May 28, 2009 by Terry.

“…LifeLock has been breaking California law for years by placing fraud alerts on its customer’s credit profiles.” from THREAT LEVEL at Wired.com

And charging you for it.  Folks, we can do that for FREE!  See the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, or FACTA, rules and other legislation.

Read the full story at the link above - THEY ALL TALK ABOUT FRAUD RELATED IDENTITY THEFT ~~~ WHY AREN’T THEY TALKING ABOUT ALL AREAS OF IDENTITY THEFT? Like the ones that can land you in jail, in handcuffs in front of your kids, slammed to the ground when you ARE innocent, or the one that CAN kill you.

Kroll, the world’s leading risk consulting company, with more than 30-years experience, says it best on their website.  They also appoached the leading nationwide network of lawfirms [what if IDentity Theft happens against you, by someone in ANOTHER state] and partnered with Pre-Paid Legal Services to offer the better answer.  Get the answers in short 4-minute videos at each link on Talk Today

As mentioned in the article these companies that popped up in the last 5 years to offer a fraud alert placement service will need to stop doing that.  WHY?  Better yet, WHY NOT? - YOU can place the alert yourself - FOR FREE.

The IDENTITY THEFT SHIELD[tm] is the better answer and their licensed investigaters place the alert, on your behalf, ONLY when necessary, and they don’t charge you extra.

Recommended reading to help you understand this crisis: The Silent Crime: What You Need To Know About Identity Theft, authored by Steffen Schmidt and Mike McCoy

Terry Kohler
Certified IDentity Theft Risk Management Specialist
Talk Solutions Today

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

May 25, 2009 by Terry.

Did you see this article on the New York Times back in January - or hear about it since then?

From that article the authors stated:

“Heartland, based in Princeton, N.J., works with about 175,000 small merchants and processes about 100 million transactions a month. It has created a Web site, 2008breach.com, to provide information about the incident. Cardholders are not responsible for unauthorized fraudulent charges.”

Not according to the Federal Trade Commission and legislation:

Page 19 of the free booklet IDTheft Victims receive when they file a complaint with the FTC “Take Charge: Fighting Back Against Identity Theft” [available at http://ftc.gov/idtheft] indicates you are responsible in this way - that can be very costly:

“…If an identity thief changed the address on your account and you didn’t receive the bill, your dispute letter still must reach the creditor within 60 days of when the creditor would have mailed the bill. This is one reason it’s essential to keep track of your billing statements, and follow up quickly if your bills don’t arrive on time.”

So you may need an attorney to assist you with this.  We recommend you consider viewing the 4-minute videos on the IDentity Theft Restoration and Legal Access links found at Talk Today

Terry Kohler
Certified IDentity Theft Risk Management Specialist
Talk Solutions Today

Posted in IDT - Businesses, IDT - SSAN, IDT - Financial, News Alerts, IDentity Theft Victims | Print | No Comments »

April 27, 2009 by Terry.

I am no doctor, but common sense applies.  Might I suggest you consider these as a minimum:

• Stay home from work or school if you have flu symptoms, and don’t return until two days after your symptoms are gone.
• Wash your hands often. And cover your mouth/nose when you cough or sneeze.
• Go to the hospital only if you have severe symptoms, such as difficulty breathing. Stay home if your symptoms are mild because you risk spreading the virus to other people.   If you have insurance through your employer that offers a 24-hour nurses line, have it handy and call them while in the ‘mild’ stages, before it becomes severe.
• Masks, as seen in hospitals worn by doctors and staff, are probably a good idea for health care professionals and family members who come in close contact with flu patients. Though health officials said there is no need for the general public to wear them, I personally have them for my family just to be safe.  As the old saying goes, ‘Better safe, than Sorry’
• Officials said it’s safe to eat pork, but they stressed the need to cook it properly. That means cooking pork to at least 160 degrees. (Source: AP)
• If these steps are practiced by as many citizens as possible the spread of disease can be slowed.
• If people also take steps up front to reduce identity theft issues against themselves, they can also help that epidemic be slowed from reaching pandemic stages.
• The better answer is Pre-Paid, vs. Post-Paid - see if you agree: www.whoelsehasyourname.com/html/justiceforall

Italics added by Terry Kohler - Certified IDentity Theft Risk Management Specialist

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April 23, 2009 by Terry.

Readiness for May 1, 2009 deadline - Knowledge of these Federal Red Flag Rules - mostly relating to IDentity Theft and Data Breaches

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/34409/pfbyu

If you are a business, be aware, your customers, B2B, and vendors, will be concerned about YOUR readiness and if you are up to speed with them.

Free gift for you - PDF file ”

Offered by Talk Solutions Today

[deadline was extended from original November 1, 2008 deadline, because too many businesses weren’t aware]

Terry Kohler

Posted in IDT - Businesses, News Alerts, IDentity Theft | Print | 1 Comment »

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.

Posted in IDTheft Stats | Print | No Comments »

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

Posted in IDTheft Stats | Print | No Comments »

January 19, 2009 by Terry.

Medical identity theft occurs when someone uses a person’s name and sometimes other parts of their identity — such as insurance information — without the person’s knowledge or consent to obtain medical services or goods, or uses the person’s identity information to make false claims for medical services or goods. Medical identity theft frequently results in erroneous entries being added to existing medical records, and can involve the creation of fictitious medical records in the victim’s name, ultimately leading to issues such as canceled insurances, being put into a coma due to improper treatment because of erroneous medical data, or even death.

Medical identity theft is a crime that can cause great harm to its victims. Yet, despite the profound risk it carries, it is the least [for now] studied and most poorly documented of the cluster of identity theft crimes. It is also the most difficult to fix after the fact, because victims have limited rights and recourses, not affording the attorney costs to help [until now]. Medical identity theft typically leaves a trail of falsified information in medical records that can plague victims’ medical and financial lives for years.

Posted in IDT - Medical | Print | No Comments »

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 »

December 23, 2008 by Terry.

Right now, I couldn’t have said it any better than DHS Secretary Chertoff.

Read the entire article, but note his comment:

“…I’m going to submit to you that in the 21st Century, the most important asset that we have to protect as individuals and as part of our nation is the control of our identity, who we are, how we identify ourselves, whether other people are permitted to masquerade and pretend to be us, and thereby damage our livelihood, damage our assets, damage our reputation, damage our standing in our community.”  DHS_Remarks_HomelandSecurity

This is why I am on a mission to help as many individuals and families as I can.  I can help more of them at once by helping the businesses in America meet as much of the FTC/FACTA/GLB reg’s and requirements, relating to IDentity Theft issues, as possible.

Posted in IDentity Theft | Print | No Comments »