It seems there are people in this world who will never draw the line. Identity theft is not being quelled. These are just stories of people who didn’t get away with it.
This past week a man was arrested in Louisville for some interesting charges. He was taken in with $500 in fives, a concealed deadly weapon, and a list of homeless shelters and their respective meal times. Antonio Philips, a “nice and clean cut” 30-year-old Florida man was apparently offering homeless people $5 to tell him their first and last names, date of births, and social security numbers.
This is not the end of the ridiculousness.
A Girl Scout Leader in Mount Olive, NJ was arrested at the end of a three-week investigation. Police concluded that she was responsible for applying for credit cards under the identities of other people. She had obtained the personal information of two of the troop’s volunteers.
One of the victims said a credit card was opened through Capital One. The 30-year-old Kelly Willard, of Budd Lake, and leader of Daisy Troop 4366 had run up a balance of $2,126 on the card in just two days.
“Willard has been charged with identity theft, seven counts of credit card fraud, two counts of false application to secure a credit card, two counts of identity theft, and theft for the items which were purchased using the fraudulently obtained credit card, Anthony said. She was lodged in the Morris County jail in lieu of $1,000 bail,” according to the reporting of NJ.com news site.
Homeless and scout volunteers are just random stories. But be aware that your identity is not safe.
Do not carry your Social Security Card with you unless you need to and don’t participate in sweepstakes, credit card offers, or respond to emails with your information. If “your bank” is supposedly updating its records they will be sure and do it in a credible manner. New Read Flag requirements will help with your protection.
There’s a number of topics I tossed around today, but I finally settled on this one because it personally hits home. When it came out, I thought the iPad was so awesome. I wanted one so bad. I had to have one- enthralled type of deal. But then the reviews followed, and then the new iPhone did as well. I fell in love yet again. So I’m not a big tablet computer fan, but that thing was seriously awesome when they demoed it. But you didn’t come here to read about tech stuff. So down to business. Hacking.
Ms. Suzanne Choney over at MSNBC had this to say, “Prominent users of Apple’s new iPad 3G, including military and government officials as well as media personalities and celebrities, had their e-mail addresses hacked by a group that shared its findings with online publication Valleywag to point out security flaws in AT&T’s Web servers.”
Who was among these victims? Well there was ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to name a few.
But what’s more is that the group who did the hacking, that is called Goatse, have gone after other big companies as well. They have exposed real security vulnerabilities in Firefox, Safari, and have drawn attention to flaws in Amazon’s rating system.
Still the facts are the facts- This is a huge embarrassment for Apple. 114,000 customers accounts were compromised in the act.
This kind of breech has happened and still people scoff at the online identity theft protection, still people refuse to get theft reports, or make any attempts to lock credit in a timely manner when a threat does exist, still merchants do not social security verify prior to opening lines of credit.
This story is just a matter of email snagging. The first stage of online identity theft, if you will. That itself is not seen as a major problem. But the threat isn’t going away and the behavior of the consumer has not changed.
*By The way, the aftermath of the “At&t iPad Crisis” can be read about here.
They did this to New Yorkers. You guys are supposed to be the most cut-throat people in the nation. I don’t really know if IE8 is what they say it is, or not. That’s not really the point. The fact is, they people not only got duped, but also gave out their most precious info. Are we really this gullible when a promise of money is dangled above our heads?! I am personally sickened by how easy it is to con people out of their livelihoods.
“Investigators dealing with the huge data theft case involving the company Digital River have been led to hackers in India and one person in New York. The information that was taken was being offered for sale to a firm in Colorado. Individual’s information that gets stolen and then ends up in the wrong hands can affect a person’s credit report in a very negative way.
A court order was issued when The Eden Prairie Minn. Company asked for a court order to block Eric Porat from doing anything with data collected on nearly 200,000 individuals. Digital River seems to think that the hackers were from New Delhi and probably had inside help in obtaining the information.
Porat would only say that he got the information from India but he would not say how he got it or from whom he got the information. A lawyer overseeing Digital River’s investigation said that he thinks that Porat could have possibly hacked the hackers to get the information.
Judge Donovan Frank held a public status conference to do with the case on Thursday. The hearing got posted on the court docket but did not name any of the parties involved. Judge Frank ordered that all documents be unsealed without objection. Frank said that he allowed the civil case to be filed under seal without notifying the defense so that Digital River could issue subpoenas and protect evidence that might get destroyed or go missing.
Some people when checking their credit report notice that they have bad items showing up. These items do not necessarily mean that you are a victim of identity theft or that any of your information has been leaked out without your permission. Sometimes it is just a mistake on the credit report company’s behalf and can all be rectified. However it is still a good idea to get a credit report done on yourself to check for any suspicious items.”- Richard Irwin
Worlds Breaking News
Things are not getting any better. I don’t know what your experiences have been with ID protection services. You could share them with others here. The sharing of effective ways of protection will save everyone money and play a major role in the decrease of risk. Please exercise financial responsibility as well and review your credit report regularly.
Todd Davis. The name might not sound familiar, but the company should: LifeLock. Mr. Davis is the company’s CEO and spokesperson. The pitch for LifeLock’s services was posting Mr. Davis’ SSN all over their ads. It was supposed to be a show of good faith and security in the company and their anti-identity-theft services.
What the ads wont tell you is that Mr. Richard Todd Davis has had his identity stolen 13 times.
His information being compromised, collections agencies all over the nation are trying to get him to pay up for debts that other people accumulated with the CEO’s Social Security Number they undoubtedly got from the ads. In doing a search for his number (it even made it to Urban Dictionary), you will find him as well as 16 other names using his number. The most notable of these include a “Java T Hut” and a “Gaylord Focker”.
The SSN was obviously never intended or even designed to be a form of identification. In present day, we are slowly realizing this fact.
The news with LifeLock doesn’t stop here however. The company was recently fined $12,000,000 by the FTC for deceptive advertising. The Phoenix New Times News has had an ongoing in depth story about the LifeLock and its CEO.
Its no secret that cell phones have become a major player in crime. They make it easier for crimes to be committed. But there is also crime towards cell phones. The theft of mobile phones is way up. If a phone is stolen, chances are you are not going to get it back. There is a market for stolen phones, but generally this is a theft of service. Thieves are doing this for themselves. A stolen phone with cancelled service can still be used. The thief can remove the SIM card, insert their own, and continue using the stolen phone. However, there is a way to ensure they can’t .
If you know your phone’s serial number you can render the device unusable remotely through your cell provider.
If you don’t (no worries, most will not), you can find it this way:
If your phone uses the Global Systems Mobile Communications standard (GSM), you can punch star-hash-zero-six-hash ( * # 0 6 # ) into the phone to reveal your fifteen digit IMEI code. Write this down and keep it somewhere. It might not get you your phone back, but it will foil some punks unscrupulous behavior.
So I know it’s probably just me who finds it weird to still call it a Social Security Number when the system is in the tank. The system is so overwhelmed that its taking forever for people to win their cases for disability benefits, sometimes taking two years before a payment is made. Anyone who thinks this is going to sustain the Boomer Generation coming in and the Gen Y’er too is just asinine. The spike in the number of applications recently can be attributed to the economic status of the country. The system is dangerously close to being swamped yet again.
But that’s not what we need to cover today. Consider that rant a historical background. What we need to cover today is how you can protect the you withholdings from criminals so you can give it to other people you don’t know instead. Okay, okay…Turning the cynicism off.
People send us emails all the time asking what they can do now that their credit, identity and life are all in jeopardy. The answer is: very little with a lot of patience. The fact of the matter is, a lot of times fraudulent SSNs are just made up and happen to correspond to a real individual. This we have no control over. What we can do is lower the risk on the other percentage of the cases of identity theft. So once again:
- By law, your Social Security number is only required for opening new financial accounts or lines of credit, obtaining a job or for governmental purposes such as taxes or benefits. (That’s it! It’s okay to decline giving it out in other cases.)
- Ask questions: If a company asks for your number, ask under what law they need the number and offer an alternative identification. Only give it out if you feel comfortable with the company, and if you don’t, be prepared to do without its services.
- Don’t carry your Social Security card on a daily basis. Memorize the number. If your Medicare card had your number, make a wallet-sized photo copy for your wallet or purse and black out the final four digits.
- Shred any financial documents that might have your Social Security number before trashing them. Monitor your financial statements closely. And be wary of entering your Social Security number on web sites. (Again if it isn’t registered as secure and is not a job app, gov. site, or financial/credit institution don’t give it out.)
- Your Social Security number can be changed if you can prove you have been the legitimate victim of identity theft.
For more information, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10064.html
Sources: Social Security Administration, Identity Theft Resource Center.
The ironic thing when it comes to the review of identity protection product is that, half the time you don’t really know who took out the URL to review these products. I mean let’s face it; there is money to be made from preying on people’s fear. A lot of times these are affiliate marketing partners too. So they will be laden with links to identity theft protection websites or will have promo banners on the side.
I’m not saying opt out of paying for a service. I’m also not saying a free or cheap one is just as good. What I am saying is be aware of that when you go in and just google “Identity Protection Reviews”. So look at a number of sites and get a good cumulative review. There are up sides and down sides to all. True Credit might require you to wade through a lot of ads for credit reports and other services. Identity Guard might be provided to Citibank, GE and Equifax, but may have a confusing interface and lackluster customer service. They all set their alerts differently too. Some like Debix provides a contact number to lenders, where as Lifelock contacts the bureaus and sets the alerts. Just by clicking on the first few google results, Lifelock looks like the best bet. But a few months ago the company agreed to pay $11 million to the FTC and $1 million to 35 state attorney generals for using false claims to promote its identity protection services.
So when shopping around for an identity protection service, rely on creditable review sites. Traps are being set for you on both sides.
Knowing where to look to check on your credit is a first big step:
http://www.creditratingbureaus.com/index.html
Here’s a pretty good post I came across as well:
Why Good Credit Scores are Key to Surviving in a Troubled Economy
Credit.com and the free Credit Report Card were featured last night on Channel 2 KTVU‘s special report by Pam Cook. The report discussed why preserving good credit scores is key to surviving in a troubled economy.
Adam Levin, Chairman and Co-Founder of Credit.com, was interviewed for the piece and explains how your credit card balances are one of the keys to obtaining high credit scores. What is your credit score, how is it calculated and what does it mean? If you missed it, you can watch the full clip here:http://www.ktvu.com/video/23512512/index.html
Special thanks to Erin Smith, a local consumer in the San Francisco area who shared her personal credit story. The fact that she used our free Credit Report Card before she went to apply for an auto loan makes everything we do at Credit.com worthwhile. Credit.com, promoting financial literacy and consumer credit awareness, one consumer at a time.
If you haven’t tried the Credit Report Card, we encourage you to check it out: https://www.credit.com/ufg/default/ccom_credit_report Not only does it help you understand exactly how your credit scores are calculated and where you stand, it’s really, truly, free. And be sure to let us know what you think!
The recent issue to come to light on the subject of identity theft is black market sale of personal info. There are people out there in cyberspace who steal electronics from banks and other institutions or maybe just raid a dumpster to obtain valuable personal info. Either way, they hop on the net and claim to have DOBs, SSN, Account numbers, and dumps (magnetic strip codes). They are acting as a sort of middle men. Not bearing the full risk of the crime, but still making a buck illegally.
The thing to keep in mind is that these are people trying to make money off fraud. They could very well be swindling each other. Maybe they don’t ever deliver information after payment or the info delivered itself turns out to be bogus just to make a quick dollar. Whatever the case may be, the plot defiantly keeps thickening.