March 4, 2009 by Terry.

WATCH OUT - help get this warning out to everyone you know!

Web sites, like presidentobamagrants.com or officialstimulusgrants.com, may advertise that they can help you get money from the stimulus fund.  Many sites, like these, use deceptive names or images of President Obama and Vice President Biden to suggest they are legitimate.  They’re not!

The FTC has indicated that there are web sites which suggest that for a small sum of money - even as low as $1.99 in some cases - consumers can get a list of economic stimulus grants they can apply for.  Two things could happen: the number of the credit card the consumer uses to pay the fee can fall into the hands of IDentity Theives and scam artists, or the $1.99 might become the down payment on a “negative option” agreement that may cost hundreds or thousands of dollars if the consumer does not cancel the agreement [which they should have their attorneys review before signing - always involve your top-rated nationwide network of law firms before signing any contract or agreement]. 

Eileen Harrison, acting director, of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, noted that many illegitimate sites use photos, of Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, to give the appearance of authenticity. Sites also copy and use logos from ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOX, NBC, MSNBC, and other major media outlets to make them appear to be a legitimate web site or email.

The FTC last week reported that, for the ninth year in a row, IDentity Theft — especially in Arizona and California — was the number one consumer complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission in 2008.  Of 1,223,370 complaints received in 2008, 313,982 - or 26%- were related to IDentity Theft.

Further, the FTC ‘s list in the  “Consumer Sentinel Network (CSN) Data Book for January-December 2008,” states that credit card fraud was the most common form of reported identity theft at 20%, followed by government documents/benefits fraud at 15%, employment fraud at 15%, phone or utilities fraud at 13%, bank fraud at 11 %and loan fraud at 4%. The CSN received over 1.2 million complaints during calendar year 2008.

Did you see that?  20% — What about the other 80%+/- of IDentity Theft cases?  From that, might I suggest, the other approximately 80% of IDentity Theft falls into DMV - Medical - SSAN - Character/Criminal areas.

Check out this 4-minute video, and see what happened to some of these folks.

Then, be careful out there.

Posted in IDTheft Stats, News Alerts, IDentity Theft Victims, IDentity Theft | Print | No Comments »

February 27, 2009 by Terry.

Some numbers went down, but not these.

The number of identification theft cases surged in 2008, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s annual data.

In 2008, IDentity Theft was the biggest, by far,  complaint the FTC received, representing 26 percent of complaints. The next biggest complaint – third-party & creditor debt collection scams – represented only 9 percent of complaints. The FTC’s annual Consumer Sentinel Network report, released Feb. 26, detailed that IDentity Theft tallies were this:  total complaints came to 313,982 in 2008, up from 259,266 in 2007.

The Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure online database, harvests complaints from law enforcement authorities, as well as other groups, like the Internet Crime Complaint Center and Better Business Bureau.

Here are the top 25 complaint categories, which often dovetail with the Internet.

Meanwhile, email is clearly the preferred means of propagating fraud.  Scam artists are most likely going to nail you via email.  Phone scams have fallen from 11 percent to 7 percent from 2007 to 2008.  A thought: As more consumers use wireless, as the primary phone, it’s harder to track down victims.

What’s also notable is the demographics.  Twenty-somethings are most likely to get hit with ID theft, though they, like everyone else thinks they are immune.  Data Breaches - don’t care who you are, the thieves take care of matching up your data with a buyer who wants to “become you”.

These numbers are only those ‘reported’.  Much more goes unreported, or reported as ‘financial fraud’, because people are unaware of the 5 major Dangers of IDentity Theft.  Though most admitted victims don’t realize it, IDentity Theft commonly has ‘legal issues’ that follow.  Find an answer to the problem here.

And the states most hit by IDentity Theft:

Learn how to protect yourself and see what legal help is available.

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January 19, 2009 by Terry.

here are a few stats, from itrc:

• 167 data breaches occurred in the first quarter of 2008 affecting 8.3 million people.
• As of April 22, 2008, 205 data breaches have occurred this year.
• Over 200 million people have had their identities compromised in a data breach since 2005.

•  2007 Data Breach Breakdown:

24.5% government/military agencies
24.7% from educational institutions
29.3% from general businesses
14.5% from health care facilities / companies
7% from banking / credit / financial services

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January 19, 2009 by Terry.

Two sources of IDentity Theft & Data Breach information areas I watch are:

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse  &   Identity Theft Resource Center® (ITRC)

Of particular note from PRC’s website is this:

“A Chronology of Data Breaches — Over 251 million data records of U.S. residents have been exposed due to security breaches since Jan 05.”

That is 4 years ago, this month, that they started trackingthat data!  Keep in mind - How many people are there in the U.S.? About 300 Million - from newborn to long-lived.

I know my data has been breachd at least once.  Got the letter stating my data was on the source that was lost/stolen.

You may want to visit the Chronology of Data Breaches page and see if a company you know has been breached, possibly with your data.  Why? - An article reported indicate that about 90 percent of businesses are at risk of losing your personal information.

Posted in IDTheft Stats, Resources | Print | No Comments »