, including your birth date, social security number and credit card numbers, may be the most effective weapon against identity theft. But if you’re more interested in saving time than money, then there are also many identity theft protection services that will do some of the legwork for you - for a price.

But keep in mind, most services can only warn or insure you against I.D. theft after the fact. And once your identity has been compromised, good luck clearing your name and your credit report.
Credit monitoring

All three credit bureaus offer credit monitoring for about $15 a month. That includes unlimited access to your report and notifications of any changes to your credit file, plus a few fancy extras.

For example, Equifax’s ID Patrol searches suspected underground Internet trading sites for your personal information. Experian’s Triple Advantage sends you email alerts of suspicious account activity and TransUnion’s 3-Bureau Credit Monitoring includes identity theft insurance up to $25,000 with no deductible.

Other credit monitoring services are available from your bank. Wachovia’s CreditProtectX3 service costs $12.99 a month for daily credit checks. For $11.99 a month, Chase’s Identity Protection will also reimburse up to $100,000 of identity fraud expenses.
Identity theft insurance

If damage control is what you’re after, identity theft insurance is offered by credit card and insurance companies for generally less than the cost of credit monitoring.

But while that may cover some of the expenses associated with identity theft, it does not reimburse you for any money that was stolen, which is often covered by your bank or credit card issuer. Many policies only cover nominal expenses for things like certified mail and long-distance telephone calls.
iReport: Have you been a victim of identity theft?

While it can’t protect you from the headaches associated with recovering from I.D. theft, insurance should cover lost wages and legal and out-of-pocket expenses, advises Linda Foley, founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center.

Policy terms and cost can vary widely. Foley suggests looking for an insurance policy with a premium under $50 and a deductible less than $250, otherwise “it’s not worth it.”

Even after paying for credit monitoring and insurance, experts agree that no identity theft prevention service is foolproof. “There’s not going to be any product out there that’s going to be able to completely guarantee that your identity isn’t going to be stolen,” said Demitra Wilson, a spokeswoman from Equifax.

The do-it-yourself approach

While these services can throw up red flags at the first sign of trouble and help limit losses, “they’re not doing anything for you that you can’t do for yourself,” Foley said.

Shredding your mail, using unpredictable passwords and secure networks, keeping careful tabs on your bank statements and monthly bills and even monitoring your credit report can all be done for little or no cost at all.

Passwords should be at least seven characters, with numbers and upper and lower case letters, says Todd Feinman, identity theft prevention expert and CEO of Identity Finder, a company that sells software aimed at I.D. protection.

Consumers are also entitled to one free credit report a year from each of the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com, recommends staggering the reports strategically so you’ll get one every four months. To get your report, go to annualcreditreport.com - the official site set up by the three credit bureaus to comply with federal law.

If you feel like you’re in greater risk, then setting up a fraud alert will ensure that creditors notify you before issuing credit in your name. Alerts can be set up for free through one of the consumer credit reporting agencies and last for 90 days.

For an even more aggressive approach, a credit freeze prevents creditors from issuing credit altogether and blocks others, including potential creditors, landlords and employers, from viewing your credit report. Freezes are free for identity theft victims, but for others can cost around $10 to activate, temporarily lift, or remove, depending on the state. The Consumers Union’s Guide to Security Freeze Protection lists each state’s security freeze laws.

The Identity Theft Resource Center advises that credit freezes are the best way to stop identity theft before it happens, but there’s a trade off. You won’t be able to apply for any new credit while the freeze is in effect, and it takes about three days for the credit agencies to unfreeze your credit.

But that could be a small hassle considering the alternative.

First Published: August 27, 2008: 9:50 AM EDT

Leeds News
http://www.theleedsnews.net/business/local_story_240101020.html

By Hayes Parnell III

Identity thieves will steal your wallet, purse, garbage, mail and hack into your computer.

This type of theft is increasing exponentially and victims rarely find out until after the fact.

Let’s discuss some ways to protect yourself against this growing crime.

Review your credit report periodically. Check to make sure that all the information contained in it is correct, and look for fraudulent activity.

You can do this for free once a year by contacting the Annual Credit Report Request Service online at www.annualcreditreport.com or calling (877) 322-8228.

If you need to correct any information or dispute any entries, contact the three national credit reporting agencies:

•Equifax

www.equifax.com

(800) 685-1111

•Experian

www.experian.com

(888) 397-3742

•TransUnion

www.transunion.com (800) 916-8800

Your most important personal identifier is your Social Security number (SSN).

Never carry your Social Security card or other forms of identification that display your SSN with you. Don’t have your SSN preprinted on your checks, and don’t let merchants write it on your checks. Don’t give it out over the phone unless you initiate the call to an organization you trust.

Don’t carry your checkbook and all of your credit, debit, and telephone cards with you all the time. Carry only the cards or checks you’ll need for any one trip.

Keep a written record of all your account numbers, expiration dates, and the telephone numbers of the customer service and fraud departments in a secure place.

When you make a purchase with a credit or debit card, keep the receipt. Don’t throw it away because it may contain your credit or debit card number.

Save your receipts until you can check them against your monthly credit card and bank statements, and look for purchases you didn’t make.

Before you throw out credit or debit card receipts and statements, cancelled checks, or even offers for credit you receive in the mail, shred the documents with a cross-cut shredder.

The more your personal information is available to others, the more likely you are to be victimized by identity theft. Keep a low profile and consider doing the following:

•List your telephone number with the Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry by calling (888) 382-1222 or registering online at www.donotcall.gov;

•Write the Direct Marketing Association at 1120 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036-6700, or register online at www.dmachoice.org to stop credit offers by mail;

•Remove your name from marketing lists of the three national consumer reporting agencies, call (888) 567-8688 or register online at www.optoutprescreen.com;

•Opt out of allowing creditors to share your financial information with other organizations;

•Remove your name and address from the telephone book;

Protect your privacy on your computer. If you have high-speed internet access, install a firewall to prevent hackers from obtaining information from your hard drive and install virus protection software and update it on a regular basis.

Don’t open e-mails from people you don’t know, especially if you download attached files or click on hyperlinks within the message.

This can expose you to viruses and infect your computer with “spyware” that captures personal information. Visit business websites by typing the URL address directly into your browser.

If you provide personal or financial information about yourself over the Internet, do so only at secure websites that begin with “https.” And always use a “wipe” utility program when discarding your old computer to remove all personal information you may have stored on it.

Contact your friendly home town banker for more ideas on how to protect your personal information from identity theft.

The News Gazette
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2008/08/27/checks_debit_and_credit_card_numbers_stolen_from_ymca_sale

By Steve Bauer
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 11:45 AM CDT

CHAMPAIGN – Customers who paid for items at a YMCA fund-raiser with checks or credit cards are being warned about a burglary at which credit and debit card numbers were taken.

The University YMCA at 1001 S. Wright St., C, conducted its annual garage sale fund-raiser at the University of Illinois Stock Pavilion on Saturday Sometime between 4 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday, someone took cash from the sale, along with checks and credit and debit card numbers, according to Willard Broom, interim executive director at the YMCA.

The crime is the first such instance in the eight or nine years of the sale, Broom said.

The YMCA staff had locked the proceeds in a secure location after the sale, Broom said.

There is no indication that any customer credit cards or accounts have been tampered with, but the YMCA is trying to notify patrons about what happened and is working closely with police, Broom said. The YMCA is warning customers to notify their banks or credit card companies of any potential fraudulent charges.

Customers also are urged to report any fraudulent activity to the Champaign Police Department at 351-4545, or to Crimestoppers at 217-373-TIPS (373-8477), online at www.373tips.com or via text message by sending Tip397 plus the information to CRIMES (274637).