Financial Identity | id theft fraud prevention

August 25, 2010

An Overview of the 5 Types of Identity Theft

Filed under: Legal — Tags: Credit Cards, Email Scams, Financial Accounts, Financial Documents, Financial Identity, Illegal Aliens, Irs, Mail, Medical Treatment, Nightmare, Security Identity, Social Security, Social Security Number, Social Security Numbers, Thief — admin @ 3:54 pm

Bernard Pragides asked:

Identity theft can take many forms. Many people do not realize that there are actually five different types of identity theft. You can take steps to protect yourself from this nightmare, but first you need to know what you are up against. Here is an overview of the five types of identity theft.

1. Financial identity theft is the kind most of us are readily familiar with. This is when a thief steals your information and sets up financial accounts in your name without your permission or knowledge. Basically, they pretend to be you and set up an entire financial portfolio in your name. This includes bank accounts, loans, credit cards, and even mortgages. In order to protect yourself from this type of identity theft, make sure you properly dispose of all personal and financial documents.

2. Social security identity theft is a huge problem and is growing in popularity among identity thieves. In order to effectively pull off financial identity theft, a thief will need your social security number since all banks require it to open an account of any kind. Many thieves get this by dumpster diving, stealing mail, or email scams called phishing. Do not give out your social security number to anyone, no matter who they claim to be, over the phone or the Internet. Illegal aliens will also sometimes steal social security numbers since they are asked to provide one by their employers. Then, the IRS comes to you for any taxes owed on income you did not get.

3. Medical identity theft occurs when a person who does not have insurance uses yours to obtain treatment. This is not good because the data from the other person is now in your file. Imagine if you needed a heart transplant or other major medical treatment at some point and your insurance refused to pay for it because they show you have already had that procedure done and will not pay again. This can also affect your ability to get health and life insurance.

4. Driver’s license theft is now easier than ever thanks to a book put out by the DMV detailing all of the states’ drivers license specs. You can download information on any driver’s license and make one that looks just like the real thing. Obviously, this can be a real issue when you receive a ticket in your name that someone else deserves!

5. Criminal or character identity theft often ties in with driver’s license identity theft. Nefarious characters who commit crimes will have a driver’s license made with your info and their photo. They can then conduct their criminal activity under your name and then slip away when the authorities get too close. Guess whose door the cops are knocking on for the culprit?

Identity theft is a major problem today. You need to be vigilant and guard your information closely. Don’t give out personal information unless it is absolutely necessary, and destroy all correspondence before you throw it in the trash. Identity thieves are looking for an easy target, don’t be one.

So stay alert! Beware!

Beatrice

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August 19, 2009

There are 5 Kinds of Identity Theft. Can you Name Them?

Filed under: Self Help — Tags: 10 Million, 30 Million, Address Card, Bench Warrant, Change Of Address, Financial Identity, Illegal Aliens, Monitoring System, Post Office Box, Social Security, Social Security Administration, Social Security Card, Social Security Number, Thief, Trillion — admin @ 7:03 am

Belinda Rachman, Esq. asked:

There are 5 kinds of Identity Theft but most people are just aware of credit card identity theft. That is just 20% of the problem. Here are all 5.

1) Driver’s License Identity Theft

2) Social Security Number Identity Theft

3) Character/Criminal Identity Theft

4) Medical Identity Theft

5) Financial Identity Theft

You are vulnerable to having your identity stolen. You have a significant investment in protecting your good reputation so the last thing you want is for someone to use your driver’s license to commit a crime, not show up for “your” trial which will result in a bench warrant being issued against you. That is exactly what more and more people are experiencing as victims of Driver’s License Identity Theft. If that were to happen to you, you would need a lawyer, probably in the middle of the night.

Given that only one in seven hundred identity thieves are caught, there will be no slowdown in this crime wave any time soon but you can protect yourself from being the next victim. You need a monitoring system that lets you know if a thief opens a post office box, files a change of address card, tries to buy a house or opens a new bank account in your name. If you are falsely accused of a crime due to someone stealing your identity you WILL need the help of the best lawyers.

Social Security – Did you know that on July 1, 2006, 32 states passed laws that require business owners to see a passport or Social Security card from each employee? The government admits that we have 10 million illegal aliens in the country, but business experts put that number between 25 – 30 million. But just for argument’s sake, let’s assume 10 million: if each one of those folks paid just in FICA withholding each week, ,000,000 would be going to the Social Security Administration on a weekly basis. Given they are FOUR TRILLION in debt, they have NO incentive to let the actual owner of the Social Security number know that another 10, 20, 80 people are using that same Social Security number since they only have to pay out to the real owner. But the IRS is going to take a real interest when they see how much “you” earned at your 10, 20 or 80 different jobs but none of “you” did the proper withholding. Your problem begins when the IRS notices that “you” did not pay the federal and state withholding taxes – the real “you” will have to hire an attorney to fight the IRS or you will just pay them because it is less expensive or you may spend years trying to convince the IRS that you didn’t earn that money

Medical – I met a woman the other day who recently went into the hospital for some test and they asked her how her arm was doing. She didn’t know what they were talking about. Apparently someone else had used her medical insurance to treat a broken arm. What if it would have been something more serious, like someone got a heart transplant using her insurance. That would effect her lifetime cap and it would definitely pollute her Medical Data Base if there was nothing wrong with HER heart. Medical identity theft effects your ability to get insurance, proper health care if unconscious and they are relying on wrong info/blood type/heart condition of someone else. HIPPA won’t let you into your own file if you admit that positive HIV test isn’t YOU. That broken arm is now in her medical database. Thank God it wasn’t something more serious. You are going to need a good lawyer to fight this battle to get the other people’s info out of YOUR file.

Driver’s License ID Theft – The government recently decided that the employees at all Department of Motor Vehicles needed to be able to recognize what the driver’s licenses of all the other states looked like so that when a resident of Florida moves to California, the CA DMV can recognize a “real” Florida license. In order to assist these employees, the federal government made up a little book with the EXACT specs on each state’s driver’s license. About a week after that book was mailed out to each state’s DMV it was already being sold on the internet, spawning a new and very lucrative business. All a criminal needs is a laptop computer, a printer, a laminator and that little book, and they have themselves a very prosperous little criminal enterprise. The police cannot tell the difference between the “real” license and the fake one. In fact, they can’t tell the difference between the “database you” and the “Real You” that looks back at you from your mirror!

Driver’s License ID Theft often affects your character/criminal Identity. A prostitute stole a teacher’s purse. She told her principal and friends about it so everyone knew it was possible that something bad might come of this theft. When a newspaper ran the story of the teacher being arrested for prostitution it wasn’t hard to explain to her friends and neighbors what had happened. It was a small town so everyone knew the teacher was a victim of id theft but is that teacher going to be able to change jobs and go to another town where they don’t know her? Her character has been stolen now.

Financial ID theft, this is the one everyone focuses on because we are losing billions each year to id theft. But here is the thing, you know those cute little commercials on TV with the man’s voice coming from the woman’s body and the woman’s voice coming from the man’s body. They talk about ZERO liability. That is a lie! If you don’t contest a bill within 60 days YOU are stuck with it and with our new bankruptcy laws you can’t discharge it. How are you going to contest a bill you never got. These ID thieves are doing change of address cards and having your mail forwarded to another place, a PO box or another residence. And by the way, the Postal Inspector I met the other night mentioned that the post office doesn’t ask for proof that the change of address card you are filing is actually YOU. Anyone can go into the post office and file a change of address card. So how can you contest a bill you don’t get? Sounds like you are going to need another lawyer. All of this ID Fraud stuff sounds like the lawyers full employment bill to me.

The Federal Trade Commission, which is the lead agency handling ID Theft, says that on average, it takes a person 600 hours to restore themselves after being a victim. That is FIFTEEN 40 hour work weeks. NO ONE has that kind of free time. People need the protection of having their credit monitored so they know if someone is opening new accounts, forwarding their mail or opening a PO Box in their name. There are lots of new companies that do credit monitoring but there is only one company that does restoration and that is Kroll Background America, Inc.

Kroll is the only company that was allowed to go below ground zero to remove the gold from the vaults after 9/11. When the FBI, CIA and Saudi government could not find where Sadam hid the Saudi money that he stole, the Saudis hired Kroll. Kroll found it, recovered it and returned the money to the Saudis. The Security and Exchange Commission hired Kroll to discover where all the Enron money went and the City of San Diego hired Kroll to investigate and do the forensic accounting on the recent pension scandal. If our government and big corporations hire Kroll to protect them, why wouldn’t you?

Marvin

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March 26, 2009

What are the 5 areas of identity Theft? Financial is only about 25%!

Filed under: Business — Tags: Fake Drivers License, Financial Accounts, Financial Identity, Fire Department, Fraud Solutions, Informatio, Insurance Benefits, Medical Records, Medical Tests, Medicare, Police Driver, Proactive Solutions, Security Identity, Sirens, Thieves — admin @ 4:26 pm

Allied Fraud Solutions asked:

ID Theft is a Crime that occurs when someone takes any of your personal information and fraudulently uses it to obtain access to your Credit Accounts, Financial Accounts, Medical Records, Obtain Employment, or Commit Crimes.

Criminal: This is when identity thieves use your information while committing various crimes. An example of this would be stealing a car and leaving your information for the cops to get. This is when someone uses your information after stealing it to get a driver’s licence in your name or claim to be you if they get pulled over by the police.

Driver’s License Identity Theft: Some one gets a ticket or DUI and has a fake drivers license with your information.

Medical Identity Theft: This is when identity thieves use your information for insurance benefits like Medicare and to get medical tests done in your name. A big one is thieves getting HIV tests with their victim’s informatio. This is the most popular form of identity theft. This is where identity thieves use your information to open new accounts or gain access to your existing accounts to steal money.

Financial Identity Theft: Some one uses your credit card.

Social Security Identity Theft: This is when identity thieves use your social security number to gain employment or to report income under your name.

No one expects Identity theft to happen to them, but it affects millions of people in America each year.

*When an identity thief strikes, the emotions can feel similar to those experienced during a house fire. All of a sudden, everything you’ve worked for is threatened. If your home were on fire, would you want the fire department to send you brochures about how to put out the fire, then follow up with brochures about how to rebuild? Of course not. You’d want them to jump in the truck, turn on the sirens, and bring the water!

Allied Fraud Solutions: we provide proactive solutions to the # 1 crime. www.alliedfraudsolutions.com

Jorge

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March 21, 2009

Identity Theft in your Mail Box? Free Tips on How to Stop Junk Mail and Credit Card Offers for Good

Filed under: Finance — Tags: Account Takeover, Computer Hackers, Federal Offence, Financial Identity, Government Agancies, How To Stop Junk Mail, Long Periods Of Time, Mail Box, Mail Free, Mail List, Phishing Scams, Shoulder Surfing, Small Business Owners, Social Security Number, Theivery — admin @ 11:02 am

Ron P. Butterfield asked:

There are literally thousands of methods idetnity theives enlist to stealing vital personal information from consumers and small business owners. “Phishing” scams sent via email, shoulder surfing at ATM machines, fraudulant telemarketing calls, public records acess through local government agancies, identity theft at the workplace: the list goes on and on. Suprisingly, it doesn’t always take someone who is technologically proficient to get their hands on your social security number, credit card information or home address. The chain of theivery commonly starts with a method that existed long before the internet, email, telemarketing or ATM’s: the dreaded “Junk Mail List”.

Dumpster diving identity theives and computer hackers represent only a small fraction of the faceless armies constantly working to ruin your financial identity. Contrary to popular belief, junk mail, specifically credit card offers, are typically the culprit. In fact, every credit card offer you recieve is an invitation to have your identity stolen, and your credit ruined. These “mail box maruaders” are probably the most brazen identity theives, right up there with common burglar. Stealing mail directly from your mailbox is by far the riskiest method, which leaves the potential of being identitfied from eyewitnesses. Never the less, it does in fact occur and is a federal offence.

Once your financial information has been obtained, the two of the most common methods for setting up shop with your good name are “application fraud” and “account takeover”.

“Application fraud”, or “real name fraud” usually leaves identity victims unaware of fraudulent abuse of their personal information for long periods of time. This is due to the fact that the credit card statements are mailed directly to a forwarding address set up by the imposter. Another factor that leaves victims unaware is the time lag between the fraudulent transactions themselves and when they are reported to credit bureaus, such as Transunion, Experian and Equifax. This leaves a “time gap” for ID thieves to do as much damage as possible before it is detected, even if your regularly check your credit reports. All these criminals may need to commit application fraud is a utility bill or bank statement, authentic or counterfeit, to piece together a complete application. This is a methodical and effective form of identity theft.

Conversely, “account takeover” can happen almost intantaniously. This occurs when containing key personal information allows ID theives to actually takeover the running of your existing account. They will actually pretend to be you, making transactions and purchases as they see fit. To compound this problem further, these criminals may instruct your bank or credit card company to change you home address in the account and have cards and checks sent to another address. Once again this buys valuable time for these imposters to be detected and stopped.

So far as online purchases go, many online merchants have added an extra precaution to stave off fraudulent account activity with the CCV number. This is a three digit number on the back you credit card next to the signature box. Providing this number makes the assumption that your credit card is physically in front of you. Once again, if new cards have been ordered in your name unbeknownst to you, this safe-guard is rendered ineffective. You may only find out it has occurred when purchasing groceries or fuel for your car and having you credit or debit card declined. A rude awakening indeed.

Needless to say, the most effective way to avoid this finacial nightmare is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Though ID theft is growing problem for consumers and small businesse alike, it is not an inevitable part of modern life. Hence the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a a pound of cure”. And that ounce of prevention begins right at home, in your mailbox.

Over 4 million tons of paper “junk mail” are mailed in the U.S. every year, and 50% of it is never even opened. These are staggering stastistics and only grows as time goes by. Here are several tips and tricks to drastically reducing or eliminatiing bulk mail and credit card offers, thus aiding in the prevention of identity theft.

Credit Card Offers- The major credit agencies all sell credit information to the highest bidder. Direct mail and credit companies generate mailing lists based on certain demographic information including you zip code, annual income and general credit history. Stopping these types of offers are usefull in preventing identity theft for two reasons: First, it narrows down and seperates the “legitimate” offers from potentially fraudulent offers.

Second, it simply cuts down on the amount of mail you recieve, thus reducing the potential for information to be physically stolen from your mailbox.

Simply contact the three of the major cedit bureaus, Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Innovis with your current address former address within two years, and social security number. Request to be “opted out” of these mailing lists. These requests will be granted immediately as required by law.

First Class Mail- This is a sneaky tactic used sometimes to make a credit card offer seem exclusive or more appealing. After you recieve one of the first class offers, simply cross out the address and bar code, circle the first class postage and write exactly this: refused: return to sender. Mail it in any mail box and it will be returned directly to the sender.

Bulk Mail in General- Your local post office will always dispose of bulk mail it cannot be delived, so “returning to sender” does absolutely no good. The USPS actively provides for bulk mailers to accumulate their mailing lists. As hard as it is to belive, they actually encourage it. Simply write “address correction requested” circle it, and drop it in any the mail box.

If Bulk Mailing persists, simply send a letter or postcard to the Mail Preference Service,

There address is: Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 15012-0643

Be sure to include your full name, current address, zip code and request to “activate the preference service”. This will stop mail from all of it’s member ogrganizations for up to five years.

A Secure Mail Box- Obvouisly, this is probably the simplest method protect mail from being stolen out of your mail box. Don’t be afraid to buy a lock for your mail box. Get to know your neighborhood delivery schedule and your mail carrier.

Your home is the front line in the ongoing battle against identity theft, pure and simple.

Rosemary

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